Tyler Russell

Obesity has been getting bad press in recent years because it has been identified as an important risk factor for high blood pressure, heart disease, adult- onset diabetes, and different types of cancer.

Obesity is also a major concern as you take steps to control your cholesterol. For one thing, adding to your percent of body fat will often result in a reduction of your levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.

Being obese will also raise your levels of total cholesterol, “bad” LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

There’s an additional concern about where your fat accumulates. Increases in subcutaneous fat on the trunk of the body……such as just under the skin around the abdomen……may have a negative effect by lowering your levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.

Also, those with a high waist- to- hip ratio (found by measuring and comparing the circumferences of those two parts of the trunk) tend to have more of a small, dense form of “bad” LDL cholesterol.

So what’s your healthy level of body fat?

The desired body- fat range for men is 19 percent of total body weight or lower, and for women it is 22 percent or lower. For the most accurate measurements should go to a clinic that does skin fold measurements with calipers or, even better, underwater hydrostatic weighing.