Americans spend tens of billions of dollars every year on weight loss and diet programs. The United States is the most overweight nation globally, but researchers have only just started to view obesity as a treatable disease. Advanced Medical Weight Loss uses body composition over the body mass index (BMI) metric to assess obesity. However, despite being outdated, BMI is still used by many health professionals. This guide will explain body composition, how it’s different from other bodyweight metrics, where to get tested, and how to analyze your results.
What Is Body Composition?
Body composition is a comprehensive way to determine how the human body is constructed. It measures water, tissue, bone, muscle, and body fat proportions to help you better understand your body weight at a deeper level. When you use body composition, you know the percentage of parts that make up your body.
Standard measurements for men:
- 45% muscle,
- 3% essential fat,
- 12% nonessential or storage fat,
- 15% bone
- 25% other tissues
Standard measurements for women:
- 36% muscle
- 12% essential fat
- 15% nonessential or storage fat
- 12% bone
- 25% other tissue
How Is It Different From BMI or Scale Weight?
BMI and scale weight don’t consider the makeup of your body. They focus only on your weight. That’s a real problem because muscle weighs more than fat. Two people with different body compositions weighing 190 pounds each are treated identically under BMI and scale weight.
A bodybuilder with large muscle mass may be healthier than a person who has a lot of body fat and little muscle. Yet, based on the BMI metric, both may be treated as obese. As you can probably tell, this is a poor metric that has been used for decades. It’s time to move to a new means of measuring the body, and that’s where body composition comes into play.
How Can I Get Tested?
Getting fully tested for body composition requires lab work and analysis by board-certified physicians. They can use the latest methods, from blood analysis to image scanning, and get a comprehensive look at how your body is made up. They will use tools like body calipers, hydrostatic weighing, air displacement, X-rays, MRIs, and so forth to do this.
You can use a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) scale at home that will use electrical currents to deliver an estimated amount of water, fat, and muscle mass in your body. It’s painless, provides a quick look at where you stand in terms of your body composition and where each is located.
How Do I Analyze Results?
As you work to lose weight and get healthy, you will want to keep track of your body fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, and body water. Using a carefully cultivated diet plan in conjunction with health care professionals will recompose your body to reach those ideal levels carefully and over time.
Learn how to maintain a healthy composition and contact Advanced Medical Weight Loss today!