More to our weight than meets the eye

When we jump on the scales, we can see that dreaded number as signifying nothing more than how fat we are.

We forget that our weight comprises a whole stack of anatomy that’s essential for our survival.

So let’s break it down and get a better grip on this number.

 

More than meets the eye

Myofibrils, neutrophils, odontoid processes, synovial membranes, corpus callosum, sarcoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus.

They might sound like strange, unearthly creatures. But you’ve got them all. Or more to the point, they all make up you.

They’re just a handful of the hidden structures that make up that number we see when we step on on the scales.

We’ve never seen them and have probably never heard of them. So we completely ignore the fact that they’re contributing our body weight.

They’re out of sight and out of mind.

Even things we’re well-aware of get disregarded when we step on the scales. Like your skin, liver or heart.

They all add up. In fact, all of these critical non-fat components make up the lion’s share of our body mass.

 

Fat-free

We see fat-free claims all the time. A quick saunter around the supermarket will bombard you with countless examples.

What we never hear is the fact that a healthy adult is around 75-80% fat-free.

To begin with, we all know our body is largely made up of water – even if we forget the precise percentage (about 60% by the way). But we don’t tend to take this into account when we think about our body weight.

Without even needing to crunch the numbers, we’d realise we’re a walking, talking water balloon. But if we did want to quickly do the math, we’d discover a 75kg person is lugging around a whopping 45kg of water.

So think about that next time you weigh yourself.

What about our bones? Anyone who’s been called overweight has used the old “big-boned” excuse. Well about 10kg of that 75kg person is their skeleton. It’s about 14% of our body weight so calculate for yourself.

Or our skin? It’s our biggest organ, stretching across the entire surface of our body. That’s got to add up? And it does. It’s about 15% of our body weight – roughly 11kg.

Even smaller pieces of anatomy make solid contributions. Our liver and brain, for instance, each weigh about 1.5kg.

As we can start to appreciate, our body weight is a reflection of a whole lot of very important pieces of our anatomy. If we’re going to rely on these pieces of equipment to live and function then we’ll have to deal with the fact that they’re going to make a mark on our body weight.

 

 

Fat

Now for the remaining portion – fat.

But don’t start freaking out just yet. Even fat isn’t all bad.

Part of our body fat is critical for our health and so is also an acceptable inclusion in our body mass. This is essential fat.

It’s the fat within and around our organs and tissues such as our brain, nerves, heart, lungs and liver. It serves to protect these vital structures, provide insulation and energy, assist in nutrient absorption and regulate hormones.

So even though fat is seen as the bad guy and the part we don’t want to see on the scales, it’s actually another non-negotiable part of our body and health.

But that leaves us with the type of fat that isn’t so essential – adipose tissue.

And as luck would have it, this is the part that we see.

It’s the fat that’s stored just under our skin. It’s the cellulite. The dimples and the orange peel. And it’s the fat that accumulates around the stomach and/or butt to give that stereotypical apple or pear-shape.

It’s the stuff we hate and the stuff we try to burn. And it’s what our mind latches onto when we step on the scales.

Although there’s no avoiding adipose tissue altogether, it’s the more unnecessary part of our body. It’s the cream on the top (metaphorically and fairly literally).

For some of us, the problem with adipose tissue is nothing more than not looking as great in a bikini as we’d like. For others of us at the other end of the continuum, adipose tissue is life-threatening.

 

Overfat not overweight

As we adjust our thinking around body weight, we also need to adjust our terminology. Being “overweight” isn’t necessarily an issue.

Many athletes find themselves in the “overweight” or even “obese” categories when body weight alone is used. Yet they’re lean machines.

It’s excessive body fat that’s the health issue. So we really need to get into the practice of thinking in terms of fat (even if the simple, descriptive word “fat” has become a little taboo).

In terms of our body weight, being overfat sees the percentages of fat and fat-free mass shift. As body fat increases, the ratios change.

When that fat-free mass starts dwindling from an overwhelming majority then it’s time to pay attention to your weight. Overweight and obese people can see their body fat contributing to more than a third of their body weight, which is clearly a far cry from largely those comprising those essential elements.

 

So how can we measure our body fat?

There are fancy techniques like hydrostatic weighing where you sit in a chair that gets lowered into water and then weighed, air displacement (or BOD POD) where you sit in an egg-shaped chamber, and CT or MRI scanning.

Each of these are highly accurate but also highly expensive.

For us average folk who don’t need to know our body fat to the nearest 1%, we can get a decent idea using scales that are just like regular bathroom scales. They estimate body fat by sending a current of electricity up one leg and down the other (and don’t panic, you won’t feel a thing).

It’s not the most precise technique but it will surely do for what we need.

 

What’s an acceptable and not-so-acceptable body fat level?

After you find out your body fat percentage, you can use the following tables, which provide the guidelines for healthy body fat levels from The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). This will allow you to see where you fit according to your age and gender.

Men	20 – 29 yrs	30 – 39 yrs	40 – 49 yrs	50 – 59 yrs	60 – 69 yrs	70+ yrs
Good	11.5 – 14.8	15.9 – 18.4	18.5 – 20.8	20.2 – 22.3	21.0 – 23.0	21.1 – 22.9
Fair	15.8 – 18.6	19.2 – 21.6	21.4 – 23.5	23.0 – 24.9	23.6 – 25.6	23.6 – 25.2
Poor	19.8 – 23.3	22.4 – 25.1	24.2 – 26.6	25.6 – 28.1	26.4 – 28.8	25.7 – 28.0

 

Women	20 – 29 yrs	30 – 39 yrs	40 – 49 yrs	50 – 59 yrs	60 – 69 yrs	70+ yrs
Good	16.8 – 20.0	17.5 – 21.0	19.5 – 23.6	22.3 – 26.6	23.2 – 27.5	22.6 – 26.3
Fair	20.7 – 23.5	22.0 – 24.8	24.6 – 27.4	27.4 – 30.0	28.3 – 30.8	27.1 – 30.0
Poor	24.4 – 28.6	25.8 – 29.6	28.3 – 31.9	30.7 – 33.8	21.5 – 34.4	30.9 – 33.6

 

*Body fat expressed as a percentage of total body mass. ** Adapted from Table 4.4 and 4.5: Fitness Categories for Body Composition (% Body Fat). ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 10th edition.

 

So next time you step on the scales, keep the bigger picture in mind. What does that number actually represent?

There’s a lot more to our body weight than meets the eye. And it’s not all bad. In fact, most of it is absolutely essential.

But if there’s a chance that adipose tissue is making an increasing contribution to your weight or that is already makes up a generous portion then focus on reducing this non-essential mass.

It’ll help you to enjoy a longer and fuller life.