Body Composition and Body Fat

Body composition is the proportion of fat and non-fat mass in your body. A healthy body composition is one that includes a lower percentage of body fat and a higher percentage of non-fat mass, which includes muscle, bones, and organs.

Knowing your body composition can help you assess your health and fitness level. Often, you will measure your body composition at the start of a weight-loss or fitness program and then check it periodically to monitor your progress.

What Is Body Composition?

Your body is composed of two types of mass: Body fat and non-fat mass.1

• Body fat can be found in muscle tissue, under the skin (subcutaneous fat), or around organs (visceral fat). Some fat is necessary for overall health. This "essential fat" helps protect internal organs, stores fuel for energy, and regulates important body hormones. But you may also have excess storage of fat and non-essential body fat.
• Non-fat mass includes bone, water, muscle, organs, and tissues. It may also be called lean tissue. These tissues are metabolically active, meaning they burn calories for energy, while body fat is not.

Body fat percent is a measurement of body composition telling how much of the weight of your body is fat. The percentage of your body that is not fat is fat-free mass. There are normal ranges for body fat, which differ for men and women.

Weighing yourself on a regular bathroom scale does not assess your body composition. A regular scale cannot tell how much of your total weight is comprised of water, fat, or muscle. To know whether your body composition is healthy, you should get an estimate of your body fat percentage. You can do so by taking simple measurements and entering them into a body fat percentage calculator.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) gives the following ranges of values for different populations.

Athletes tend to have lower body fat, which may be beneficial for performance in sports such as running and cycling. But having an extremely low body fat percent is a health problem. For example, female athlete triad increases the risk of injury and health issues. It includes eating disorders, amenorrhea and decreased bone mass with an increased risk of stress fractures and osteoporosis.

If you are overweight or obese, you have an excessive amount of body fat and a high body fat percentage.

Factors Affecting Body Composition

Your body composition can also be influenced by factors you can't control:

• Age: People lose muscle mass as they age2 if they don't maintain it with sufficient weight training. This results in a slower metabolism.
• Sex: Women have more body fat than men as nature's way of preparing for pregnancy and nursing.
• Genes: These play a role in whether you are naturally lean or have a tendency to retain fat, including where you store it.
• Hormones: These can influence water retention and body composition.

Should You Change Your Body Composition?

If your body fat percentage is too high, you may want to try to decrease it to improve your health, athletic performance, and well-being. You may also be able to lower your risk of disease. If your body fat percent is below the level of essential fat, you may also want to make changes to bring it, as that will reduce your health risks as well.

To change your body composition for better health and fitness, aim to increase muscle mass and decrease excess fat mass. You can change your diet, start an exercise program, or combine both methods.

Sources: Very Well Fit