Body sculpting treatments are medical procedures that tighten loose skin and reshape the body to give it a slimmer appearance. There are claims that body sculpting treatments actually kill fat cells to achieve that more contoured look. But do they, really?
The answer is yes, but to an extent. You see, body sculpting treatments may involve either liposuction(read: surgery) or non-surgical procedures.
Neither surgical nor non-surgical body sculpting treatments are recommended for a major weight loss programme – you need to be generally healthy and as close as possible to your ideal weight to be viable for treatment.
Yet, while surgical procedures directly remove fatty tissue, non invasive techniques(a.k.a lipolysis) take a more subtle approach and eliminate fat more naturally.
- TL; DR – Non-surgical body sculpting treatments get rid of excess fat by killing some fat cells and shrinking others. It may take up to 90 days to see full results. However, shrunk fat cells can expand afterwards if you don’t follow up with dieting and exercise.
Obviously, the delay before results become visible is one downside to lipolysis. Yet, knowing how to check body fat percentage can help you track the progress of your body sculpting treatment and also maintain the results.
How to Check Body Fat Percentage
Methods used to check body fat percentage vary in accuracy, convenience and cost. Some of the most reliable methods include dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and air displacement plethysmography (ADP).
However, these techniques typically involve expensive equipment that cannot even be used in the comfort of your home. If you want to be able to check your body fat percentage frequently, these high-tech solutions aren’t the most convenient.
Here are four of the best ways to measure body fat percentage at home:
Skinfold Calipers
Arguably the most popular method for checking body composition, skinfold callipers provide an inexpensive way to determine body fat percentage.
Anyone with basic anatomy knowledge can measure body fat with skinfold calipers. To effectively track your weight loss, you should ensure the same person does the skinfolds every time you check.
Specific sites on the body are pinched so the calipers can measure the amount of subcutaneous fat at those locations. Generally, three or seven sites are used:
- The three sites are often the triceps, the area above the hip, and either the abdomen or the thigh.
- For 7-site measurements, all the above locations are measured, including the chest, the area near the armpits, as well as directly below the shoulder blade.
Smart scales
Body fat scales, or smart scales are home appliances that estimate body fat while measuring your weight. They use a foot-to-foot impedance meter (FFI) that sends electrical currents to the body and checks the responses to determine your body fat percentage.
The FFI works on the principle that muscle and fat respond differently to electrical current, and the differences can be used to figure out the amount of body weight present.
Smart scales are easy to use, but they are not always accurate. In fact, different models very widely in their accuracy. The body composition samples used to configuring the smart devices differs from one manufacturer to another.
If you’re going to use body fat scales to measure the progress of your body sculpting treatment, ensure you get a high-quality product.
Circumference measurements (CM)
Body circumference measurements are quite reliable, and do not require any expensive equipment besides a simple non-stretch tape measure. CM is so accurate that it is routinely used by the US Department of Defense to check body fat percentage in service recruits.
Circumference measurement works by carefully measuring the circumference of the body at specific locations. For women, the sites are the neck, waist and hips.
- The neck is measured directly below the larynx, or voice box. The value is often rounded up.
- Waist measurements are taken at the smallest waistline, and normally rounded down.
- When measuring the hips, aim for the largest protrusion of the buttocks.
After obtaining the measurements, the values are plugged into an equation along with your height to determine the body fat percentage.
- % body fat = 163.205 x log10 (waist + hip – neck)
– 97.684 x log10 (height)
– 78.387
Alternatively, you can insert your measurements into this online calculator to get your body fat percentage.
Precautions
CM may appear simple enough, but it must be done with extreme care to obtain accurate measurements.
Try to take each reading three times and use averages to get reliable results. Also, you should make sure your measurements are taken horizontally and parallel to the floor. Mistakes may arise if you slack the tape or apply too much tension when measuring.
In most cases, using CM to track your body fat is not very different from using a much more sophisticated technique like DXA. However, if your waist is larger than average, this method may be less accurate.
Waist circumference
Although this method can’t determine your overall body fat percentage, it does give you an idea of how much fat you carry around your midsection. If you have undergone body sculpting treatments in that area, measuring your waist can help you track your progress.
Like in CM, all you need is a good, non-stretch tape measure. Wrap the tape slightly above your hip bones, then exhale. The tape should be perfectly horizontal, and have just the right amount of tension. It should not compress your abdomen, or indent your skin.
The smaller your midsection, the less belly fat you probably have – and vice versa.
Interested in Non-surgical Body Sculpting?
Lipolysis, or non-surgical body sculpting, has several advantages over surgical procedures such as liposuction. Complications are almost nonexistent, and you don’t need a long recovery period. There is also no risk of scarring since no surgery is needed.
When you do your non-surgical, non invasive body sculpting treatments at Dream Aesthetic Rejuvenation, you get quality service at an affordable cost. Contact us today to get a free consultation from our diverse team of make-up artists, aestheticians and herbalists.
