Having a high percentage of body fat increases your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Excess fat that is located in the abdominal or waist area raises the risk even higher than excess fat in other areas of the body. To help determine your risk of weight related health problems, several tools can be used including the measurement of your percentage of body fat; calculating your BMI; and measuring your waist. However these are three separate techniques that are all calculated differently.
Considerations
When it comes to weight and health, body weight is divided into two categories -- fat weight and fat free weight, which is made up of lean tissue, skeletal muscle and bone. A high percentage of body fat means you have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other chronic illnesses. To lower the risk of disease, men should aim to keep their body fat percentage between 10 and 22 and women between 20 and 32 percent.
Percent Body Fat
There are many ways to directly measure percent body fat. The most accurate techniques involve underwater weighing and a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Underwater or hydrostatic weighing compares your body weight on land with your body weight underwater and then special formulas are used to calculate your percentage of body fat. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry is similar to an X-ray and can show a trained physician what percent of the body weight is made of fat versus muscle. Both of the above require large and expensive pieces of equipment and they are not practical ways for most people to measure body fat percentages. Percent body fat can also be measured by pinching specific areas of the body and measuring with a skin caliper or by using a bioelectrical impedance scale or machine. However these last two methods are not the most accurate, according to the Weight-control Information Network, a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. They can be used to estimate percent body fat and track changes in the body that occur with dieting and exercise, but other tools should also be used to assess the risk of disease.
Waist Measurement
Simply measuring the waist will not provide an estimate of percent body fat, but it is a valuable tool in measuring your risk of developing weight related diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, having excess fat in the belly area raises the risk for developing type 2 diabetes, high blood cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease, even if your percentage of body fat is not overly high. General guidelines are that men should keep their waist measurement at 40 inches or less and non-pregnant woman should keep their waist measurement lower then 36 inches.
BMI
BMI or body mass index is a simpler tool that can be used to estimate percent body fat. It does not test percent body fat directly like the techniques in section two, but it is considered a reliable indicator for assessing the risk of developing weight related diseases. BMI uses weight and height to estimate your body fat proportion. BMI can be used alongside waist measurement to provide a more accurate assessment of disease risk. For adults BMI is calculated by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared. Then multiply the answer by a conversion factor of 703. To lower the risk for disease, the Cleveland Clinic suggests keeping your BMI between 18 and 25.
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