Body Composition is defined as the percentage of fat and non-fat tissues (Eg. bones, blood, skin, muscle, organ etc). Our body consists the mentioned tissues and fats which will total up to become our body weight. Healthy weight is important; too much weight or too little weight is not good. This is especially true for the case of overweight, which often indicates high fat tissues thus increasing risk for coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes etc. It is also interesting to note that as we age, we lost muscle mass and gain body fat.
Therefore, it is important that we maintain a healthy body composition, so as to stay at a lower risk of getting health related problems. Some methods have been created to assess body composition; Eg. Body mass index (BMI) measurement, Skinfold measurement, Bioelectrical Impedance analysis (BIA) equipment. You may wish to note that while BMI measurement gives measurement of appropriate weight based on height (weight in Kg divided by height in meters square), it does not give accurate description of weight that is fat or non-fat tissues. For example, bodybuilders may have heavy weight which consist mainly muscles and lesser fat.
See some examples of body composition assessment:
Skinfold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtY6qA_VdYE
Sample Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhaceCqBnXA
And therefore, to maintain healthy body composition, there are certain things we need to do and change our lifestyle. Exercise is definitely one of them; however efforts have to be dedicated to strength training, cos it is thru strength training that we build muscle tissue in our body, so as to help maintain muscle mass that comes with decline thru aging, and also because having enough lean muscle mass in the body also improve resting metabolic rate, thus you unknowingly burn more calories even while you're resting (ladies especially need to devote time in the gym to lift weights, not just doing your fav cardio workouts; and trust me, you won't get bulky massive bodybuilder muscles, but good toning to bring out that nice curve in you). In addition, learn to eat healthier by focusing more healthier nutrient dense options.
