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Welcome to Body Fat Percentage Calculator!
Body Fat Percentage Calculator
The main parts that make up the bulk of the human body are bone, muscle, organs and body fat. The bones and organs are pretty obvious in purpose and structure and do not change much over time. The two parts we have the greatest control over are the muscles and body fat. Strength, weight, energy levels and general health are all derived from these critical systems of the human body. In this site you can read about Body Fat and how a Body Fat Calculator can be essential to your health.
To begin with, one should understand the general function and relationship between these two groups. The muscles are attached to the bones of the body and control body movement by pulling the bones in different directions. Muscles are usually in groups with one part of the group extending while the complimentary group contracts. You are born with a finite number of muscle cells and this number never changes, this is important when discussing fat cells later in this article. Repeated controlled straining of a muscle group, or repeated activity will cause the muscles to enlarge and strengthen over time.
Body fat is a short way of referring to the subcutaneous fat layer of the human body. It is a layer of circular cells just below the skin and above the muscles. Humans are born with a small number of fat cells and they increase over time for various reasons. Once a fat cell is produced it never dies and never leaves. They are capable of increasing and decreasing in size, but they will never leave without surgery. This is one of the reasons it is easier to put weight on than to lose it, and why Body Fat Percentage is so important. Body fat does serve two valuable jobs for the human body. To understand the first, you need to understand a little bit of chemistry, not much really. Everything is made up of cells; these cells are held together with a certain amount of energy. Breaking the cells apart releases the energy; the measurement of this energy is the term calories. One example of the potential of this energy is the atomic bomb. By splitting those cells apart a huge amount of energy was released very quickly.
The same thing happens when you eat food, although obviously on a much smaller scale. The cells of the food are digested, breaking them into smaller portions that release energy to the body. Other chemical are also released such as vitamins, but the key to understanding fat cells is knowing that the food you eat contains stored energy and it is released when digested, this energy is expressed as a number of calories. As you move around and do the tasks of life or exercise, you use up this energy.
According to a Body Fat Chart, if you eat 1000 calories worth of food and use 500 calories of that energy, then the extra energy is stored for future use, it is stored in fat cells. The process mostly occurs at night while you sleep. If the opposite occurs and you eat 500 calories and use 1000, then the fat cells stored energy is used to complete your tasks, this makes them reduce in size. Don’t forget that fat cells never leave, they only get smaller.
Throughout the this site you will find helpful tips about taking a Body Fat Measurement, why it is important, and what the healthy level of body fat is for everybody.