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BODY COMPOSITION & NUTRITION
Individual Sports
Columbus North Physical Education
Body composition is the proportion of muscle, bone, fat, and other tissues of which the body
is composed. Body fat % is an indicator of fitness along with resting heart rate and is a better
indicator of overall fitness than body weight. Muscle burns more calories than fat. A healthy
body fat % for teenage males is between 10% and 25%. For females a healthy body fat %
would be between 17% and 32%. You should not strive for 0% body fat. You should not try to
completely eliminate fat in your diet because the body needs fat in order to utilize some
vitamins. Maintaining essential levels of body fat is important because FAT: 1. Helps the body
adapt to heat and cold; 2. It protects the body organs & bones from injury; and 3. It is stored
as energy. However, too much fat puts you at increased risk of disease, such as
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, certain cancers, and high blood pressure.
Excess weight around the abdominal area is associated with an increased risk for
cardiovascular disease. It also detracts from your optimal appearance, and it may reduce
your performance efficiency. You will tire more easily and more quickly. Surgery even
becomes a bigger risk. On the other hand, too little body fat can cause health problems as
well. Anorexia, an eating disorder, can be fatal. Bulimia, also an eating disorder, can result in
bad teeth, and stomach problems. Having too little fat also detracts from your optimal
appearance and can affect performance efficiency.
There are three times in your life when fat cells grow and expand. Two of those you
have no control over: the first is when you are in the womb and the second is the first year of
life. The third time is when you are an adolescent and you can choose good nutrition and
exercise. The factors that influence your body composition include: heredity, growth &
development, activity levels, and diet. You can reduce your body fat % by: combining
aerobic exercise with a decrease in caloric intake, set sensible weight loss goals (no more
than 1 to 2 pounds per week), eat 3-5 small meals a day, and by reducing your fat and sugar
intake in your diet. You can also manage your weight by cutting back on calories and on fat
grams. You can eat smaller portions, drink lots of water, and eat lots of fruits and vegetables.
If you use diet alone without exercise, you will lose muscle and water along with fat. The
unused calories will be stored as fat.
There are two ways to control your body composition:
1. Maintain an active lifestyle and 2. Eat healthful foods.
Nutrition plays an important part in body composition. Food is the fuel that a body uses for
energy. A calorie is a measure of that energy. The recommended number of calories for teen
females is between 2000-2500 calories per day and for teen males between 2500-3000
calories per day. There are three main sources of energy from food, carbohydrates (CHO),
fat, and protein. Complex carbohydrates supply the majority of the energy that comes from
food. Water is the most important nutrient. The body is over 60-70% water. You get most of
the fluids that you need from the foods that you eat and drink, however your best choice for
something to drink is always water. You should also drink before, during, and after exercise.
Be careful about drinking soda it will dehydrate the body. You should not wait until you are
thirsty to drink, especially in hot weather. Chronic fatigue and /or muscle cramping can be
BODY COMPOSITION & NUTRITION
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signs of dehydration. The number of calories in each dish, the way the food is prepared and
the percentage of fat in the foods you eat are all factors that should be considered when
trying to choose a nutritional meal. Food should also be eaten in moderation, variety, and
balance, using the Food Pyramid.
Maintaining an active lifestyle through exercise is also important. Whether you want to
gain or lose weight, increased exercise is good for you. To burn fat and excess calories
effectively you should aim to work out at moderate to vigorous intensity for 30-60 minutes.
Balanced nutrition combined with regular exercise will lead to more lean body mass,
improved personal appearance, increased longevity, higher HDL cholesterol (good
cholesterol), increased endurance, less likely to develop atherosclerosis, lower body fat %
and better overall health.
3,500 CALORIES = 1 POUND OF BODY FAT
Many experts agree that the safest way to change your weight is to do so gradually. This means
gaining or losing ONE to TWO pounds per week is best. This may seem slow, but it gives your body a
chance to gradually adjust to the change. In addition, you change your eating habits and learn to eat
correctly. Bad eating habits probably caused the weight problem to begin with. Therefore, until the habit is
permanently changed, weight loss will not be achieved or maintained.
In order to lose 1 pound of body fat per week, you need to eat 3,500 fewer calories during the week.
Since there are seven days per week, this means that you would need to eat 500 fewer calories per day.
(3,500 calories -- seven days = 500 calories/day). To gain 1 pound per week, you would need to eat 500
more calories per day. To maintain your weight, do not increase or decrease the number of calories you eat
each day.
Exercise and caloric intake are both important in changing body weight, whether you want to gain
or lose. Cutting down the number of calories you eat and increasing your exercise can decrease body
weight. Increasing the number of calories you eat and increasing your exercise can increase body weight.
Calories will have to be increased a lot to provide the energy for the additional exercise and for adding
weight. Aerobic conditioning has been proven to add weight in the form of muscle rather than fat, which is
the desired type of tissue gain.
There are several types of assessments, but cost and time requirements for some of the tests prohibit their
use in the educational setting. Skin fold measurements assess the thickness of fat stored directly under the
skin. Usually three or more skin fold sites are measured and the results are used in an equation to calculate
percent body fat. These measurements are taken with skin fold calipers. Height and weight charts along
with body circumferences and body girth measurements can also be used to determine body mass index
BMI. The BMI height and weight charts that we are using in class only take into consideration your height
and weight. They do not figure in fat mass vs lean mass nor do they take into consideration your body type
or frame. Lastly, Bioimpedence has two forms. One is whole body, where an analyzer passes a harmless
low-level current from wrist to ankle. Electrical resistance is used to calculate lean vs. fatty tissue. The
second or partial body is when a subject holds hand held grips while a current passes from one hand to the
other, or stands on an analyzer while the current is passed from one foot to the other. Electrical impedance
estimates body fat from body water, as different tissues such as muscle and fat, have different amounts of
water, and therefore different resistance to this very weak current.