3 minute read
Weight Loss for Health
Weight Loss for Health
By Mark Nemish
In my last article, I discussed the concept of being metabolically flexible in relation to good health. Metabolically flexible men and women typically have good aerobic capacity (VO2max) and present with a normal body weight and lean body composition.
The next few columns will discuss the need for many to lose weight, and more specifically body fat, with the intent to improve metabolic health. What’s an ideal weight? What should my body fat be? These questions need to be answered individually, using specific measures.
One of the crudest measures of determining an “ideal” weight is using Body Mass Index (BMI). Your BMI, a function of your weight and height, classifies you as either normal, overweight or obese.
It’s a quick and easy measure, but doesn’t provide enough specific information to determine if your BMI puts you in a healthy range or not. For example, a heavily muscled individual may have a BMI that’s regarded as obese, even though his/her body fat is very low.
As a result, measuring your body composition is a more accurate way of determining if your weight is in a healthy range. One of the best means of determining this is through a Dexa Scan. The dexa scan will measure your total fat and muscle mass in addition to where on the body your fat and muscle is located. This will provide a more accurate measure of body composition. It will also tell you how much visceral fat (VAT) you have and what your bone mineral density (BMD) is.
Determining your VAT gives extremely important clues into how healthy or unhealthy you may be. VAT is fat that accumulates below your abdominal muscles and in unwanted areas of the body such as around your liver and possibly pancreas.
Significant VAT accumulation could be a sign of fat spillover from full subcutaneous fat stores into these unwanted areas of the body. The accumulation of VAT if unchecked can contribute to a variety of metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Diabetes researcher Dr. Roy Taylor describes this fat spillover effect as the “Personal Fat Threshold,” and a sign of poor health. Knowing your BMD is also important especially for post-menopausal women who are at higher risks for osteoporosis.
After assessing your baseline body composition, the next step should be embarking on nutritional eating patterns to reduce body weight and improve body fat.
Determining a personal fat loss diet first begins with assessing your current diet. I suggest using a nutrition app such as Myfitnesspal to record your current nutritional intake. Assessing your nutritional intake will provide the baseline from which to make targeted changes in nutrition that result in fat loss.
Furthermore, certain blood biomarkers can provide additional clues for more targeted nutritional intervention. In my next column, I’ll discuss important nutritional patterns of eating that help to support healthy, long term weight loss.
Mark Nemish is the Owner/Director of Precision Health Performance, a business dedicated to optimizing the health and fitness of people in need of lifestyle change. He’s spent 30 years managing the health of athletes, including 22 years as head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Capitals (2007-23) and Nashville Predators (1998-04) in the National Hockey League.
