Many students are concerned with their weight. The health benefits of a normal weight for your sex and height are well-known to most people. Also, there are obvious social benefits to being at your best weight and looking fit.

Many people use the popular height/weight charts to determine what they should weigh. These are based on mortality rates from insurance companies and are not necessarily desirable weights from a health standpoint.

There does not seem to be one agreed-upon standard that all health professionals ascribe to when answering the question, “How much should I weigh?” One way to avoid the weight question is to stop focusing on body weight and focus on body fat.

What’s the difference, you ask? Well, percent body fat tells more about a person’s body composition and quality of a person’s body weight. For example, the desirable body weight range for a 21-year-old professional football player who is 74 inches tall and weighs 235 lbs. is 172-197 lbs. This is from the height/weight tables and is assuming a large frame.

Clearly, at 235, this player is overweight and by conventional standards should reduce his weight by at least 38 pounds. However, this same football player had a total fat content of 12.7 percent of his body weight compared with about 15 percent body fat typically reported for young, male non-athletes. So while this player is “overweight” he is also “underfat.” Conversely, someone might be within or even below his or her appropriate weight range but may have a higher than desirable percentage of body fat.

Another reason to consider monitoring percent body fat is research which shows that the typical American loses muscle tissue and gains fat steadily from about age 20 on.

For example, a person who weighs 160 pounds at age 20 has 16 pounds of fat (10.3 percent) and 144 pounds of everything else (bones, muscle, organs, etc.). But at age 45, this same person who still weighs 160 pounds has 36 pounds of fat and 124 pounds of everything else. Muscle tissue is the component of the “lean mass” that changes the most. This means that from age 20 to age 45, this person’s weight has not changed but has dropped 20 pounds of muscle tissue and replaced it with 20 pounds of fat.

This process is accelerated when people get into the “Yo-Yo Syndrome” of dieting. If you go on a diet that emphasizes calorie restriction and lose 20 pounds you have undoubtedly lost a combination of fat, water and lean muscle tissue.

If you gain the same 20 pounds back over time you gain it all back in FAT. So, while your weight remains the same, body fat has increased. Repeat this pattern several times or more over a number of years and you can guess the results.

However, you do not have to be the typical American! Those who exercise regularly and eat a well-balanced diet will minimize lost muscle tissue and fat gain. In fact, it’s never too late to build muscle tissue back up and regain the correct balance between muscle, fat, and weight. Increasingly, percent body fat is the preferred means of looking at body fitness.

Percent body fat is measured in several ways. One of the easiest methods of rough estimation involves circumference measurements of three body sites and some simple equations. While this method is only accurate to within 4-5 percent, it can be useful to monitor changes over time fairly accurately.

What is the ideal percentage of body fat? It is hard to come up with an exact figure, but we can give a range that would be considered healthy and “in shape” by any health professional.

For men up to age 30, 12-15 percent is desirable; 16-18 for men over 30. Male athletes should be between 5-11 percent. For women up to age 30, 18-22 percent is good; 23-25 for those over 30. Female athletes should keep between 12-17 percent.

In summary, having an awareness of your percent body fat is an important factor in achieving or maintaning physical fitness. A key issue to remember is that focusing on weight can be frustrating and often ineffective. A few pounds of weight or a percent or two of fat will not adversely affect your health, or make a difference in your looks or fitness level. Stop by the Student Wellness Resource Center in the Holmes Student Center and ask for the Body Fat Calculator. This and a measuring tape are all you need to calculate your percent body fat.