When it comes to measuring weight loss, most of us rely on the weighing machine to tell us whether we've lost or gained weight. But, as people are fast learning, this isn't the most excellent method to keep track of your weight. A scale measures all including muscle, fat, bones, and what you ate or drank that particular day. It doesn't tell you what you actually want to know, how much fat you have.




Popular methods for measuring body composition

DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry):
This examination is used to measure bone density, but it also measures body fat percentage as well as where most of your fat is. The details about DEXA are. It uses a full body scanner and two different low-dose x-rays to read bone mass and soft tissue mass, which takes about 10-20 minutes to do a body scan. This is considered a good standard for measuring body fat and bone density. It's trouble-free. First check with your doctor to see if this is right for you. The price is generally about $100.

Hydrostatic Weighing:
This is a cool way of saying underwater weighing. Similar to DEXA, this test is one of the more correct ones. The way it works is: You sit on a scale within a tank of water and blow out as much air as you can. You are submerged underwater, where you blow out even extra air. Since fat is lighter than water, the additional fat you have, the more you'll float. The scale measures underwater weight to give out body mass. The scope of error is around 2-3%, but the accuracy depends on the amount of air you force out. You have to blow it all out or it won't be as exact. This is not an easy way to measure body fat since it can be uncomfortable and even frightening to be dunked underwater with no air in the old lungs.

Conclusion

Body composition is basically the ratio of lean body mass to fat body mass. A lot of fat can lead to health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and other serious conditions. If you keep your body fat within a rational level, you'll be healthier and, of course, slimmer. So, now when you have got the methods start to control on your fat.