Facts about Fat
How much is too much body fat?
Men should generally have less than 18% of total body fat and women less than 23%. That excess is not particularly hazardous to health until levels reach 35% and 40% of total body fat.
What is % body fat?
The percentage of body fat is the percentage of the total body that is fat. Thus, someone who weighs 150 pounds and is 10% fat has 15 pounds of fatty tissue.
Where does body fat come from?
Fat is produced by the body when the diet provides the body with more calories than general maintenance and its current level of physical activity.
How do I lose excess fat?
The removal of excess fat is achieved by consuming fewer calories than the body requires. The body's fat stores will be broken down to address the deficit.
How does exercise affect body fat?
An increase in regular exercise will help to increase your calorie expenditure. The more physical activity you do, the more calories you will burn. Accordingly, if you increase your physical activity and do not increase your food intake, you will draw the extra energy needed from your stored body fat.
Why do gains in weight always seem to go to the same place?
The body tends to deposit fat according to your genetic code. Females will accumulate fat around their thighs and hips, males around the midriff.
Can I get fat off from a specific part of the body?
The simple answer is no. If you exercise a particular body part, muscle tissue under the fat will become firm and make the region's overall appearance look better. However, such specific exercise will not reduce the area's fat quantity. Only by jogging, you will not just reduce the fat around the legs and hips. The fat providing energy for this activity may be coming from the stomach, chin, back etc.
How many calories will it take to lose one pound of fat?
For long-term weight loss, you need to expend approximately 4000 calories to lose one pound of fat.
Can I sweat off excess weight in a steam room or sauna?
The weight loss through excess sweating, as experienced in the sauna/steam room, is not fat but water. Consequently, if you lose two and a half pounds in a steam bath session, you will replace it with approximately the next two pints of water drunk (one pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter) - such weight returns after you consume fluid.
However, and more worrying is that if a high-calorie drink replaces the fluid loss, you may gain fats because of your weight loss attempt.
What are Essential Fat and Storage Fat?
Essential fat, required for normal physiological functioning, consists of fat stored in the marrow of bones, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, muscles and lipid-rich tissues of the central nervous system. An extra 9% fat is required for childbearing and other hormonal-related functions in females.
Storage fat consists of fat accumulation in adipose tissue. Men and women have similar storage fat quantities - on average, 12% for men and 15% for women.
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- MACKENZIE, B. (1999) Facts about Fat [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/fat.htm [Accessed