Here's the skinny on body fat

Kristen Ganzhorn was just looking for a weight-lifting routine when she signed up with a personal trainer about 10 years ago.

As a distance runner, Ganzhorn, 40, considered herself athletic, and at 5 feet 7 inches tall, she was not much more than 120 pounds.

But when her personal trainer measured her body fat percentage, she was shocked to find 24 percent of her weight was made up of fat. That wasn't bad, but it was more than she expected.

``I had no idea at the time that there was a, what I call, skinny fat,'' the Solon resident said. ``It was definitely an eye-opener.''

While excess fat, which is associated with increased cardiovascular and health risks, usually is associated with people who are overweight, it also can be an issue for people of normal weight.

You can be of normal weight but over-fat, said Lonnie Lowery, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Akron and a board member of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists.

That's why body fat percentage is a better measure of fitness and weight-loss than weight or body mass index, which is a formula of height and weight, said Mark Feakes, health and fitness manager of Akron General's Lifestyles West fitness center and Ganzhorn's former personal trainer.

If Ganzhorn had measured her progress by the number she saw on the weight scale, she said she might not have thought her new routine was helping.

However, regular body fat measurements showed she was losing fat even as she was gaining weight and muscle, she said.

Body fat percentage is the percentage of your weight made up of fat. If you're 200 pounds with a body fat of 25 percent, that means 50 pounds of your weight is fat. The rest is lean tissue -- muscle, bone, organs and fluids.

For women, a body fat percentage of around 21 to 24 percent is considered fit; 25 to 31 percent is average and 32 percent and higher is obese.

For men, a body fat percentage of 14 to 17 percent is fit, 18 to 24 percent is average and 25 percent and higher is obese.

The average college-age man is about 17 percent body fat, and the average college-age woman is about 23 or 24 percent body fat, Lowery said.

The most accurate methods of measuring body fat are with MRIs or X-rays, experts say, and the least accurate is with circumference measurements of the waist and other sites, like those used by online calculators.

Some fitness centers use a bio-electrical impedance device that measures body fat by sending an electrical current through a person's body.

Those can be unreliable, however, because they require that users follow strict protocols with body positioning, hydration and room temperature, Lowery and Feakes said.

The two say the most practical while accurate technique for measuring body fat is skin-fold measurements with calipers that pinch body fat.

Lowery and Feakes recommend getting body-fat measurements at facilities based with universities or medical institutions, or contacting the nutrition or exercise physiology departments at universities for referrals.

If you want to try an online calculator, Lowery recommends one associated with a university or reputable medical source.

Still, even though excess body fat isn't good for you, it's not necessarily much of a health hazard if you're at a normal or ideal body weight, Lowery said. A variety of other factors affect health, including genetics and activity levels.

Losing fat will make you look better, though, he said.

Put two people of the same height and weight next to one other, and the person with the lower percentage of body fat and the higher percentage of muscle mass will look leaner or slimmer.

That's the reaction Ganzhorn said she's gotten from friends. She now weighs more than before -- 138 pounds -- but has a body fat of 12 to 13 percent and has continued to wear the same pants size as before.

If you're at a normal weight but want to lose body fat, Lowery suggested resistance training that builds muscle, which speeds up metabolism and burns fat. He discourages people of normal weight from trying dramatic dietary changes or losing weight, because they risk losing too much weight.

When it comes to aerobic exercise, slower sustained activity burns a higher percentage of body fat, Feakes said, but it's not necessarily better for fat loss. Fat loss ultimately comes from the amount of calories you expend, regardless of what activity you do, he said.

Experts recommend burning 1,000 calories per week through exercise, Feakes said.

Choose exercises in which you use more of your muscles and carry more of your weight, Feakes said.

Both losing fat and gaining muscle help unveil a killer body and keep you healthier longer.

So think about exercising, even if you're thin.

Posted by: Best Weight Loss Program