Body Composition
10 articles in this pillar.
BMI vs. Body Fat Percentage: Which Actually Matters?
BMI is everywhere, but it can't tell muscle from fat. Here's what each measure captures, where each one misleads, and how to read them together.
Read articleWhat Is a Healthy BMI? Understanding the WHO Categories
Where the 18.5–24.9 range came from, what the categories above and below it actually mean, and how much weight to put on the number.
Read articleHow to Measure Body Fat at Home (Without Calipers)
A practical guide to the U.S. Navy tape method — where to place the tape, how to avoid the common errors, and how it compares to scales and scans.
Read articleWaist-to-Hip Ratio vs. BMI: Which Predicts Health Risk Better?
Where you store fat matters as much as how much you carry. What waist-to-hip ratio measures, what the WHO thresholds mean, and when it beats BMI.
Read articleWhy the Scale Isn't Telling You the Whole Story
Muscle and fat weigh the same but occupy different space. What that means for tracking progress, and why the scale can stall while your body changes.
Read articleIdeal Weight Formulas Compared: Devine, Robinson, Miller and Hamwi
Four formulas, four different answers, all from the same height. Where they came from, why they disagree, and what to use instead of any of them.
Read articleBMI by Age and Sex: Why One Table Doesn't Fit Everyone
The same 18.5–25 range is applied to a 22-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman. Where that breaks down, what the alternatives are, and why the AMA changed its position in 2023.
Read articleIdeal Weight vs. Healthy Weight: Which Target Should You Use?
One is a number invented for drug dosing. The other is a range derived from mortality data. They are not the same thing, and only one of them is a sensible goal.
Read articleReading a Body Fat Percentage: What's Athletic, What's Risky
The categories, why men's and women's differ by ten points, why essential fat is a floor rather than a target, and how much to trust the number your method gave you.
Read articleWhat Is My Body Shape? How to Measure, and What It Does Not Mean
Hourglass, pear, apple, rectangle, inverted triangle — where the categories come from, how to take the three measurements properly, and which of your numbers actually predicts anything.
Read articlePrinted from mystatura.com — for general information only, not medical advice.