We have many patients here at Medikaur who we support with overall weight loss for example, through the National Medical Weight Loss Programme or targeting stubborn areas of body fat more about this below.

If you eat too few calories, for example, you may end up losing fluids and muscle; although this should bring your overall weight down, it may not actually reduce your body fat, which means you could be masking potential health risks.

Common problem areas include hips, bottom, thighs, upper arms and under the chin. Your hormones, for example, or how your body handles insulin can cause fat to accumulate around your tummy and hips. There are some innovative and non-invasive treatments that can help to breakdown stubborn pockets of body fat.

Aqualyx fat dissolving injections are an excellent option for typical trouble spots such as love handles, a double chin, the abdomen and tummy area, the back, or chest area for men.

These injections contain a compound solution made with polymers and a synthetic form of deoxycholic acid, which is naturally present in the human body and plays a role in how we break down fats.

A treatment like Aqualyx is ideal for tackling those final few pounds — the icing on the metaphorical cake for all your hard work.

Want advice about shifting those stubborn pockets of fat that are adding lumps and bumps to your silhouette?

Medikaur Treatments Testimonials News Pricing Offers Contact. A healthy guide to losing body fat. Why is body fat important? What is a healthy body fat percentage?

You've probably spotted Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis scales in your local health club — they use electrical currents to measure your body fat and often a wealth of other things, too: muscle mass, water, bone mass, etc.

The main drawback, however, is that there is a higher degree of inaccuracy, especially when the electrical currents measure water percentage, which can be affected by dehydration.

What Are the Risks of High Body Fat? Fat plays and important role in the body. It is our largest form of energy storage, helping us to survive during periods of low food supply. It also provides insulation and produces hormones that regulate metabolism and support our immune system.

Whilst it's important to have a healthy body fat percentage and high muscle mass , there are some symptoms associated with having very low body fat. According to an article published in Open Oregon Educational Resources :.

What Is a Realistic Body Fat Percentage? And FYI, between six per cent and 10 per cent is the ideal level to showcase your abs without scaring your friends. Omitting those who take it too far, driving down your body fat percentage is a smart move, particularly for those struggling to contain their paunch.

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A person can appear to be fit and healthy, but actually have dangerous levels of body fat internally. If they were to calculate their body mass index BMI or even weigh themselves, they may appear to be healthy, but this can be deceiving. Unlike body composition scales , BMI only takes height and weight into account.

Even WHO states that BMI should only be a rough guide, as it uses the same body fat percentage across all individuals. That means that, while subcutaneous fat is easy to see and understand, visceral fat can hide behind a healthy BMI. Visceral fat is fat stored inside the abdominal cavity.

This means that it can build up and wrap around your organs and arteries, without you even noticing. In fact, some people refer to high levels of visceral fat as thin outside, fat inside TOFI , which is likely where the phrase skinny fat came from.

Neither does BMI. This actually makes the situation worse. Essentially, the skinny fat condition is developed by dieting badly and not exercising properly. Given that the amount of energy you burn is affected by the amount of muscle mass you have, as you lose muscle you will gradually burn less calories than before.

Office workers are also prime candidates for becoming skinny fat due to a sedentary work life and the difficulty of eating healthy in an office environment. A person can also become skinny fat if they diet without carrying out strength training. While cardio is effective, by only doing cardio a process called atrophy can be triggered.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that normal-weight people who carried excess weight around their midsections had the highest risk of dying early.

Even when compared to people who had overweight or obese BMIs. Visceral fat has also been strongly linked to metabolic disease.

There are several ways to measure your body fat percentage , some of which are more reliable or more convenient than others:. All you need is a tape measure.

In order to measure your waist correctly, position the tape measure in the space between your lowest rib and hip bone. Wrap your tape snugly around your waist and then measure just after you breathe out.

For males a waist circumference that is greater than or equal to 40 inches The International Diabetes Federation lists waist circumference values by ethnicity. They can be viewed below:. The World Health Organisation WHO , on the other hand, suggests using a waist to hip ratio to determine how much fat is stored on your waist, hips, and butt.

Waist to height ratio is another option. Take a piece of string and measure how tall you are. Then fold this string in half and wrap it around your waist.

They can be relatively cheap to buy and are easy to use.