What is Body Composition and Why Should I Care?

If you are trying to lose weight then understanding body composition is incredibly important. If your primary goal is to lose weight, then what you really mean to say is you want to, "lose excess body fat." You may think they are one in the same, but not necessarily. Most guys make the mistake of monitoring their fitness success by jumping on the bathroom scale and crossing their fingers for a smaller number. After you have a better understanding of body composition, you'll see why this isn't the best strategy.

The body is composed of bones, tendons, ligaments, organs, muscle, fat, and fluids. All of these components relate to one another in what is known as body composition. Body composition is the relationship between lean mass (all the non-fat tissues) to fat mass. Your body is composed of those two primary tissues - lean muscle mass and fat mass. For health reasons and to look better, you obviously want your body to be composed of more lean muscle mass than fat mass.

Muscle mass weighs three times more than fat does per unit of volume. What that means for you is that when you begin a new fitness program, especially if it emphasizes anaerobic exercise such as weight lifting, you are going to be displacing fat with more muscle. Basically, you are going to be changing your body composition for the better.

Here is where body composition gets interesting.  Because muscle weighs more than fat, you may not lose any weight and you may even gain weight as you become more fit!  The reason is because as you displace more fat mass with muscle mass, you'll naturally weigh the same or more but you'll actually look slimmer because you'll be leaner overall. This is why the bathroom scale isn't always the best tool to monitor your fitness progress.  A better way to measure your true success is to concentrate on your body fat percentage.

How to Change Your Body Composition is an excellent article by Christian Finn, a well-known Certified Personal Trainer.  In this article he provides a simple and effective method on how to change your body composition so you have more muscle than fat!

Body composition is very important to your overall health. Having a body composition comprised mostly of excess of fat can put you at serious health risks. A person is considered obese when their body fat composition exceeds 20% (30% in women). A body composition high in fat will generally mean more injuries and problems for people in their back, knees, and ankles. Most importantly, Coronary Heart Disease is a killer that is much more likely to strike if you have a body composition high in fat. But do not assume that all fat is bad! Some fat is essential to a healthy body composition as it helps with nerve conduction, organ cushioning, and insulation.

An average body composition will have between 12-20% fat for men and between 16-25% fat for women. If you decide to torture yourself with granola bars and carrots all day, you may find that you are actually doing more harm than good. Muscle is what is typically lost first when someone decides to try a low calorie diet.  The problem is compounded when exercise isn't part of the weight loss plan as well. The effects of low calorie diets, without any exercise, are disastrous to your body composition as it often results in more muscle loss than fat loss!

So why is that such a big deal - especially if you aren't trying to be a muscle bound freak in the first place? Whether you want to be a muscle-bound freak or not, muscle is muscle and it burns fat even when you are resting! The more muscle you have, the more body fat you'll burn. That doesn't mean you have to be a body builder in order to burn fat, it just means that whatever you weigh, you want your body composition to have a greater percentage of muscle than fat.

What happens when you lose more muscle than body fat is that you lose the very mechanism necessary to burn fat in the first place! The weight that you lost as a result of the muscle loss, will be gained back (and then some) because your body composition will be comprised mostly of fat and not the muscle necessary to keep it off.

Instead of concentrating on your total weight when setting your fitness goals, concentrate on your body composition instead by monitoring your body fat percentage. This will give you a much more accurate picture of how well you're doing.  Furthermore, your goals should include a healthy diet with adequate calories and a comprehensive workout plan comprised of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises.  By taking these steps, you'll achieve an ideal body composition that will leave you healthier, happier, and better looking!

Recommended Reading:

Body Fat Percentage - What is your body fat percentage? Knowing this is more important than stepping on the bathroom scale.
Body Mass Index (BMI) - What's your BMI score? Get your score and find out if you are underweight, normal, or overweight.
Body Fat Scales - Find out how these inexpensive and easy-to-use scales can help you measure your weight loss success.
Body Fat Calipers - Helpful tips on how to use them to get the most accurate measurements of your body fat percentage.
How to Lose 20 Pounds Really Really Fast! - Tom Venuto discusses the importance of losing fat vs. losing weight