Higher levels of body fat are associated with long-term disease risk such as heart disease, various forms of cancer, and high blood pressure. Obesity caused by excess body fat can lead to hormone dysfunctions. For example, leptin—the hormone that controls when you feel full when you eat—is produced in your body fat.

But if you have too much body fat, your body becomes less sensitive to leptin. This is similar to how your body is less sensitive to insulin if you have Type 2 diabetes.

Then your body produces more fat from taking in too many calories, thus continuing leptin insensitivity. For optimal military fitness, it is important to maintain a healthy level of body fat.

Too much, or too little, body fat can have a negative effect on performance and can lead to long-term risk of chronic disease. High levels of body fat can also hurt your quality of life, which can lead to conditions such as back and knee pain. Some athletes are encouraged to be on the low end of their healthy ranges because it might benefit athletic performance.

For example, endurance athletes usually have a very lean body composition because of their high level of energy expenditure and fat utilization during their long exercise sessions. For women, too little body fat leads to irregular menstrual cycles and difficulty getting pregnant.

Estrogens­—the female sex hormones that regulate menstruation—are converted from androgens male sex hormones in fat tissue. This is why a minimum fat level is needed for normal menstrual function. In addition to reproduction, the sex hormones androgens, estrogens, and progestogens are responsible for body functions such as bone and muscle growth.

Men and women with too little body fat can experience abnormal sex-hormone production. Poor bone health and other negative effects related to relative energy deficiency in sport RED-S are tied to sex-hormone function, especially in physically active people.

A strict eating and exercise plan is needed to maintain these low levels of body fat, which can be difficult to sustain in the long term. While some might find visible abs physically attractive, it has little functional benefit. Secondarily, the rectus abdominus assists with breathing, which helps you forcefully exhale.

Seeing the muscle has little bearing on its ability to function. The best place to start is to be in the healthy range. Some health conditions create a need for more specificity with your body composition. Unless your doctor diagnoses you with a special health condition, your ideal body composition is whatever allows you to feel and perform your best without resorting to drastic measures such as abnormal eating patterns, calorie restriction, or excessive exercise habits.

Since everybody is different, there is no single ideal body-fat percentage to recommend within the healthy range. Some people might be comfortable and perform well near the low end of healthy, others in the middle or even the high end. DoD Instruction DoDI However, specific body-fat standards vary by branch.

Strategies for creating a supportive food environment Read More. Borga, M. Advanced body composition assessment: from body mass index to body composition profiling. Journal of Investigative Medicine, 66 5 , 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention About adult BMI. Collins, M. Evaluation of the BOD POD for assessing body fat in collegiate football players.

Combest, T. Comparison of circumference body composition measurements and eight-point bioelectrical impedance analysis to dual energy x-ray absorptiometry to measure body fat percentage.

Military Medicine, 7 , e—e Department of Defense Instruction DoD Physical Fitness and Body Fat Programs Procedures. East, W. Often overlooked, sleep is a critical component of fat loss.

Poor sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate appetite, leading to increased hunger and cravings for unhealthy food. Aim for hours of quality sleep per night and focus on stress management techniques.

Practices like mindfulness, yoga, or even simple breathing exercises can significantly impact your ability to manage stress and improve sleep quality, both of which are essential for achieving and maintaining a low body fat percentage.

Consistent Tracking: Measure Your Progress with Spren. Regular monitoring of your progress is crucial in any fat-loss journey. Understanding changes in your body composition — not just weight — can help tailor your diet and exercise plan to your specific needs. By following these scientifically-proven methods, you can make significant strides towards your fitness goals.

Remember, the journey to optimal body composition is unique to each individual, and tools like the Spren app can provide valuable insights and personalized guidance. Download the Spren app today to accurately measure your body fat percentage, track your progress and receive personalized insights for a healthier, fitter you.

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Looking for a DEXA scan in Chicago to assess your body composition? While several facilities offer this service, if you're seeking a more immediate and budget-friendly solution for measuring body fat and muscle mass, consider the Spren app.

Ever wondered what it takes to get those coveted visible abs? It all boils down to achieving the right body fat percentage. So, what are these magic numbers, and how can you hit your target?

Let's answer that question. Looking to do a Dexa scan in New York? Check out this list we put together. Blog Help Center Download the App. Body Composition. Sandra Wu. December 22,

Jan 09, But have you thought about your body composition lately? Losing Weight vs. Healthy Body Composition You've probably heard it over and over: If you want to be healthy, lose weight! Fat vs. Muscle Mass When you lose weight, you will probably also lose muscle mass. How Is Body Composition Measured?

The BOD POD is an egg-shaped chamber that measures body composition through volume and pressure through air displacement. The skinfold measurement is fairly quick and moderately invasive. Specialists measure thickness of a skinfold at seven different places on your body.

This method can be accurate. But the same person should measure you each time to prevent errors. A healthy body composition can also: improve ability to perform day-to-day activities, increase energy, and help maintain cognitive function and decrease stress.

Now that's a New Year's resolution worth keeping. heart health fitness weight management PEAK Health and Wellness. As a result, these stealthy cytokines will influence lipid production in the liver and cause insulin resistance and steatosis fatty liver. Insulin plays a critical role in regulating blood sugar.

Insulin resistance increases the risk of developing prediabetes, which means your blood sugar levels are higher than normal and may lead to type 2 diabetes. Genetics may influence how you store fat in the body. Hereditary influences aside, the following are a few factors have been shown to increase your likelihood of increasing visceral fat accumulation:.

There are several ways to measure body fat percentage, and each method has its advantages and disadvantages. The skin fold test via fat calipers was once considered the standard in measuring body fat.

However, the usefulness of skinfold calipers has been called into question because, among other concerns, they only account for or report subcutaneous adipose tissue.

Hydrostatic weighing involves a subject being lowered into a water tank until they are completely submerged, at which point they must expel all the air from their lungs and are then weighed.

While accurate, this method is highly impractical, very expensive, and uncomfortable. BIA measures impedance by applying alternating low-level electrical currents through the water in the body. Though some BIA models in the past had questionable accuracy, the technology has advanced to the extent that the most cutting-edge devices offer accuracy on par with gold standard methods like DEXA but superior affordability, convenience, and repeatability.

In The Scientific American , psychologist and science writer Jesse Bering described how storing fat helped our ancestors survive food shortages. In short, excess fat just kept on piling up. Put simply: How hard is it to find high-calorie foods? How much exercise is required to acquire it? On the other hand, how many of us have chronic stress from the hustle and bustle of daily life?

Your response to the convenience as well as the stresses of the modern world has an enormous impact on your risk of gaining excess body fat and obesity.

No wonder there are more overweight and obese people than ever before. Fortunately, you still have some control over how you respond by making choices regarding your diet and lifestyle. This is good news for you if you are overweight, because unlike the aging process—which is irreversible—you do have some control over both your muscle loss and your lifestyle habits.

Remember how as a kid, you spent a lot of time running around at school? You get the picture: You move less, but your nutrition and portion control have not improved. The perfect formula for caloric imbalance.

So how do you battle the extra bulge and lower your body fat percentage? Eat less. Move more. Nevertheless, you have to take it one actionable step after the other if you want to improve your health and become a better version of yourself.

While calorie counting may have its own set of controversies, evidence supports that generally speaking, aiming to be in a caloric deficit simply works.

Being more mindful of the quality of calories and macronutrients that you eat is absolutely essential. This phrase is meant to educate people that they can work out as much as they want, but without proper nutrition, much of the hard work to lower their body fat percentage will go to waste.

Another study concluded the same thing among adults. So should you ditch your gym membership and hang out more in the kitchen instead? Exercise has a ton of benefits in addition to preventing fat gain.

For starters, it helps you sleep better. And as mentioned earlier, getting quality sleep regularly is linked to reduced visceral fat levels. Healthy habits often work together like that. Furthermore, another meta-analysis of diet and training programs for weight loss found that combining diet and physical activity is more effective for weight loss over 12 months than interventions based on diet or physical activity alone.

And if you want to do something specific to fight visceral fat, the findings of this study suggest that physical activity is more likely to work against visceral fat if you favor cardio aerobic over other forms of exercise.

This systematic review of the subject shares the same findings. A pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle or water in your body. Take a body composition analysis to figure out your lean body mass and fat mass. Just make sure that it distinguishes fat mass between visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.

The device may even tell you your Basal Metabolic Rate , a key number to learning your metabolism. The reality is, for the vast majority of people, fat loss and maintaining a healthy body fat percentage.

is something you can have a significant degree of control over. Find a diet and exercise regimen that helps you control their levels and fits your current lifestyle. Surface level skin fat only tells half the story of risks associated with excess body fat.

If you rely on appearances only, you may be putting yourself unknowingly at risk. Visceral fat can be lurking inside of you, wreaking havoc on your body. Ultimately, taking a body composition test that will accurately measure body fat percentage and visceral fat is a good start.

Kyjean Tomboc is a nurse turned freelance healthcare copywriter and UX researcher. After experimenting with going paleo and vegetarian, she realized that it all boils down to eating real food.

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Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Close Search. Body Composition Fitness Health InBody Blog Nutrition A Guide To Achieving a Healthy Body Fat Percentage By InBody USA August 1, August 4th, One Comment. It was originally published on December 8, The mere mention of body fat conjures images of belly fat, love handles, and extra junk in the trunk.

What is Body Fat? Essential fat is present in organs, bone marrow, nerve cells, and the brain, and helps you: Maintain sufficient energy reserves by acting as a metabolic fuel Conserve body heat by acting as an insulator Protect your internal organs and joints by acting as a soft, fluffy cushion Reproduce; adipose tissue fat cells and fertility are heavily linked to each other Normal essential fat values are pegged at 3 percent and 8 to 12 percent for men and women, respectively.

What should your body fat percentage be? Healthy body fat range for men For goal-setting, the healthy body fat percentage for men is between percent. Healthy body fat range for women It is recommended that women have a body fat range of percent for goal-setting. Different Types of Fat Storage fat can be further divided into two: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.

What is Subcutaneous Fat?