Body fat is generally the amount of fat your body contains. While it is essential to keep track of your body fat when on a fitness program, you must know, not all body fat is harmful to your health. The three main types of fat cells in your body include beige, brown and white cells. These are stored as visceral, subcutaneous, and essential fats. Some fat is good for your body’s metabolism. At the same time, some are dangerous to your health as it can expose you to lifestyle diseases such as heart conditions, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension, among others.

For the best results, you should always keep track of your body fat using modern equipment to determine your health status in relation to your body fat. You should know that there are people who appear fat but are very healthy, and there are those that appear slim but are unhealthy. Here is more information that you can learn from your body fat percentage.

Body Mass Index

Body fat percentage measurement will tell you your BMI index. This is the ratio of weight to your height. This information tells you whether you are over or under the weight. A BMI index that is greater than 25 tells you that you are overweight, while that over 30 indicates that you are obese.  Normal weight is usually between 18 and 24. When you have a BMI below 18, you are underweight and could be malnourished or sick.

In measuring body fat, you can also check your waist circumference to determine your body fat percentage. A waist circumference that is more than 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women means that you are overweight. Such a big waist indicates that you have excess fat and could be at risk of various lifestyle diseases and conditions. An oversize weight is an indication of a high amount of visceral fat. BMI, however, is not a clear indication of whether a person is healthy or not. It varies in different people and might give a false indication of the state of a person’s health. It is always essential that one measures their body fat percentage in addition to measuring their BMI.

You must know the kind of fat you have in your body to help you initiate a behavioral change. Many people have a misconception that consuming foods high in fat is the only way one can accumulate fat in their bodies. This assumption is not entirely correct. There are dietary fats that the body needs for metabolism and boost your hormone levels. Consuming foods high in refined sugars and other processed foods is the cause of bad or unhealthy fat that the body mostly stores as visceral fat. Measuring body fat percentage using advanced measuring equipment lets you tell the difference between good and bad fat and informs how to burn excess fat.

You should also know that any calories consumed that the body does not utilize for its metabolism will be stored as fat. When you are on a fitness and weight loss program, the only way of losing weight is to ensure that you burn more calories than you consume. To achieve this, you should incorporate a regular exercise program into your diet program. If you want to determine the number of calories you are burning vis-a-vis those you are consuming, you can simply get this information by measuring your body fat percentage. The amount of fat absorbed in the body shows the calories your body has consumed on that particular day. An effective way of losing weight is a diet high in protein, small portions of complex carbohydrates and fiber, and regular exercise. Body fat measurement, in this case, is a guide towards your calorie intake and the amount you burn.

Muscle Density

Measuring your body fat percentage is also a good way of telling you about your muscle density. Many people focus only on losing weight, forgetting that they also need to tone and strengthen their muscles in good shape and overall good health. Measuring body fat also indicates the status of your muscles. If you incorporate regular exercise with a proper diet, you should expect to have lean and strong muscles with low body fat, which indicates good health. Keeping your body fat low and your muscles lean and healthy is the best way of maintaining your fitness.