Body composition
Definition
• Body composition is the percentage of a body's weight
that is fat tissue.Individuals with optimal body
composition are typically healthier, move more easily
and efficiently, and generally feel better.
• Types of fat
Essential Fat
Good or bad? Very good
What is it? The most aptly named fat type, essential fat is
required for good health. It plays a role in regulating body
temperature, vitamin absorption, and the production of
fertility hormones, among other essential roles. Essential
fat isn’t highly visible, but is located throughout the body.
• How do I manage it? Essential fat is “good” fat, meaning
this isn’t the type you’ll target for weight loss. For
females, 10-12% essential fat is the general range for
good health, with 2-4% being the ideal range for men,
• Brown Fat
• Good or bad? Good
• What is it? Brown fat burns energy and is primarily
responsible for maintaining the body’s core
temperature. Because brown fat isn’t a storage fat, it’s
easy to burn, especially in cooler climates.
• How do I manage it? You don’t really need to manage
brown fat aside from maintaining essential fat levels to
support healthy brown fat production
• White fat
• Good or bad? Kind of good, kind of bad
• What is it? White fat is the body’s largest energy storage system.
Due to its production of the hormone adiponectin, white fat is
essential for insulin management to maintain a healthy blood
sugar balance and, as a producer of leptin, it also helps to
manage hunger. White fat also plays a role in managing growth
hormones . While white fat can be a good thing, too much of it
becomes a bad thing. In greater levels, white fat can cause
insulin resistance, raising the risk for weight gain and its
accompanying health concerns.
• How do I manage it? Stubborn excess fat on the thighs, hips, and
abdomen are a key sign of higher white fat levels. Target training
workouts that build muscle tissue, which burns more calories
than fat, can help to reduce white fat levels in the body.
• Beige Fat
• Good or bad? Good
• What is it? Beige fat is created when the body is
exposed to stress, leading to the “beiging” of white fat.
While a high level of beige fat isn’t really a target goal,
it’s definitely a step in the right direction to maintain
healthy levels of good brown fat; it essentially allows for
the transformation and burning of bad fat as thermal
energy to maintain the body’s core temperature.
• How do I manage it? Beige fat’s role in transforming
white fat to useful thermal energy makes it a good
target fat for weight loss.
Exercise is considered a key stressor for transforming
white fat to beige fat
• Subcutaneous Fat
• Good or bad? Good and bad
• What is it? Located just under the skin, subcutaneous fat accounts
for approximately 90% of overall body fat percentage. Commonly
accumulating as stubborn thigh fat in females or around the
abdomen in males, subcutaneous fat is responsible for the sex
hormone estrogen. Because estrogen plays a larger role in female
fertility, females tend to have higher levels of subcutaneous fat.
This fat type also acts as a cushion between muscle and skin tissue
for protection and comfort.
• How do I manage it? Subcutaneous fat is essential but too much,
particularly around the abdomen, runs the risk of increased health
complications. Because the body stores subcutaneous fat as a sort
of emergency backup in case of starvation or caloric deprivation,
this type of fat is the hardest to target. A reduction in calories
consumed, a focus on improved nutrition to avoid refined carbs and
processed foods, and regular high-intensity exercise can, over time,
burn off excess subcutaneous fat.
• Visceral Fat
• Good or bad? Bad
• What is it? Visceral fat is found in the abdominal area
between organs. It accumulates and secretes retinol-
binding protein 4, a known culprit in insulin resistance.
Higher levels of visceral fat are also linked to an
increased risk of colorectal and breast cancers,
dementia, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Visceral fat
levels generally increase with age.
• How do I manage it? One of the best ways to minimize
visceral fat levels is to revamp your diet. Cut out
processed foods and increase your intake of lean
proteins (chicken, eggs, beans), unsaturated fatty foods
(fish, nuts, avocados), whole grains, and fiber (beans,
berries, oatmeal).
• Characteristics
• It is a kind of fibrous connective tissue.
• It contains large number of cells filled with fat.
• It's main function is energy storing, hormone
production.
• It also acts as shock absorber and insulator.
• Muscular hypertrophy refers to an increase in muscle
mass. This usually manifests as an increase in muscle
size and strength. Typically, muscle hypertrophy occurs
as a result of strength training such as weight lifting.
• Role of macro nutrients
• Macronutrients are the nutrients that your body needs
in large amounts, which include fat, carbohydrates, and
protein. They're the nutrients that give you energy and
are often called "macros". Macronutrients contain the
components of food that your body needs to maintain
its systems and structures.
EPOC effect
once a workout is over and you’re back in your daily routine, your body’s metabolism can
continue to burn more calories then when at complete rest. This physiological effect is called
excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. Also known as oxygen debt, EPOC is the
amount of oxygen required to restore your body to its normal, resting level of metabolic
function (called homeostasis). It also explains how your body can continue to burn calories
long after you’ve finished your workout.EPOC is influenced by the intensity, not the duration
of exercise
The key to inducing significant EPOC is to partake in high-intensity interval training, or HIIT.
These short rounds of intense work are broken up with equally short recovery periods.
Recovery is used to replenish the ATP that your body depleted during the active interval.
• In biochemistry, lipogenesis is the conversion of fatty acids and
glycerol into fats, or a metabolic process through which acetyl-
CoA is converted to triglyceride for storage in fat.[1] Lipogenesis
encompasses both fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis
• Triglycerides are then used as an energy reserve stored in
adipose tissue.
• Lipogenesis increases considerably when individuals are fed a
hypercaloric, high-carbohydrate diet, and adipose tissue, rather
than the liver, seems to be the major site for lipogenesis under
this nutritional load.2
WHAT HAPPENS WE WE EAT CARBS?
• Your body breaks down carbs into simple sugars that are
absorbed into the bloodstream. As blood sugar level rises, the
pancreas releases a hormone called insulin. Insulin functions to
move sugar from the blood into cells, where sugar is used for
energy
