Hastings Chiropractic
An Olympians' Health LetterOctober 2010
Greetings!

Body Composition

I have 4% points to go!  As of right now, my weight is 170 pounds and I'm hovering right around 22% body fat.  Ideally, for my age, I should be somewhere between 11-22%.  I feel best at around 165 pounds and 18% body fat.  As a general rule of thumb, women want to be somewhere between 20-32% depending on your age and men somewhere between 10-22%.

Body composition is an excellent tool for determining your health.  Obesity is linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, and certain cancers.  The psychological effects of good body composition can't be overstated.  The way I feel about myself at 170 is vastly different than how I feel about myself at 185.  Optimal body composition should be everyone's first line of defense against the myriad of chronic diseases that afflict our society.  To use it as a tool you need a starting point.  You need to know what your body composition is and have an accurate way to measure it to measure progress.

There are a lot of different metrics used to measure body composition, but personally I feel that % body fat is the best indicator.  BMI, or body mass index, is another tool but not nearly as accurate.  BMI does not differentiate between fat and lean muscle.  Therefore, people who have a high muscle content come out as being obese.  "Skinny" fat people come out better than they should.

Here at the office I use an impedance scale to measure % body fat, water composition, lean muscle, and BMI.  The numbers I find most useful are the water content, lean body composition, and of course the % body fat.  My scale is pretty low tech, but when I compare it to the $3,500 machine we use down at Sojourns, the numbers are within a percentage point.

So I'm at 22%, just under being considered overweight.  I don't have much flab, in fact, I'm quite toned.  But I don't kid myself.  I have lots of people, who like to believe they're 10%.  I used to be 10% when I was on the US Ski Team, working out 4-6 hours a day, and weighing in at 150.  Those days are long gone!  But if I could get down to 18%, that would feel great.

Did I make you curious? 

If I did, I'm offering a free body composition exam.  Jump on my scale and I'll tell you where you are at.  Give Michele or me a call at (802) 295-4800 and we'll schedule you in for your free reading.

If you find that your composition is not where you would like it, there is still room in my fall cleansing class starting on October 18th.  The class will meet every Monday evening from 6-7:30 for 5 weeks.  I will be utilizing Isagenix products which I have been using myself for the past 5 months with fantastic results.  The class will also cover optimum foods for your metabolic type and appropriate exercises for your body shape.

Be well, I look forward to hearing from you & working with you to achieve your goals !

Chris


Hastings Chiropractic
289 Main Street, Burton House

Norwich, VT 05055
(802)295-4800
www.hastingschiropractic.com
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