Despite the broad use of the word “fat” to describe all body fat, there are actually several different types of fat in your body. The purpose and effects these fats have on the human body are wide ranging, some are beneficial and vital to our health, while others can have nasty and dire effects on our bodies leading to disease and death. The three main types of fat cells found in the human body are white, brown, and beige fat cells which can be stored either as essential, subcutaneous, or visceral fat.
White Fat
White fat is the type of fat that comes to mind to most people. This is that fat we can see and grab over our mid sections, stretching our clothes and ruining our photos. White fat is made up of large, white cells, stored directly under the skin or huddled around organs in the arms, back, belly, chest, buttocks, and thighs. These fat cells are the body’s way of storing excess energy, and play a large role in the function of hormones such as Estrogen, Leptin (one of the hormones that stimulates hunger), Insulin, Cortisol (a stress hormone), and Growth hormone.Too much or too little white fat can causes major disturbances to these hormone levels, creating many unwanted side effects such as insatiable hunger, impotence, and even blindness and skin rashes.
Brown Fat
Second we have brown fat. Brown fat is a type of fat primarily found in newborns, although adults do retain a very minimal amount of brown fat usually buried deep in the neck and shoulders.
This type of fat burns fatty acids to keep you warm, and provides the brain with a fast acting energy source if needed.
Beige (brite)Fat
Beige fat cells functions somewhere along the line in between brown and white fat cells. Similar to brown fat, beige cells tend to help burn fat rather than store it like white sells. It is the midway point between the two however, as certain hormones and enzymes released when you’re stressed, cold, or when you exercise can help convert white fat into beige fat or vice versa.
Essential fat
Essential fat is, well, essential for your life and a healthy body. This fat is found in your brain, nerves, bone marrow, and the membranes that protect your organs. This form of fat plays a major role in hormone regulation, including the hormones that control fertility, vitamin absorption, and body temperature regulation. The amount of essential fat needed is very different for men than for women, with men needing some where along the lines of 2 to 5 percent total body fat, with women needing well over double that at 8 to 10 percent. At less than these percentages, basic bodily functions begin to shut down.
Visceral
Visceral fat, also known as “belly fat,”, is the white fat that’s stored deep within your abdomen and oozes around all of your major organs. This fat helps provide additional support and cushioning of these organs, as well as protecting from any shock forces. Most visceral fat falls under the “essential fat” category, but obesity can cause these levels to increase as well. Having high visceral fat levels increases your risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, artery disease, and some forms of cancer.
Subcutaneous
Subcutaneous fat is the fat that is stored directly under skin. It’s a combination of brown, beige, and white fat cells. The majority of our body fat is subcutaneous and it is the fat that you can squeeze right now on your arms, belly, chest, thighs, and buttocks. The fat here is primarily being stored as burnable energy in case of lean times or famine. While a certain amount of subcutaneous fat is healthy, too much can quickly lead to imbalanced hormone levels, stretching of the skin, discoloration, and skin sensitivity.
How to measure Body fat percentage measurement
There are many ways to test your body fat, ranging slightly in accuracy.
The most common and well known method of estimating body fat percentage is skin fold measurements. A trained technician can use calipers, a tong-like instrument, to pinch and measure folds of skin on your arms, waist, and thighs to estimate total body fat percentage. This method tends to be extremely accurate in measuring subcutaneous fat, but less so for visceral fat buried deep within the body’s cavity.
Bio electrical impedance analysis can be done with a device that uses electrical current to measure the amount of lean versus fatty mass in your body. These can be found in most conventional gyms and athletic departments, and although not as precise as the calipers, they do a better job of measuring total overall body fat percentage in comparison. The added benefit of this form of measurement is the additional bits of information it can tell about one’s overall body composition. Using sophisticated algorithms, these smart devices can use this bio electrical signal to distinguish other metrics apart from body fat such as hydration level, bone density, body weight, and muscle mass.
What is a healthy overall body fat percentage?
According to the American Council on Exercise, your average man should have a total body fat percentage in the 14 to 24 percent range, while women should be in the 21 to 31 percent range. Athletes tend to have much lower body fat percentages than the average human, some going as low as 4-5%. Fitness models hover in the low teens, with the curvier female models ranging from 16-18%. The grand majority of people now a days fall in between 20% to 26% body fat. Six pack abs? You need to be in the single digits to have a washboard stomach. Homer Simpson stomach and gateway to obesity? Anything over 30% will do.
Here at Fat Loss Made Easy, we set 12% body fat as the target goal for our male clients, while setting 16% as the goal for our female clients. While not body builder ripped, you will definitely turn all the right heads at the beach and any pool party you go to. Think Athletic 4 pack with great overall muscular definition.
How to lose extra body fat
Now that we know exactly what fat is, where it stores, what it does, and what is a healthy body fat percentage and how to measure it, lets look at some quick tips on how to lose that extra, unwanted bit of white, subcutaneous fat cells.
Calorie deficient diet:
You need to be in a 3,500 calorie deficit to burn 1 pound of body fat. While some factors such as age, genetics, environment, etc can factor in, for the most part, you need to be in a massive calorie deficiency to force the body to use the calories stored in your white fat cells. Every time you move, you burn calories. In fact, even when you are not moving and doing nothing but staring at the ceiling in bed, you are still burning calories. The problem is that we tend to do a whole lot more eating that we do moving, and it is a whole lot easier to eat more food than to burn more calories. The key is to know how much you’re allowed to eat each day according to your goals, and then do your best to stay under that calorie count.
Eat protein in every meal
Protein maximizes protein synthesis and fat burning. It fills you up more as protein has less calories per gram than fat and carbohydrates. Eat it with EVERY MEAL and you will slowly but surely find yourself going for “healthier” food options as there really aren’t too many options high in protein outside of the usual array of lean meats and legumes. Protein also has the added benefit of being a poor energy source for the body, so very rarely will the calories you consume from it cause you to store excess fat. Make consuming more protein in every meal a habit for life and reap the enormous benefits.
Work on getting stronger/faster steadily and progressively
Progressive over load is the secret to achieving in life. It teaches you that big achievements are made from small, daily gains, in the same area. Look to lift a little bit more weight, or do a couple more reps of that weight every time you go do an exercise. Try to run that mile 5 seconds faster than the last. Do five more crunches. Go that extra week without drinking. You get the drift. Don’t only perform your actions and exercises, actively look to get better at them. Small gains eventually lead to huge achievements. Make it a habit.
Track fitness metrics
Fitness is a metric that can be calculated. From daily steps taken, to resting heart rate, body fat percentage, hours slept, restfulness, and even V02 max estimations, all of this and much more can be achieved by a $100 dollar fitbit. It used to cost THOUSANDS of dollars to get these metrics from sports laboratories. Now, with a cool looking and easy to use device on your wrist, you can keep track, and work on improving all of those metrics. It is almost as good as a 24 hour, seven day a week personal trainer, reminding you to move once an hour, as well as hitting your minimum steps. These devices make it painless to set and keep new habits such as sleeping more, or even getting more steps in each day. Best investment of your life.