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
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