Why Know Your Percent Body Fat
FIVE REASONS FOR KNOWING YOUR BODY FAT
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It gives you a better measure of fitness than your weight alone. |
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It will give you a better idea of your health risk. Body Mass Index (BMI), a ratio of weight to height, is often used to assign health risk. But new data shows that BMI misclassifies about one out of four people and therefore should not be used in athletes, the frail elderly, and cannot be directly applied to children or adolescents. |
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It prevents you from being misclassified based on your weight. The scale can label you "overweight" even if you are not "overfat" or it can label you "normal weight" even if you have too much body fat. |
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It lets you know the composition of your weight loss when you are losing weight. Your health depends on losing body fat and preserving lean body mass. |
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It can help you identify fad diets that promote water loss and the loss of your lean body mass, especially muscle. |