Read 54 times since Friday, September 02, 2011
First off the best amount of body fat is anywhere from 6 - 20 percent. Average healthy adult is in the area of 15-20, and cardio active exercisers will be less.
Anything below 6 percent is not healthy; we need fat in our body for a lot of things. We need if for proper brain functioning, to protect our joints, and it also gives us energy.
Without fat we couldn't do a lot of things. So if your body fat percentage is a little high you do not want to just stop getting fat altogether.
There are specific ways to get your fat that are good for you. The best way to get your fat is through complex carbohydrates like wheat bread or wholegrain bread. Though there are other fats you cannot get from bread and that are important.
Omega-3s are crucial in brain development, and glucosamine is necessary for proper joint functions. Without the omegas you wouldn't be able to think straight, and you would probably go senile at a very young age.
Without the glucosamine you are liable to get arthritis, or just sore joints. So it is important to get the right types of fats in your body, remember that.
To calculate your body's fat percentage you could go to a fitness expert. Many gyms have skinfold caliper tests these are more accurate than at home pinch tests, but they are still not one hundred percent.
The skinfold caliper is where you take the skin and pinch it on your arms, thighs, and belly. There is a little number that will be displayed on the caliper.
Take the numbers from all the areas measured ad them up and then divide them by the number of measurement performed. This will give you a good estimate as to where your body fat is at.
There are also hand held body fat analyzers. These work by sending an electric current through the body and measuring the resistance.
If there is more fat than muscle in your body the electrical current is not going to meet a lot of resistance. This is sometime a skewed estimate of body fat.
The best ways to find the right body fat is to do underwater weighing, which can be difficult because you have to submerge your entire body and then also be weighed. There is also air displacement plethysmography. This one requires the person being weighed to be sent into a vacuum sealed room and analyzed by computers.
Lastly there is X-ray absorptiometry this just shoots a ray that measures your muscles, bones and fats all in one fell swoop. This is the most accurate and also the easiest way to get a perfect idea of body fat. Destry Masterson is a health and fitness expert who has written many articles about exercise and recommends http://www.treadmillcomparison.com/treadmill-coupons for treadmill coupons.
Contact Info:
Destry Masterson - MyOnlineArticleWriting@gmail.com - Twitter: @DestryMasterson
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