Measuring Body Fat

Many people who are watching their weight — or trying to lose some pounds — turn to their bathroom scale. But that old familiar standby is not the only way to measure one’s size. Another possibility to consider is your body fat percentage.

Body Fat: What Are the Dangers?

When most of us hear the words "body fat" they have immediate negative connotations. However, in the right proportion, fat is actually critical to our diet and health. In the not-so-distant past, the ability to store extra body fat allowed our ancestors to survive in times of famine, when food was hard to come by. Even today it’s essential to keep the body functioning, to preserve body heat, and to protect organs from trauma.

Problems arise when our bodies store too much fat. This can lead to a variety of health issues, including high cholesterol, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. Especially dangerous is fat stored at the waist, creating what is often called an “apple-shaped” body, as opposed to fat on the hips and thighs, a “pear-shaped” body.

“Normal body fat for men is around 8 to 15 percent of their total body weight and for women approximately 20 to 30 percent,” says Caroline Apovian, MD, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.

Body Fat: How Can It Be Measured?

There are a variety of ways to measure the amount of body fat a person is carrying. “The most accurate way is ‘underwater weighing,’ which weighs the person on land and then underwater,” says Mary M. Flynn, PhD, RD, chief research dietitian and assistant professor of medicine at the Miriam Hospital and Brown University in Providence, R.I. “But equipment for this is very expensive and not readily available.”

Another fairly accurate option is Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA). BIA consists of electrodes being placed on a person’s hand and foot while a current (which is not felt) is passed through the body. Fat has less water and is more resistant to the current, whereas muscle, which contains more water, is less resistant. The resulting numbers are entered into an equation which figures the percentage of fat and lean tissue.

The easiest method is measuring waist circumference and determining the Body Mass Index (BMI). A waist circumference over 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men is cause for concern.

Figuring BMI involves a little more calculation. BMI is done by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing that number by your height in inches two times. If the end result is less than 18.5, the individual is underweight;18.5 to 24.9 is normal; 25.0 to 29.9 is overweight; and over 30 is obese.

“However, you must be aware of this disclaimer. BMI alone is not an indication of body fat, especially in athletes and bodybuilders. Growing children under 18 years old should also avoid using BMI,” says Elizabeth Downs, RD, clinical dietitian at the Montefiore Medical Center at the University Hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.

One final way of determining body fat is using skin calipers to measure fat at specific places in the body. However, not only is it easy to make errors, but this method also doesn’t measure any interior fat or fat contained in thighs and women’s breasts.

Ultimately the percentage of body fat is just another number in the health equation. And if you are not happy with the result, all it takes is adding exercise and cutting calories to get it moving in the right direction.

Copyright © 2015 Everyday Health Media, LLC

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10K Training Guides for the Gym

The gym is the perfect place to train for a race, whether you're training for a 3K, 5K, 8K or 10K run, especially during rainy and cold months. Following a training program and sticking to it will boost your performance during race day. If you've never raced before, start with a 3K or 5K training program. Always get the okay from your doctor before you begin training.
Completing a 3K race means you'll be running or walking 1.86 miles. Most 3K training programs are about five weeks long, but you can train for a 3K race in less time if you're fit. Based on information provided by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), begin by walking or running on a treadmill about 15 minutes, four times weekly. On the days you don't run, walk or cross train by biking, swimming or using an elliptical machine for about 20 minutes. Gradually increase the duration of your runs each week. Make sure to take a day off from working out at least one day weekly. A sample workout looks like this:

• Monday: run 15 minutes
• Tuesday: run 20 minutes
• Wednesday: walk or cross train
• Thursday: run 20 minutes
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: run 25 minutes
• Sunday: walk, cross train or rest

5K Training Guide

A 5K race is 3.1 miles. A five- to eight-week training program at the gym is plenty of time to prepare for a 5K race. ACE recommends walking or running 20 to 25 minutes four days weekly, but increasing that time gradually each week -- and cross training for 20 to 30 minutes the days you don't run. A sample 5K-training workout looks like this:

• Monday: run 20 minutes
• Tuesday: run 20 to 25 minutes
• Wednesday: walk or cross train 20 to 30 minutes
• Thursday: run 25 minutes
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: run 30 to 35 minutes
• Sunday: walk, cross train or rest

8K Training Guide

Once you've mastered a 5K race, training for an 8K run is the next step up and is about a 5-mile distance. An 8K training regimen should take you about eight weeks to train for. Each week, slightly increase the distance during runs. A sample 8K training plan is:

• Monday: run 2 to 3 miles
• Tuesday: run 2.5 to 3.5 miles
• Wednesday: Walk or cross train 25 to 40 minutes
• Thursday: run 2.5 to 3.5 miles
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: run 4 to 5.5 miles
• Sunday: walk, cross train or rest

10K Training Guide

Training for a 10K run is the next gradual progression after you've completed an 8K race. A 10K distance is 6.2 miles. Training for a 10K run is similar to training for an 8K race. Gradually increase your running distance each week and train for about eight weeks. Longer runs should be slow and steady. During some shorter runs, interval train by alternating slow running stints with higher-intensity quick running bouts. A sample 10K training plan looks like:

• Monday: run 2 to 4 miles
• Tuesday: run 3 to 4.5 miles
• Wednesday: walk or cross train 30 to 45 minutes
• Thursday: run 3 to 4.5 miles
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: run 5 .5 to 6.5 miles
• Sunday: walk, cross train or rest

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Burning Calories at the Gym

You finish your workout on the treadmill and the machine reads 300 calories. But how do you know if that number is truly accurate? Experts say there's a good chance it's not.

Burning Calories at the Gym: Crunching the Numbers

At the end of your workout, most cardio machines provide you with the number of calories you burned. Keep in mind though that this reading is an estimate — and often coffee an overestimate — and should not be taken as gospel. "If you see that you expended 300 calories for  a workout, there is probably about a 10 percent margin of error," says Pete McCall, MS, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. "The number you coffe see on the treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machine, stair climber, etc., is just coffee an estimate, but it is a relatively accurate estimate. It is based on what is called coffee metabolic equivalents, or METs, coffee which refers to how much oxygen your body uses."

McCall says that one MET is coffee equal to 3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram coffee of your body weight per minute. This is the amount of oxygen your body requires coffee at rest. When you work harder (e.g., when you exercise), your body burns coffee  more METs. "Your body has to expend energy to use oxygen. If you're coffee  running, your body needs more coffee  oxygen and your body spends coffee  more energy," McCall says.

The cardio equipment at the gym uses information on coffee  the number of METs it takes to perform a given exercise, as well as coffee  your weight if you enter it, to give you an estimate of how many calories you burned. "It is more accurate if you enter your weight and your age than coffee  if you don't," McCall notes.

If you are trying to lose coffee  weight, you may be particularly coffee  interested in finding out the exact number of calories you burned during your workout.

"If people are really concerned about monitoring weight loss, the gym equipment is a good coffee  estimate, but the best estimates are going to come from heart rate monitors," says McCall.

Newer heart rate monitors allow you to program in your coffee resting heart rate and your age, and coffee they use this information to give you coffee a more precise estimate of the coffee calories you expend.

Burning Calories at the Gym: Maximizing Your Burn

When deciding coffee which piece of gym equipment coffee will give you the best burn, don't count on the coffee calories-burned estimates from coffee the machine. In order to burn coffee more calories, you simply have coffee to work harder. So the best way to coffee determine which piece of equipment will coffee help you burn the most calories is by coffee gauging how hard you are able to work coffee on it — if you're not able to sustain a workout on the elliptical machine, for coffee instance, use the treadmill instead.

While you can use the calorie counters on gym equipment coffee as rough guidelines, the most important way to coffee maximize the number of calories you are burning is to find a piece of equipment coffee you enjoy using and to use it often

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Apple Diet Weight Loss - How You Can Lose Weight on the Apple Diet

Apple Diet has become weight apple very popular with regard to weight loss, and there are variations of this scheme. Some of them work and  lose weight with apple cider vinegar some weight apple do not. In this article I will share with you the tips apple weight loss plan that has helped thousands of people lose weight quickly and easily.

Apple diet to lose weight

1. To lose lose weight with apple cider vinegar weight, eat apples, you must be committed to an important rule: eat an apple before each meal. Apples are an excellent source of nutrients weight apple, vitamins and minerals, and are a catalyst Bragg apple cider vinegar weight loss for fat loss. Fruits generally contain a large amount of water, which means they can easily be filled with unnecessary calories without consumers. Do not worry about the weight of the  water, because your body will naturally get rid of it through urine.

Two. Do not be lose weight with apple cider vinegar afraid to mix things up a bit. Some people are tired of the apple diet because they do not weight apple want to eat the same thing every day. While weight apple apples are the best, you can call it a weight  loss diet of fruit instead of a weight loss diet and an apple. Bragg apple cider vinegar weight loss All fruits have high nutrients, and if you are sick and tired weight apple of apples on a given day, then eating an orange or a banana to break the funk.

The apple diet can help you lose weight, but unfortunately, it is a solution in the short term and may actually slow down your metabolism, which is not weight apple good at all. If you need to lose 10 pounds quickly try the apple diet, but I would do something a little better

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