Looks Can Be Deceiving When It Comes to Body Fat

In a world where appearance is everything, many people who appear thin are often shocked to discover that they are actually fat.

Like Ellie Burdick of Costa Mesa. Two years ago, she considered herself slim at 128 pounds, until she took a body-fat test and heard the doctor’s prognosis: 30.9% body fat. Abnormally high.

“I was really surprised,” says Burdick, 51, who immediately began exercising more and cut fat from her diet, dropping down to a more healthy 19.4% fat in six months. “According to all the charts, I was the perfect weight.”

Burdick is not alone. “There are a lot of thin people who are fat,” says Dr. Christian Barney, a certified chiropractic sports physician, who owns Performance Chiropractic in Irvine. “I’ve done body-fat tests on slender people who have tested 40% body fat; that’s technically obese.”

On the flip side, there are many people who may look overweight according to our standards, but are actually healthy, says Richard Greaud, clinic manager of the Sport Med Centers of Orange County, which have offices in Orange and Irvine. “Many big-boned people we’d call heavyset are within normal body fat ranges,” he says.

Contrary to popular opinion, body fat can’t be determined by the way we look in the mirror or what it says when we step on the scale.

“Our body fat percentage has to do with our body composition--what percentage of our frame is fat, water and lean body mass (muscle, bone, ligaments and organs),” says Keith Beebe, director of physical therapy for the Sports Training and Rehabilitation clinics in Orange and Irvine.

As we become a more fit society, many people are beginning to ignore overall body weight and look to body-fat tests for accurate information. Even government offices such as the military, fire and police departments are no longer using scales, but are testing body fat, Greaud says. “Professional athletes are also being tested, which coaches love because it gives them a really good indication of what kind of shape their athletes are in,” he says.

For men, healthy body fat figures range from 10% to 18%. Women should fall between 16% and 22%. These figures vary somewhat from expert to expert, but one thing is clear: High body fat is unhealthy. People who suffer from coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol usually have a high percentage of body fat.

Low body fat, on the other hand, leads to healthy blood pressure levels, decreased cholesterol, longevity and higher energy.

The more muscle you have, the more efficiently your body runs, Beebe says.

“A pound of fat only takes two calories a day to stay alive, whereas a pound of muscle takes 50 to 60 calories a day to keep going,” he says. “That means that having more muscle mass increases your metabolism, allowing you to more easily lose weight.”

For people trying to lose weight, body-fat testing is the only accurate way to measure results.

“Overall weight is deceiving when you change body composition,” Greaud says. “For instance, a woman who starts an exercise program may lose 4 1/2 pounds of fat and gain five pounds of muscle mass. A body-fat test would show a drop in fat, but a scale would say she gained a half-pound.”

Because of the relative accuracy of body-fat tests, many health experts suggest it as part of your health screening, along with your cholesterol count and blood pressure. It is also a good idea to test body fat before dieting to get an accurate starting point.

There are four body-fat tests to choose from, each with a variety of positive and negative aspects.

Hydrostatic

The oldest form of body-fat measuring is hydrostatic weighing, says Eric Stuhr, owner of Healthy Balance in Newport Beach, which provides the service.

For this procedure, you don a bathing suit and sit on a scale that is lowered into the water right after you expel all of the air from your lungs. Your “wet” underwater weight measures your lean muscle mass, because fat is buoyant. “This means that the heavier you are underwater, the more lean you are,” he says. “People who can easily float on water tend to have high body fat.”

Pros: It is a reliable, highly accurate test.

Cons: It is an involved procedure that can cost as much as $50 to $60 (although Stuhr’s company only charges $25 to $35, depending on group size). Some consider it inconvenient to put on a bathing suit and get wet. Because a person is fully submerged in a chamber of water, the test is not advisable for individuals who are afraid of water or have claustrophobia.

Skin fold

Multi-site skin-fold measurements using calipers have also been used for many years to measure fat.

“Calipers are long, giant pinchers that pinch fat away from lean body mass and measure its thickness in different parts of the body,” Greaud says.

Pros: The test is relatively inexpensive, often costing about $20. (They even make $20 home caliper models now.) When performed by an expert with a background in exercise physiology and anatomy, a caliper fat test is very accurate, Greaud says.

Cons: Unless the test is done by a professional, the results will probably be inaccurate. Because all calipers are adjusted a little differently, it is also important to return to the same person for a recheck.

Electrical impedance

Electrical impedance testing has been used in many fitness clubs for the past several years. For this test, they place electrodes on the toes and hands. A current is then sent through the hands and back out through the toes. “The machine measures the amount of resistance there is to body fat, which is not a good conductor of electricity,” says Greaud, who performs this test at no charge.

Pros: This method is widely available and often offered free of charge at fitness clubs and rehabilitation centers. It is a simple procedure that doesn’t require undressing.

Cons: Some have questioned this method’s overall accuracy because there are certain factors that can alter test results, such as exercising or water consumption.

Infrared lights

The latest method of body-fat testing on the health scene uses infrared lights.

“This is the method the Agricultural Department has been using for years to determine the percentage of fat in meat,” says Barney, the sports physician, whose office provides this test to patients for $20.

To do this test, a technician shoots an infrared light into the subject’s biceps. Then, a computer measures the light reflected back and consults various charts to determine body fat.

Pros: The procedure is very quick and doesn’t require any undressing.

Cons: Some question the test’s accuracy because it is used in the biceps area, which tends to be the leanest on the body. “Men tend to have heavier lower abdominals and women heavier buttocks,” Greaud says.

When getting body-fat tests done, experts caution against becoming obsessed by the numbers. “Instead of going overboard and trying to get a really low body-fat weight, which can be unhealthy, especially for women, try to stay within normal ranges,” Barney says. “And don’t forget to consider other measures of health such as how you feel and look and how your clothes fit.”