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Writer's pictureAmie

WHAT IS BODY COMPOSITION?

Understanding how your total body weight is shared across your soft-tissues and bones can be a great guide to your overall general health.


That, quite simply, is what your body composition is.


If you like a bit more detail…


Body Composition


Your total body weight is made up of two main components. Very broadly, it is the combined weight of your:

  • Bone and

  • Soft tissues

Your soft tissue is broken up in to:

  • Fat and

  • Fat free-mass also called lean soft tissue. This includes your muscles and everything else including your internal organs, water, blood vessels etc.

Weight V composition


This is what is most important about knowing and managing your body composition...

While weighing yourself tells you how heavy you are overall, it doesn’t tell you anything about changes in these different components of bone, fat and muscle (or lean soft tissue).


Body impedance analyses or body fat scales (the ones you stand on with foot electrodes and possibly hand grips, like InBody Scans) and skinfolds all try to measure the different components (particularly muscle and fat) but they’re all affected by changes in the water balance in our bodies and the skills of the person taking the measurements.


DEXA data, on the other hand, is the most reliable method to assess lean body mass and body fat percentage which has been proven in clinical research and athletic practice.


A DEXA scan at Physique Science (which is the body composition service I own and operate) can identify changes in body fat and muscle mass as small as 200-300g. This is far more accurate than body fat scales or skinfold measurements where errors of 1-2kg  common.


Here’s our full summary below but you can book a scan with us HERE




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