Dieting & Weight Loss – Energy Metabolism, Body Weight & Composition

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 What is our body composition?

The old saying goes that "little girls were made of sugar and spice and everything nice and little boys were made of snakes and snails and puppy-dog tails." That definition might have sufficed when we were young, but as adults we know that what we are made of is a lot more complex. Furthermore, changing what we are made through weight loss and improved fitness all too often proves very challenging.

When we step on a scale, it registers the total weight or mass of our body. However, this is just a general measurement and does not really provide us with an accurate assessment of the individual contributions made by the different types of substances to our weight. Said another way, the scale is not sensitive to body composition. In the first chapter we recognized that the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen make up greater than 90 percent of our body weight.

We also acknowledged that these elements are components of the major types of molecules in our body. These molecules are by and large water, protein,fat (triglycerides) and carbohydrate as well as variations and combinations of the latter three molecule types. Meanwhile, minerals make up most of our remaining body weight. Body Composition Table below presents examples of body compositions of what are deemed to be average adults.

If we were able to remove the water from our body, we would find that our body is mostly made up of energy molecules such as protein, fat, and carbohydrate. In fact, greater than 80 percent of what would be left over is energy providing substances in one form or another. So we can be viewed as a container of energy similar to the foods we eat. This is important for when we are not satisfying our energy needs with external sources (food), we are able to power bodily functions by tearing down internal energy sources. Keep in mind that our cells are tireless in their operational efforts and must be fed twenty-four hours a day.

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