Body Composition

Health and Wellness

Chapter 6

 

 

Terminology:

 

  1. Essential fat - The fat in the body necessary for normal body functioning.

 

  1. Nonessential fat - Extra fat or fat reserves stored in the body.

 

  1. Adipose tissue - Connective tissue in which fat is stored.

 

  1. Percent body fat - The percentage of total body weight that is composed of fat.

 

  1. Overweight - Characterized by a body weight above the recommended range according to a weight table based on population norms and adjusted for sex, height, and possibly frame size and age.

 

  1. Obese - Characterized by excessive accumulation of body fat; more than 25 percent of body weight as fat in males and more than 32 percent as fat in females.

 

  1. Amenorrhea - Absent or infrequent menstruation, sometimes related to low levels of body fat and excessive quantity or intensity of exercise.

 

  1. Female Athlete Triad- A condition consisting of three interrelated disorders; abnormal eating patterns (and excessive exercising) followed by lack of menstrual periods (amenorrhea) and decreased bone density ( premature osteoporosis).

 

  1. BMI - A measure of relative body weight correlating highly with more direct measures of body fat.  It is calculated by dividing total body weight in kilograms by the square of body height in meters.

 

  1.   Caliper - A pressure - sensitive measuring instrument with two jaws that can be adjusted to determine thickness.

 

 

 

 

Study Questions:

 

1.  What is body composition and why is it important?

 

2.  What is the difference between essential fat and storage fat?

 

3.  What % body fat is ideal for men and women?

 

4.  How prevalent is obesity in the U. S.?

 

5.  What are some of the health concerns for obese and overfat people?

 

6.  What happens to your body composition if you lose weight and do not exercise regularly?

 

7.  What is the fitness level for most overfat people?

 

8.  What is body mass index, and how is it used?

 

9.  How are skinfold measurements used to predict percent body fat?

 

10.  How does a person’s body fatness correlate to his or her floating ability, and how is

       underwater weighing used to predict body composition?

 

11.  How does bioelectrical impedance predict body composition?