How do we get healthy? We talk a lot about “losing weight” or “burning fat,” but we don’t often talk about “getting healthy.” People seem to think that if they can just get that fat under control, they’ll be fine. But is that all it takes to be considered, “healthy?”
We probably think in terms like this because it’s been drilled into our heads that having an overabundance of body fat is a bad thing. They even gave us a handy little metric we can use to gauge how dangerous our body fat levels have become: The BMI scale.
BMI stands for Body Mass Index, and is the ratio of your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared, giving you a number like 26.3. You then take that number and compare it to the provided scale, where:
Underweight = <18.5
“Normal” weight = 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9 and
Obesity = 30+
And now you will see that at 183 and 5’10 with a BMI score of 26.3, I am overweight for my height, even though I’m sitting around 15% body fat, which is extremely healthy for a 52-year-old man. What gives?
That’s the problem with the BMI table. It only works for average people. For example, in High School I was the same height at 135 pounds. Most people would have called me “scrawny” (and they did back then), yet BMI-wise, that’s considered “normal weight.” BMI typically goes out the window for anyone with an athletic build.
So why do we even care about weight in the first place?
Who really cares if I weigh 135, 240, 168, or 183? Well, I should. The heavier I am, the more strain there is on my heart, and the more stress there is on my joints.
But, it works the other way, too. When we have too little body fat, we can’t properly regulate our hormone levels. It’s more challenging to maintain body temperature. Vitamins and minerals don’t absorb properly. When we’re under-fat, we might have lower energy levels and lower resistance to disease.
A healthy body fat range for men is between 10-22%, and for women 20-32%. That percentage can come at any body weight and height, though, so BMI isn’t really our best indicator of health.
Do you know what your body fat percentage is currently? Probably not. Most of us have bathroom scales to tell us what we weigh, but nothing to tell us what our body composition is.
Body composition, you’ve probably surmised, is how much of what tissues make up our overall total body mass. For example: total weight, body fat, muscle mass, bone mass, visceral fat, and water percentage. (Ok, water isn’t a tissue type, but it does account for a good chunk of overall weight.)
How do we get this information? There are a few different methods.
The absolute most accurate measure of body composition is an autopsy. This is also an incredibly invasive procedure as it requires that the patient already be post-mortem.
As for things we can use while we’re still alive, calipers can be used to pinch the skin to determine how much fat is present. You take samples from several different specific locations on the body, then run a little math equation to get your average.
Caliper testing is pretty accurate, but it can be challenging to pinch yourself in the right spots to get accurate readings. It helps to have a friend or coach do it for you.
Along the same lines as caliper pinch testing is circumference measurements, where you use a flexible tape measure to take readings from specific areas of the body. This tends to be less accurate as people with larger muscles also will have larger measurements.
There are more “automated” methods as well.
Hydrostatic weighing is also fairly accurate. Basically you fill a bathtub with water all the way to the rim, then get in and measure how much water your body displaced. (In other words, how much water dumped over the edge once you submerged yourself completely.)
There’s something called Bodpod which is essentially the same as hydrostatic weighing, except you’re doing it in a sealed air chamber. The technical name for this is “air displacement plethysmography,” and it’s also pretty accurate.
Systems also exist that will take a 3D scan of your body with dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Here, low-level x-rays at different frequencies are passed through your body. The rays slow differently in response to the different tissues through which they pass, giving you a clear look at your body composition. The machine must be expertly calibrated for the best results.
My favorite method, and the one that I use, is bioelectric impedance. There are different types and some are more expensive than others. The highest degree of accuracy comes from segmental scales. These pass a low DC electrical signal through your feet and your hands at the same time. Like the x-rays, different tissues slow the electrical signal at different rates, giving you an overall picture of your personal composition.
I personally use the Tanita Ironman RD-901 InnerScan Pro for this. [Not a paid advertisement.] It’s a non-segmental version of the scale, so it’s not quite as accurate. But it’s half the cost, making it the winner in my book.
Body composition isn’t everything though.
At Eclectic Well-being, we like to look at what we call, “deep health.” We want our clients to thrive in all aspects of the human condition. We focus on the whole person and their whole life.
That means we’re looking at multiple aspects of their health. We focus on physical health, how our bodies feel, function, and perform. But we don’t stop there.
We also look at mental and cognitive health. How well we can think, learn, and remember. What is our client’s outlook and perspective on life and the world? How much capacity do we have for insight and conscious awareness? How creative and flexible are we in terms of problem solving?
There’s emotional health, comprising our general mood and our ability to feel and express our emotions. Are we experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones? Do we respond to emotional challenges in a productive, resilient way?
We focus on existential or “purposeful” health. What’s your “why?” Do we have a strong sense of intrinsic self-worth? Do we feel like we’re a part of a larger picture? What is our purpose in life?
Social health also comes to bear. How well do we connect and interact with others? Are we maintaining fulfilling, authentic relationships? Do we feel like we “belong” to something?
And finally we look at environmental health, or the feeling of being safe and secure, feeling supported, and having access to the resources we need to survive and thrive.
That is what “being healthy” means to us.
A deeply healthy person is a person who is leading a well-rounded life. Because once you have that under control, the body fat percentage takes care of itself.
Seriously. Being overweight is a symptom of another area of your life being out-of-whack. Once we get that addressed, everything else falls into place.
So, do you want to keep addressing the wrong problem and try yet another diet? Or do you want to finally get this figured out?
Here’s some great news! Right now, you can get started with the Reboot program we’re partnering with Cultivus Fitness to deliver. It starts on 9/30, so you’ve got time to prepare.
For more information, check out: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=821172910195587&set=a.491199929859555
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