Body composition: what is your body made of?

Stephen PaulMORPHOLOGY & BODY

Body composition is an essential part of nutritional assessment. It allows you to set healthy goals and track your progress objectively. Weight is only one of the criteria to take into account if you want to lose or gain weight. Discover the different components of your body, such as body fat or lean body mass, and how to calculate them.

The fat mass

Body composition includes a greater or lesser portion of fat mass depending on the individual. Wrongly demonized by many people, fat actually plays an essential role in the proper functioning of the human body. If you learn to take good care of your body, then it is important to know the benefits of fat for the body . 

First of all, fat mass is where vitamins and energy are stored . It is this energy that allows you to perform daily tasks without getting tired quickly, or to lift heavy weights at the gym. Moreover, it can be likened to a cushion whose purpose is to protect each of your internal organs as well as your joints. Finally, like the skin, it helps regulate body temperature by acting as an insulator.

Given its vital functions, a fat mass below 4% will prove dangerous for health in the long term. The healthy rate in a man leading a classic lifestyle is around 18%, while in a woman it is more like around 25%. On the other hand, beyond 25% fat mass in men and 32% in women, we can speak of obesity . In this case, it is necessary to reduce this rate gradually. You can melt away non-essential body fat by following a balanced nutritional plan, combined with regular exercise.

lean body mass

It’s simple: anything that isn’t fat is the other component of the body, and that’s lean body mass. Bones, muscles, skin, other organs, water and blood are therefore part of the latter. Moreover, being a set of diverse and complex elements, it can represent up to 90% of the total weight of an individual.

Water, which is present everywhere in the body (in the blood, in organs, inside and outside cells, and even in fatty tissue), carries oxygen and nutrients, and dispose of the waste. At the same time, it keeps the temperature constant while participating in the various chemical reactions in which the body proceeds. The bones, on the other hand, support the body structure and allow movement in collaboration with the muscles.
For aesthetic reasons, to be able to increase your strength or to speed up your metabolism, it is possible to gain muscle mass . If it is less voluminous than the fatty mass, it is nevertheless heavier. This is something to keep in mind if you are looking to lose weight through exercise. You can indeed discourage yourself by believing that you are not on the right track, when your muscle mass has simply increased. This phenomenon even has the advantage of allowing you to burn more fat.
Therefore, the ideal way to objectively monitor your progress is to use a tape measure in addition to a scale. You can also measure your body composition with a dedicated device. 

Body composition: how to know it?

The interior of the body remains a mystery, of course, but today, you can quite know approximately what yours is made of using several instruments.

  • You can first use the skinfold forceps , which can be both manual and electronic. It is used by athletes, nutritionists but also by individuals wishing to know their body fat. Thanks to the average of 4 different measurements, you can easily calculate your fat level. This fairly realistic tool will be particularly useful if your main objective is to lose fat.
  • If you are looking for a less technical and more complete device, you can opt for an impedance scale . Configured with your personal data (age, height, gender), it measures your weight and assesses your water level. From this information, it deduces body fat and muscle levels.
    Water mass is constantly changing as a function of hydration. As a result, the results of the impedance meter scale are not accurate. They nevertheless give a rather reliable idea of ​​the weight distribution.
Stephen
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Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.

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