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.
