Body Composition

Body composition is the split between fat and everything else, and it is the question people are usually asking when they step on a scale. Weight alone cannot answer it. Two people of identical height and weight can differ by ten percentage points of body fat, which is a completely different body and a completely different risk profile.These guides cover what BMI measures and where it breaks down, how to run the US Navy tape method and how wrong it can be, why the ideal weight formulas disagree with each other, and why the scale can jump two kilos overnight without a gram of fat changing hands.Where the fat sits matters as much as how much of it there is. Keeping your waist under half your height is the fastest screen anyone has published, and what it is picking up is the fat wrapped around your organs, which two people at the same BMI can differ on by a factor of two.Changing the split takes longer than most plans assume. A drug-free man in his first year of training can add roughly 0.9 kg of muscle a month, and a tenth of that by year four. Losing fat and building muscle at the same time is possible in the conditions where it works, which are narrower than the internet suggests.The short version: use several measurements, track the direction, not the individual number, and never make a decision on a single morning’s reading.