Episode 164: Decoding Your Body Composition Report

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on

[00:00:05] track and stay on track with your weight loss journey.

[00:00:09] I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly, so let's get started.

[00:00:27] Have you ever stood on your scale and looked at the body fat percentage and think, okay,

[00:00:33] what does this really mean?

[00:00:36] Well, I definitely have.

[00:00:37] And it is one question that I get in my practice almost every day, which is, how do you read

[00:00:44] this body composition report?

[00:00:47] What does this all mean?

[00:00:48] And so today, I wanted to take some time out to talk about how to decode your body

[00:00:54] composition analysis.

[00:00:56] And if you're considering one, this episode will help you understand what the numbers

[00:01:01] mean and how you can use this information to guide your fitness and wellness journey.

[00:01:07] Welcome to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast.

[00:01:11] I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly, and I'm so glad to be here today to talk about how

[00:01:16] to decode your body composition report.

[00:01:21] Now the first thing we have to answer is what hits a body composition report?

[00:01:28] Now body composition refers to the percentage of fat versus bone and muscle in your

[00:01:34] body because our bodies all made of different compositions.

[00:01:38] And the question is, what does it all mean?

[00:01:40] And what does it mean for me?

[00:01:42] So we'll get into that in a little bit.

[00:01:44] But the difference between a body composition versus just standing on a scale is that the

[00:01:50] scale just tells you what your weight is.

[00:01:53] But the body composition which tells you how much fat you have, how much muscle you

[00:01:57] have can actually be beneficial in telling you or sharing with you what's your risk

[00:02:03] of developing heart disease?

[00:02:04] What's your risk of having multiple medical complications down the line?

[00:02:09] And so it also kind of gives you a look at what are some things you need to change

[00:02:13] and improve on to help prevent those medical complications.

[00:02:17] The one example I kind of give to my patients that happen to understand

[00:02:22] body fat and the body composition means a lot.

[00:02:26] And when you look at people like the raw who is all muscle, literally what, you know,

[00:02:32] just a little bit of fat, you can see that actually based on his weight,

[00:02:37] he would be considered to be a person living with obesity.

[00:02:40] But if you look at his body composition, the man has a little bit of fat.

[00:02:46] I don't know how much his body fat sedges, but it's probably very low.

[00:02:49] And his risk of having fat surrounding his organs, fat being stored in the blood vessels,

[00:02:56] or basically fat around the abdomen or visceral area, which can increase your risk

[00:03:00] of having heart disease, strokes and all of these conditions.

[00:03:05] It's low for him.

[00:03:06] It's low because his body fat is low.

[00:03:08] And you would not know that if you just looked at his weight.

[00:03:12] Now, like I mentioned before, heavy excess body fat has been linked to many diseases,

[00:03:17] such as the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many more.

[00:03:22] And when we look at the body fat percentage, that is defined as how much of your body is made up of

[00:03:27] fat versus bone and muscle.

[00:03:29] And a good example is if you have a body fat percentage of 25%,

[00:03:33] then that means one quarter of your body is composed of fat and 75% of your body

[00:03:38] is composed of bone and muscle.

[00:03:41] Now the average healthy body fat range between 20 to 31% for women

[00:03:46] and 18 to 24% for men.

[00:03:49] This average does not consider age or athletic status.

[00:03:53] However, and I'll post in the show notes, there aren't guidelines on what's the optimal body

[00:03:58] fat based on your age and your gender.

[00:04:02] So definitely look at the show notes to see where you are as far as in that range.

[00:04:07] Now, what is the difference between BMI and body fat?

[00:04:11] You may be thinking.

[00:04:11] So BMI stands for body mass index and it's simply just the ratio of your weight to your

[00:04:19] height.

[00:04:19] And that tool helps us to indicates what your weight status is, whether you're in the

[00:04:24] underweight category, a normal category, overweight and obesity category.

[00:04:31] And the two categories are if your BMI is less than 18.5, you're considered in the

[00:04:36] underweight category.

[00:04:37] If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, then you're considered in the normal category.

[00:04:43] If you're 25 to 29, you're considered in the overweight category 30 to 34.9.

[00:04:50] You're considered in the obese class one category obesity class one.

[00:04:54] If you're in the between 35 to 39, you're in the obesity class two.

[00:05:00] And if you're more than 40 DMI, you're considered in the obesity class three.

[00:05:05] And what does that all mean?

[00:05:06] Well, the higher the obesity class, the higher your risk of mortality is.

[00:05:11] And the reason being is that with extra weight, it can lead to more risk factors,

[00:05:15] not just diabetes, high blood pressure, but it can even increase your risk of cancer.

[00:05:20] So it's important to kind of have a plan and we'll talk about this a little bit later,

[00:05:24] as far as how you can live a more healthier life as well to help reduce those risks.

[00:05:29] Now let's talk about how do you measure body composition?

[00:05:34] Now there are different methods that are out there.

[00:05:36] There's some methods that have been out there for a while, such as your skin calipers.

[00:05:40] So skin calipers, you may have seen this, but basically a health professional will use

[00:05:46] calipers that kind of measure your skin full thickness.

[00:05:49] So measures the areas where stored fat is commonly found.

[00:05:52] Now with good technique, skin calipers can be very fairly accurate.

[00:05:57] But of course if somebody is not as used to using it, it may not be as accurate.

[00:06:02] Now the measurements that are usually done are at the stomach,

[00:06:06] this side of the torso, the chest area, the upper thigh area,

[00:06:11] beneath the shoulder blade back here, your hip and then your triceps or upper arms.

[00:06:16] And like I said, you know, the accuracy is based on the person who's doing the measurements.

[00:06:22] So you want to make sure you have somebody who knows what they're doing.

[00:06:25] The next thing that we use is kind of like your body circumference or looking at your

[00:06:29] waist circumference, which is basically getting a measuring tape and just carrying it around your

[00:06:35] abdomen to see where you are. This technique actually looks at how much fat is in your abdomen

[00:06:42] or visceral area. And basically the more visceral fat that you have, that can put you at more

[00:06:49] risk for cardiovascular disease. So it is important to kind of reduce that stomach fat as best as

[00:06:55] you can. But a lot of the other body parts that they use circumference is not only just the waist,

[00:07:00] but the arms, the chest, the thighs and the hips. You can write that down and keep a journal of

[00:07:05] where you are. The next method is your bioelectric impedance. Now this analysis sends

[00:07:12] an electrical current through your body and then measures the speed at which they track.

[00:07:18] And it's the easiest method of measuring your body fat after the skin calibers,

[00:07:23] but the accuracy is only 50. So it's not 100%, but it's best for monitoring changes. So a lot of times

[00:07:30] we have these scales that give us our body fat and body water. I like to use them as how can I see,

[00:07:37] am I getting better? Am I getting worse? You know, versus because they may not be quite as accurate

[00:07:42] or fairly accurate, but it's good to kind of see that change as you lose weight. And as far as

[00:07:48] the accuracy is with the bioelectric impedance, it definitely depends on how hydrated you are.

[00:07:54] If you drink too much water before the test, you can appear leaner than you are.

[00:07:59] If you are dehydrated, the test may say that you have more body fat than you do.

[00:08:03] So it is important to make sure that you are hydrated. The next way that we look at

[00:08:09] body composition is air displacement or the body part where you're sitting there in the body

[00:08:14] part and a machine that looks like an AEG. And they're basically measuring how much air your body

[00:08:21] displaces when you're in this machine. And it helps them to calculate your body density,

[00:08:25] which you can figure out your body fat level after that. Two more other ways how we look at

[00:08:31] body composition. One is through the dual x-ray absorptometry or the dexa scan is a low-level

[00:08:38] x-ray that finds out how much fat, muscle and bone are in your body. It's quick and also includes bone

[00:08:44] in the assessment so you can see if you have osteopenia, osteoporosis, but many people do like

[00:08:50] the bone density and it is actually quite helpful in measuring muscle mass. The last one is your

[00:08:56] underwater weighing. When you're underwater, your lean tissue will sink and your fat floats.

[00:09:02] And people with a higher amount of body fat weigh less underwater. And your underwater weight helps

[00:09:08] you estimate how much fat mass you have. And so the hydrostatic weighing measures not only the water

[00:09:14] displacement when somebody is fully submerged in water because like I said before, fat floats and

[00:09:20] lean tissue sinks the water. And the more lean body mass you have, the heavier you'll be

[00:09:25] underwater. And hydrostatic or underwater weighing is considered kind of a gold standard

[00:09:30] for assessing body composition until other methods like the dexa scan are developed.

[00:09:35] Now that we kind of know how we get our body composition report, the question is what does it

[00:09:41] all mean? So here's an example of the body composition report that we do at our office.

[00:09:47] Now with this report, it actually is a paper that prints out we use the bioelectric impedence

[00:09:53] because it's just a little bit easier to do in the office. And so the first thing that we see

[00:09:58] here that it has the patient's weight, height, where their BMI is at the moment. And then it breaks down

[00:10:04] to what their fat mass is or their body fat is percentage. And with that percentage, it tells

[00:10:11] you kind of not only their body fat percentages but how many pounds that would be considered and

[00:10:16] then in kilograms as well. And so you can kind of see where you are. Body fat mass is

[00:10:21] basically the total amount of fat in your body. And body fat mass can increase as with age in both

[00:10:28] men and women through middle age and it's slowly decreased after the age 70. This is the one complaint

[00:10:33] I get from our patients is that as they start to enter into that middle age, they notice that

[00:10:38] they're starting to get more body fat in their abdomen area. They're starting to find that it's

[00:10:44] harder to lose weight. And a lot of it's just the you know, your body aging but then also

[00:10:49] two hormones as well play a role. Even in those people whose body weight does not increase with age,

[00:10:55] the body fat can still increase as lean body mass decreases. The one thing we worry about,

[00:11:01] especially in our seniors is that as they start to lose weight, they can lose muscle too.

[00:11:07] And that body muscle can make them weaker, can make them at risk for falling fractures,

[00:11:13] things of that nature. So it is important that as you are trying to lose weight,

[00:11:16] that you're also looking at your body fat to make sure you're still maintaining.

[00:11:20] I sometimes have people that, that you know, don't like to do straight training. And so sometimes I

[00:11:25] have to say, Hey, you don't need to be on all sorts of nigger. You just need to be able to

[00:11:30] tone to help maintain and keep the muscle you are. Now fat mass can be closely linked

[00:11:37] to metabolic risk factors like I mentioned before a lot of health diseases such as if you have

[00:11:42] too much fat mass, you can lead to higher triglycerides, lower HDL or good cholesterol or high

[00:11:48] dizzy lipoprotein cholesterol, which helps with protection of the heart. You can have higher

[00:11:53] blood pressure impaired fasting glucose diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Also having more of

[00:12:00] that abdominal fat or that this real fat can also push you at increased risk for coronary heart

[00:12:05] disease or type two diabetes. Now the lean body mass actually is a combination of muscle,

[00:12:12] bone, organs and water because that's the other part of your fat and you have everything else.

[00:12:17] And that lean body mass is there. And my period that we have it just looks for muscle mass.

[00:12:22] So kind of gives you the muscle, the pounds of muscle mass that you have. And so that allows

[00:12:27] you to kind of keep monitoring it. The next thing we talked about body fat percentage,

[00:12:32] which is basically fat mass divided by your total body weight is your percentage of how much

[00:12:37] and then the visceral fat is the fact that stored around the organs and in your mid

[00:12:42] mixed midsection. And like I said before, excessive abdominal fat can lead to dramatic

[00:12:47] increases in health risk. And they can include diabetes, heart disease, colon, breast and

[00:12:52] several other cancers. Losing belly fat may be the one important thing you can do to live

[00:12:57] longer and healthier. And then the last thing that is on my composition report here is your

[00:13:03] metabolism or your basal metabolic rate. This is the number of calories your body needs to rest

[00:13:10] at a needs at rest to maintain basic function like for your lungs to breathe, your heart to beat,

[00:13:15] you need so many different calories. The funny thing is because some of my patients are on

[00:13:20] certain anti-obesity medications, they don't feel the urge to eat and so they don't.

[00:13:24] And then they feel like, Hey, I'm not eating less. I'm doing good. But what they don't realize is

[00:13:30] that sometimes if they're eating too less than they can go into starvation mode and their body

[00:13:35] will hold on to the weight and won't burn. And so that metabolism calories kind of tells you,

[00:13:41] you know, how many calories your body needs if you were resting and in bed on it. But if

[00:13:46] you're doing light activity, it's a little bit higher if you're doing moderate activities,

[00:13:49] a little bit higher. So it's important that you get your calories in your body is not going to starvation

[00:13:55] mode. And then of course the muscle mass is important for increasing muscle and strength and can also

[00:14:02] help with weight management too. So the one thing I would say when you're looking at that body

[00:14:07] composition report, you're asking yourself, what does this all mean? I want you to compare it

[00:14:12] to your other ones. So each week as you're doing your body composition report, whether it's on

[00:14:16] your scale or whether it's at the doctor's office, you want to compare to where you were before.

[00:14:20] And you may be so surprised at how much you've been able to accomplish just with doing a little bit

[00:14:27] of losing weight and just seeing that difference on the body composition report. So it's important

[00:14:31] to check it. You know, if you have concerns about your body composition report, definitely

[00:14:36] talk with your doctor about it so that they can kind of walk you through it. But the other

[00:14:41] thing is make sure you set goals about how can I help with improving my weight? How can I help

[00:14:46] with improving my health? I know that sometimes we can get so busy, you know, a lot that we have to do,

[00:14:52] but it's still important that we take time out for ourselves and make sure that we live a more

[00:14:56] healthier life. And then if you need to feel free to consult a professional, somebody who can

[00:15:02] help you with managing your weight and just explaining the body composition report as well.

[00:15:08] So in recap, we talked about how to decode that body composition report. What does it all mean?

[00:15:14] Why is it important? Feel free to if you have any questions to send me a question in the comments,

[00:15:20] don't forget to like and subscribe this episode. Thank you so much for your time.

[00:15:25] And I hope the next time you get that body composition report, you feel a little bit

[00:15:29] more confident. Alright, we'll see you next time.