Aloha to everyone!
Here I bring you a post about health, more specifically about body weight, that one that worries us so much until we become obsessed and that is what weight reason is, it is worth the overflow but not so important that our healthy life depends exclusively on losing weight.
In this post I would like to talk about the importance of weight, how to measure it and how to understand measurement values based on our objectives, to try to improve our lifestyle with knowledge of the cause, so here we go!
What is bodyweight? What is body mass?
As I mentioned in previous posts about the BMI Value (body mass index) and how to calculate it with a very simple formula including weight and the height, that serves to find if we are within a healthy profile.
The weight, on the other hand, would be that value that considering our age and height, will fit us within health standards, but what is most important is to know that it is not only a number that we have to reduce in any way since The weight is based on water composition, lean mass (free fat mass), fat composition ( body fat and visceral fat) and bone composition. Each person is a world, with a different metabolism if we are male or female (another topic to discuss), family genetics and lifestyle.
Generally, It is considered that:
- Lean Body Mass or musculoskeletal mass ( Free Fat Mass) its is 40% of the total body composition and it corresponds with the muscle mass and the healthy status of the protein component on our body. Bone Mass represents 14% of it.
- Body Fat Mass: it is composed of the necessary fat that our body needs, which is 20% of the whole body composition, a value that may vary with age and gender. For example, Men's are seating on 15% and Women's between 20-25%.
-Water Composition represents between 50%-55% in Womens and up to 60% in Men's, a data that it even bigger in kids.
Percentage of Musculoskeletal Mass
(American Councillor Exercise)
Now, it is very good to lose weight (if you need it), but more important is to know where you are losing weight. There are magical diets based on tea, shakes or combination of macronutrients that accelerate the value of weight loss and if you are not aware of its use in a responsible way, you may lose water that your body needs (some teas-based diets that they help reduce uncontrolled fluid retention) or shakes with macronutrients that promote meal replacement, altering the endocrine system, generally giving more work than normal to the kidneys where liquids are synthesized, rather than with food, work It is distributed between the different organs that are part of the digestion. That's why not everything goes for everyone.
Body Fat Levels according to age
Instruction Manual for Body Fat Meter (Gallagher et Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 72 set 20000)
Visceral Fat Levels
( Tanita Worldwide Scales)
And finally, diets that promote a certain type of nutrients by reducing the intake of important micronutrients such as carbohydrates or proteins, which can reduce the composition of muscle mass and bone mass (depending on age and individual profile), since if You add weight loss without exercise or without including strength work in your sessions, especially women, combining these types of diets, the results can very negatively affect the health of your own body in the long term.
As for how to measure weight and when, there are different shapes, scales that measure weight in general, bioimpedance scales, some more reliable than others and anthropometric measurement, which is based on the measurement of skin folds.
The biopendance scales, according to which brands, are the safest and work through two ports, one input and one output, which send an electric wave from the input port "scanning" your body until it reaches the other metal plate output And you will think that it is impossible, well we are composed of 50-60% of water, which is a good conductor of electricity, with this premise, it will give some values or others. There are some more precise with grips or even 3D waves.
Nutritionists and personal trainers often use them as a reference measure during a nutritional or exercise program, performing the same measure, the
the same day, at the same time and under the same conditions every 6-8 weeks, factors such as the period (do not measure it even 5 days before or after the period) or nutrient intake always affect the values.
Another option is the measurement of skinfolds (they are always the same measurements on the same places :chest, midaxillary, suprailiac, abdominal, triceps, subscapular, and thigh in performance sports or subescapular + suprailiac + abdominal in general population ) which are compared with subsequent data or using a formula. They are usually used by personal trainers, in my case I usually use them from time to time, but it is true that the values are of greater relevance for high-performance athletes, due to their accuracy.
In summary, weight loss should be controlled by professionals, there are many products on the market that can be of great help and are not dangerous to health, but would not be for sale, but from my point of view, nothing like a Balanced diet and exercise that is part of your long-term lifestyle having a responsible knowledge of how and where we are losing weight without risking our health, always without hurry but without pause, finding the lifestyle that suits you and your time.
I hope it has served you and by the way, visit my Instagram profile and don't miss tips and workouts!
A lot of healthy love!
Miriam Jimenez
References:
-Ángeles Carbajal Azcona. Departamento de Nutrición. Facultad de Farmacia. Universidad Complutense de Madridhttps://www.ucm.es/nutricioncarbajal/ Pages: 1-15
-Instruction Manual for Body Fat Meter (Gallagher et Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 72 set 20000)