Body composition is an analysis of the percentage of stored fat in a body as compared to lean mass.

What Is Body Composition?
Have you ever thought about your weight? Or perhaps, you've made resolutions to get into better shape. Many people are consumed with issues surrounding weight, obesity, self-image, and health. There is certainly pressure to be thin and look like the celebrities and models who adorn magazine covers. However, an obsession with the number on the scale is often a misguided way of thinking about general health. It is more important to ask, what is that weight made up of? This is where the concept of body composition comes in.

Body composition is exactly what the name states: what our bodies are composed of. Now, it could be said that in a general sense we are all made up of the same parts. It is true that every body contains muscle, bone, organs, tissue, and fat. However, proportionately, fat in particular varies immensely from person to person. And, this is the primary focus of body composition: the percentage of stored fat in a body versus lean mass.

Muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness. Two people of the same sex and body weight may look completely different because they have a different body composition.