Why You Need To Measure Your Body Composition
By Dr. Jennifer Allen
Nutrition Instructor
Research has shown that body composition is directly related to health. Excess fat in relation to lean body mass can greatly increase your risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more.
Assessing your body composition requires gathering information about your body. A few of the pieces of information needed include:
- body composition (body fat and fat free mass)
- fluid balance (distribution)
- cellular performance (cellular health analysis)
- resting (basal) metabolic rate
An effective, research supported way to measure your body composition is bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). This important analysis allows early detection of an improper balance in your body composition. Improving your BIA measurement by lowering your percentage of unhealthy body fat can help reduce your risk for a variety of serious health conditions.
Where can you get a BIA done? You’ll find BIA’s available in some alternative or integrative health centers. Simply ask if they use the BIA and how they utilize it with regard to ongoing patient care. The cost is typically very reasonable.
Eight Ways to Raise Your Resting (Basal) Metabolic Rate
One significant number to be aware of is your resting (basal) metabolic rate, or RMR. Your RMR is the amount of calories your body uses to simply “run” each day performing functions such as pumping blood, exchanging nutrients, and maintaining temperature. There are some scientific ways to increase your metabolism.
Go heavy: Using heavier weights to work out (repetitions of 6-8) increases RMR higher after work outs than using lighter weights.
Rest less: Studies have confirmed that resting just 30 seconds between sets when lifting weights increases metabolic rate over 50% more than if you rest three minutes between sets.
Eat more often: More frequent, but smaller, meals increase RMR higher than eating the SAME amount of calories spread over fewer meals.
Go pro: High-protein meals increase RMR much more than meals that are higher in fat or carbohydrates.
Compound it: Free-weight compound moves such as the barbell squat increase metabolic rate by up to 50% more during workouts than machine exercises such as the leg press.
Run longer: Research shows that the longer the cardio sessions last, the longer your RMR stays boosted after the workout.
Get wet: One study found that drinking 2 cups of cold water between meals raised RMR by 30% for more than an hour (research still needed).
Be green: Taking green tea extract three times a day can increase total daily RMR by 4%.
