When I left off, I was encouraging you to write down the changes that you would like to create in your health and your body. My experience tells me that the great majority of people want to lose weight, so that is going to be the first topic that we cover.

OK, let’s talk about losing weight. Do you need/want to lose weight, and if so, how much weight do you need/want to lose? Do you know how much you should weigh? Is weight even the real issue? There is no shortage of opinions on the subject of weight loss, and there are entire industries that depend upon the confusion and deep feelings about the issue. On the one hand, we are told that there is an epidemic of obesity in this country and abroad, and on the other hand we are told that to speak of obesity in those terms is to stigmatize people and do more damage than the actual obesity. Some people say that we need to do something to get fit, lose fat and become healthier, while others argue that we should just love our bodies the way they are, and point out plentiful cases of people who have damaged their health trying to reach some silly ideal.

First of all, when I talk about losing weight, what I mean is losing fat, or as I like to tell clients, changing their body composition. Weight alone can be very deceptive, as you could have two people of the same height who both weigh exactly the same, and yet one could be quite overweight while the other was at a very healthy weight. This commonly happens when people use the Body Mass Index BMI, which is basically a formula that looks at weight and height. What is important is the ratio of lean body mass (muscle, organs, bones) to fat, and its impact on health and physical fitness. And while there is no ideal weight for any given height, there are parameters widely accepted by the medical community as being healthy.

Contrary to the old expression, one can be too thin. Everyone needs to have the essential body fat needed for physiological and physical health, which the American Council on Exercise lists as 10-13% for women, 2-5% for men. These numbers are really low, and more realistic numbers are seen in ACE’s recommendations for athletes, which are 14-20% for women and 6-13% for men. So for our purposes, let’s use these as the “basement”, below which we will not even attempt to go. Staying with ACE’s numbers, fitness levels are 21-24% for women and 14-17% for men. The body fat numbers higher than this are considered average until they get above 32% for women and 25% for men, and then it is considered obesity.

So, given these numbers, I think it is safe to set a body fat goal of between 14 and 26% for women and 6 and 20% for men, and those numbers give you a lot of leeway. And I bring up this leeway because you can decide where you want to fall in these ranges without worrying about it being some sort of silly ideal. And you may need this leeway to get the body shape that you want, because while we can change the amount of body fat we have, we cannot do very much about the distribution of this body fat. What this means is that some people can have a body fat of 20% and look attractive because the fat is uniformly distributed, while another with the same body fat percentage has an unsightly bulge at the belly or on the hips or some other “problem spots”. Sometimes this distribution is not what we want, and that cannot be helped. I once had two female clients, both in their late 20’s and both wanting to lose weight. They worked with me for a year and in that time they each lost about 25 pounds. One was almost giddy with the changes, the other not so much because where one lost the majority of the extra weight in her hips and thighs, the other went down about 2 bra cup sizes, and still had a little belly flab that she did not want. I understood her frustration, but there was nothing that I could do about it, and I told her that while we can have some control about where we put the muscle on, how the fat comes off is a mystery that no one really fully understands. And to lose that last bit of belly, she had to lose another 7 pounds, which she did.

Another issue of the fat distribution is the “apple and pear” body types. Some people deposit excess fat on their hips and thighs, giving them a more “pear” shaped appearance, while others deposit it at the waist, producing the “apple” or “beer belly” as it is often called. This is of more than aesthetic importance as it has been shown that the so called “apples” are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, perhaps because the belly fat is closer to internal organs and their hormonal influence. So, if you are one of the “apple” types, you have even more reasons to reduce excess fat. And while I have no desire to stigmatize the overweight, excess fat does exist, and to the best of my knowledge, it has absolutely no health benefits.

Given the rather wide body fat percentage ranges that are medically acceptable, you have a lot of choice about your body and how it is going to look. My advice would be to set up a program that is designed to lose body fat and stay on that program until you are at the body fat percentage that you would like, or maybe go just a tad further and then maintain that and see how you feel. The first step to doing this should be finding out what your fat percentage is, both to help in setting your goals realistically, as well as helping in making some dietary decisions that I will talk about a little later.

The only way to know exactly what your body fat percentage is, is through an autopsy, which tends to put people off because it involves dying, but science has developed a couple of methods for estimating which come very close. The displacement method has been the “gold standard” for a long time, and usually involves weighing the subject then testing his/her body volume through displacement of water. This volume is combined with the weight to determine the body’s density, and then the percentage of fat is determined through known equations for the density of fat and lean body mass. Some newer methods use air displacement, which can work, provided care is taken to take atmospheric pressure changes into account.

Another method being used is dual energy X-ray absorptiometry or DEXA, which basically involves two X-rays of different energies scanning the body, one of which is absorbed more strongly by fat than the other. A computer compares the images from the two and can come up with the fat ratio. This method is also useful in determining bone density, which will also be discussed later in this blog.

Both of the above methods require equipment not usually found at a gym, although a business has emerged of mobile stations coming to gyms to do one or both of these methods periodically. Two other methods are commonly found at gyms. One is bioelectrical impedance analysis, which entails the subject standing on a specially designed scale in their bare feet. The scale sends a small electrical current through the body and measures how quickly the electricity passes through the tissues, and based on differences in water content of fat and lean body mass, gives an estimate. Two cautions here: the first one is that you should not use this method if you a wearing a pacemaker! The second is that the method is very much dependent on your hydration levels, and can be widely off the mark if you are dehydrated (as so many people are) or over-hydrated.

And finally, you have the dreaded fat calipers. Most people have seen these at gyms, wielded by staff members who pinch and measure at 3-6 specific spots and then compare the measurements to charts that give the fat percentage estimates. In the right hands, calipers can be very accurate, but because they measure subcutaneous body fat to make the overall estimate, the operator has to not only know how to measure accurately, but which formula to use for which subject. There are formulas for different sexes, different racial groups, and most importantly, different ages. You see, the older you get, the more fat is deposited around your internal organs, so someone with a body fat percentage of 20% at 23 years of age, is actually going to have more subcutaneous (under the skin) fat than another person with the same body fat percentage who is 55. So, as you get older you should actually appear leaner if you want to maintain the same body fat level. But again, that is your choice.

Anyway, figure out what your body fat percentage is, and we’ll look at changing it in my next post.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , CSCS, is a fitness consultant and coach.