The InBody analyzes your body composition by utilizing varying frequencies of a low- level currents to all four limbs of the body. This allows the direct measurements that are much more accurate than a device that utilizes a single frequency and applies it only to the legs.

Your weight is the first thing measured when stepping on the body composition analyzers. However, we know that your weight alone does not tell you much about your health or your body composition unless you also know your fat and muscle percentages.

Body Mass Index (BMI), a very general grouping is used a baseline for the general population based on height and weight. However, two people of the same height and weight can have very different relative proportions of body fat and therefore very different body compositions. In fact many professional athletes BMIs would put them in an obese category.

Lean Body Mass (LBM) is the total body weight minus the fat mass. The accepted normal range for LBM is dependent on the height and gender of the subject being measured. For males, the standard LBM is the amount of LBM that would give a BMI of 22 and a body of 15%. For females, the standard amount of LBM is the same BMI (22) and a body fat of around 23%.

Fat Mass (FM) is calculated by subtracting the LBM from the total body weight. The Percent Body Fat (%BF) is calculated by dividing the FM by the total body weight. The normal range for males is 10-20% and for females 18-28%.

Total Body Water (TBW) is what is actually measured to determine LBM. It is composed of all the non-fat weight of your body, both intracellular and extracellular. When the electric current is applied to your body, the lower frequencies travel around the cells and the higher frequencies through the cells.

Intracellular Water (ICW) is a measure of the amount of your TBW that is contained within the cell membranes of your tissues. In young healthy tissues, a greater proportion of TBW is in the cells.

Extracellular Water (ECW) is a measure of the portion of TBW outside of your cells as interstitial fluid. It is equal to the TBW minus the ICW. Changes in ECW can be temporary caused edema, the swelling of the legs that can occur in certain disease conditions, and also aafter standing for long perions of time.

Extracellular/Total Body Water (ECW/TBW) is a measure of the “quality” of your LBM. The lower the ratio, the healthier your LBM. It can help to diagnose health conditions even under the normal LBM, when in fact a higher than normal portion of it is ECW. For adults the ratio ranges between 0.36 to 0.39. However once levels exceed 0.40, it can be a an indication of a health condition.

SO WHAT IS BODY FAT?

We have fat spread throughout our body, but there is much more to body fat. Our body fat can be broken down in various ways so we have a better understanding of how to distinguish and manage your body fat.

ESSENTIAL FAT VS. STORAGE FAT

Body fat consists of essential body fat and storage fat. Essential body fat is critical to normal body function. It’s is found in the nerve tissues, bone marrow, brain, and organs (all membranes). As essential fats, we cannot lose this fat without compromising physiological function. It plays a significant role in overall health and as its name implies, it is essential for survival.  Reproduction and fertility Normal essential fat values are pegged at 3 percent and 8 to 12 percent for men and women, respectively. The higher fat ranges in women account for female-specific fat needs due to reproductive functions.

The roles for essential body fat include:

• Provides sufficient energy reserves
• Body fat acts as an insulator
• Internal organs protection

Meanwhile, nonessential or storage fat is fat that accumulates as energy reserves. Although there’s no official standard for acceptable body fat values, the acceptable ranges are 10-20 percent for males and 18-28 percent for women.  However, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has set a range of 10-22 percent in men and 20-32 percent in as they have an average percent body fat of 15% for men and 23% for women.

SUBCUTANEOUS VS. VISCERAL FAT

There is even more to understand about storage fat.  Storage fat itself can be further divided into two: subcutaneous and visceral. Although they’re both components of storage fat, they are different and function independently from each other.

Subcutaneous fat is the fat you can see, touch, and pinch as it is deposited underneath the skin. Because it’s visible and impacts body shape, this is the type of fat that typically motivates people to take action and improve their body fat composition.

The second type of storage fat is visceral fat. It is not invisible accumulates between your abdominal organs. That’s the type of fat that surrounds a number of important organs such as your liver, pancreas and intestines.  Most importantly, visceral fat is recognized as a worse health threat than subcutaneous fat. In fact, it’s considered a very strong and independent predictor of increased mortality in men.

Metabolic obesity happens when individuals accumulate too much visceral fat (regardless of whether you’re thin or obese), strongly increasing the risk for poor health, including related conditions such as heart disease.

HOW TO MANAGE VISCERAL FAT

Although genetics may influence visceral fat storage in the body. Other factors are known to increase your likelihood of increasing visceral fat accumulation. Some of these include excessive alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation and a lack of exercise, particularly inadequate aerobic (cardio) activity. Aerobic training of moderate or high intensity has the highest potential to reduce visceral fat among overweight individuals.

Body composition is the next big thing in health, medicine and fitness. With a clear understanding of your body composition, you can improve your health and change your life for the better. Simply put, you’ve got to know your body composition if you are in any way serious about managing your weight and improving your quality of life.

Simply stepping on a scale and measuring your weight unfortunatly is not an indicator of your quality of health. Scales are not able to distinguish between pounds that come from body fat, lean body mass, water or muscle. Obesity, the condition of carrying too much fat puts a person at risk for many serious medical conditions including heart disease, diabetes and even certain forms of cancer.

Regardless of your health and fitness goals, understanding your body composition will help you reach your health, wellness, and fitness needs with meaningful data points. For example, we provide full-page, in-depth results sheet detailing the muscle, fat, and water values of your body in minutes to help you understand, track and improve you fitness.

How is body composition measured?

Today, there are a variety of ways body composition can be measured. Some ways are inexpensive, though considered less than accurate, such as a hand-held device or bathroom scales. Historically, one of the more common methods has been uncomfortable skin caliper testing. This method is considered unreliable for people with significant amounts of body fat, and can be generally unreliable, unless measured by someone with a large amount of experience.

Ultrasound can be used, however it is somewhat limited as it can only measure external fat, and does not provide internal fat data, critical to understanding overall health. DEXA scanning (using a form of x-ray) and air or water displacement are very accurate and reproducible, however they are expensive and require far more time.

We use Direct Segmental Multi-frequency Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (DSM-BIA). With both accuracy and reproducibility, our equipment measures body water, muscle mass, and body fat by passing multiple frequencies of current through your body. This allows an extremely accurate measurement of body fat comparable to DEXA scanning but at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time.

How accurate is it?

Our equipment is designed by General Electric Healthcare, the same makers of DEXA scanning equipment.  The DSM-BIA has a 98% correlation with DEXA scanning along and superior reproducibility. The faster, less expensive and more convenient testing equipment provides highly accurate full body analysis. The equipment is used by healthcare and medical professionals at hospitals, universities, and professional facilities such as Mayo Clinic, National Institute of Health and the Navy Seals.

Our medical-grade BIA devices are able to measure the entire body directly, and can be extremely accurate – even as accurate as the “Gold Standard” procedures, but without the complications that other types of equipment enatil. We use the most advanced BIA devices that are able to perform segmental analysis providing data about your body (trunk, Right/Left Arm, Right/Left Leg), including water, fat and muscle.

How often should the test be done?

To really differentiate between significant changes, every 4 weeks tends to be a good point to pick up body composition changes.