keep a proper body weight It is highly recommended, not for aesthetics, but for health. And curiously, when we worry about our weight and we want to monitor it, what we do is get on the scale at home, but that value that we see there gives us very little information. If we increase the fat in our body, we will gain weight, but also if we gain muscle or if we lose a little fat while considerably increasing our muscle mass. So by measuring our weight we don’t know exactly what’s going on. And, really, do we care that much what the scale says? Or do we care more about the size we are wearing?
Know the body composition
In reality, we tend to be more concerned with volume because we want to look good and fit into our clothes, but since we are used to measuring our body mass with a scale, we also want to see that we stay within a certain numerical value. And we have this very internalized, so much so that there are those who are truly obsessed with a certain number for their weight and who feel panic when that value rises. And it is that even what is controlled when we go to the doctor, the nurse or the endocrinologist is the weight, which marks the scale and, at most, the body mass index, which is the relationship between our weight and our height, but that is very little information. Currently we know that we need more data to really know our body composition, especially fat mass, total and abdominal, and muscle mass, and see how it evolves over time or when making changes in habits.. If we consult, for example, with a dietitian-nutritionist, we will see that he will assess all of this to help us improve it.
Why is it convenient to assess body composition?
Because when we gain weight what happens to us is that we accumulate fat in the body and on many occasions we do not maintain our muscle mass and we even lose it along the way as the kilos increase. However, the kilos also increase in a person who trains hard and improves his physical form, but this is very different, since there is no increase in body fat. Fat mass and muscle mass are very different, the second is the one that has the capacity to burn calories and is also more compact. Muscle weighs more and fat occupies more volume, or what is the same, 1kg of muscle occupies much less volume than 1kg of fat. If we start to take care of ourselves and we are eating healthier and lighter and we also do physical activity, we may get on the scale and not see the expected result. If we have lost fat, but we have also increased muscle, the weight may not have changed much and that can frustrate us when, in reality, we are doing well. What really interests us is assessing body fat, which is what makes us see ourselves with extra kilos and also makes us more likely to get sick.
Muscle weighs more and fat takes up more volume
And how can we measure our body fat? There are some parameters that give us a good idea of it and that we can even measure ourselves at home.
waist circumference
It measures the circumference of our abdomen with a meter at the intermediate height between the end of the ribs and the end of the hip. Obesity is considered when we have more than 88cm for women and 102cm for men in abdominal circumference. So we should actually be quite below these values. However, the ideal value for each person can be highly variable depending, above all, on their constitution. For a man, being 90cm from the waist may be optimal, but for another it may be too much. That is why there are other values that are more useful.
Waist-to-height ratio
The waist will depend a little on our height, the ideal values will not be the same for a woman who is 150cm tall as for another who is 170cm tall. Many studies have evaluated this issue and it has been concluded that our waist has to measure less than half of what we measure height (all measured in centimeters). That is in a generic way but specifically the values in women and men differ a bit due to the different shape of our body. For them a waist-height index of more than 0.48 already indicates overweight and for them one of 0.52. And this is very easy to measure at home, we take a meter, we measure our abdominal circumference at the point indicated above, we divide it by our height and we verify that we are below those values.
That is what really matters, maintain or improve our muscle mass and reduce or maintain our body fat.
Waist-hip ratio
It is also useful, especially to assess excess abdominal fat not only in the abdomen but also in the hips. This index also indicates the type of obesity or fat accumulation that we have (gynoid or pear-shaped, more common in women, or android or inverted triangle-shaped, more common in men and post-menopausal women) . The result of dividing what our waist measures by the widest part of our hips should be between 0.71-0.84 in women and between 0.79-0.94 in men. Values above indicate android obesity because it means that our waist is too wide due to accumulated fat with respect to our hips. Values below indicate gynoid obesity that will indicate a greater volume of fat accumulated in the hips.
As we can see, there are many ways to assess whether our body mass is in healthy values For this reason, when you are concerned about your weight, in addition to weighing yourself, take measurements such as your waist and hip measurements to be able to assess the volume of accumulated fat and how you improve it over time, because, in reality, that is what what really matters, maintain or improve our muscle mass and reduce or maintain our body fat. And if you need help go to a professional who can advise you.
