The scale at the gym or in your home will give you a number, sometimes dreadfully, but what’s it really trying to tell you. To begin understanding where you stand when it comes to the fat front, what you need to do is know the difference between your actual Body Fat mass, and what your lean muscle mass is.
Muscle, when it’s lean tissue, has approximately a 75% percent composition of water in its system. So what this type of muscle mass means is that it’s able to burn off calories a lot quicker, with less effort and more efficiently when in a resting state. On the other hand, when it comes to fat tissue, it’s comprised of just 10% percent or so of water. So as a result, it’s not able to burn off calories quick enough when you’re resting, much like lean muscle can.
Knowing The Percentage Of Your Body Fat
What you may not know is the actual percentage of body fat that you carry on your body, but it can be important that you do. A body that’s high in body fat can lead towards heart disease, high cholesterol, or diabetes. Even if you don’t feel or look obese, what you still may have is high body fat.
So to calculate what percent of body fat you have, you can usually consult with your local fitness professional at the workout gym. They can test your body fat the old fashioned way by using those familiar set of calipers on your belly, just like school used to do, which will pinch and then measure the various folds of skin on your body.
There are also more advanced high-tech methods which are a lot more accurate, but they can be more costly as well. One test will measure your fat content by sending electrical impulses throughout your body and then measuring the resistance.
Perhaps the most accurate method available is getting weighed underwater, which is usually performed at university physical fitness facilities. They use advanced testing equipment which can precisely test your body fat percentage.
The Nation Becoming Increasingly Obese
Since obesity is constantly on the rise in North America, the actually body fat percentages are as well. So why are we as a nation, both males and females, gaining more fat both inside and out.
A recent study has shown that when rats were tested in a lab setting, they began to instantly gain more weight once placed on a high fructose corn syrup diet, than they did when on a sucrose diet.
The researchers theory on why this happened was because the excess fructose in the system was being metabolized to produce fat. Glucose in the system on the other hand, is stored as carbohydrates, or are processed as energy.
This study also revealed that the high fructose corn syrup also led towards abnormal increases in actual body fat as well as raising the triglyceride levels in test patients.
So ultimately, what this means is that for those who consume a lot of packaged processed food, all of the various added sugar that they contain are not created equally.
So the warning is that you need to be more vigilant when it comes to purchasing these packaged foods, as they’ll lead towards an increase in weight as well as body fat.
How To Decrease The Body Fat
It becomes pretty much common sense, since it’s regularly broadcasted, that a combination of routine weight training, consistent cardio exercises, and adopting sensible eating habits are required to lose weight. This is what the majority of the experts prescribe in order to lower body fat as well.
The No-Brainer Is Exercise
Exercising, as in working out on a regular consistent basis is essential. Various personal trainers will usually administer different forms of resistance based training, which retains the lean body mass much better.
The fitness program should include weight training, working on all of the major muscle groups in the body, including the legs, arms, chest and stomach muscles, at least two or three times a week.
What About All Those Quick Solutions
You see those lose fat quick advertisements in various magazines, the Internet, and on TV. But do any of these “Blast 20 Pounds of Fat Off Your Gut in One Week” programs even work.
There are some drugs on the market which prevents or they block the breakdown of fat, but then, you have to deal with the numerous side effects such as diarrhea, or oil loss.
The best true blue way of losing fat is through a committed change in your lifestyle. It begins with consuming wholesome foods, healthy carbohydrates, and sufficient protein, along with regular and routine strength training.
Doing so is the best possible solution for successful natural weight and body fat loss. There’s no known quick fix other than dedication, smart eating, and sweating it out.