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Why It's Important to Calculate Body Fat Percentage
Article care of mybodycomp.com
Why Calculate Body Fat?
When losing weight, it is important to understand where the lost weight is coming from. Body weight can be broken down into 2 parts - lean body mass and fat mass. Lean body mass consists of muscle, organs, bone, and water, while fat mass is just that - fat.
Fat is lighter by volume than lean body mass. In other words, a "cup" of fat is lighter than a "cup" of muscle. This means that you can actually lose weight but still be getting fatter. To put it simply, if you lost a "cup" of lean body mass and gained a "cup" of body fat, you would weigh less but have a higher, unhealthier, percentage of body fat.
This is the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve! In order for a diet or exercise program to be truly successful, it must maintain or increase your lean body mass while reducing your body fat.
It is important that when following any diet you carefully monitor your body fat levels.