Today I stopped by my favorite coffee shop in Berkeley, right across from the campus and noticed this student, couldn't have been 20 years old.

Now this kid was obese, no I mean OBESE. I felt bad, really bad, you know like empathy?!

He jiggled when he walked and everyone would turn and stare the way I would turn at a beautiful girl passing me by.

Anyway, it got me thinking about composition, specifically body composition. And how it affects the way we move, the way we fit into society. The way we fit into our own thinking. How we live within ourselves.

Do you ever think about how you fit into society? Are you PHAT or fat? Do you count yourself as one of the obese?

Today there are more people obese then in any other time in history, and I think most of them are here in the USA. And the reasons are pretty simple ? simple as too much food and not enough exercise.

However, even with all the focus on weight loss, you still may not be completely changing your lifestyle or bad health habits.

Why is that?

Truthfully, I think it's because maybe you feel safer being fat, but more on that on another day.

Today let's talk about your body composition. You know the shape of your body and how it affects your life or your workout.

Maybe if understanding the one aspect of losing weight that you need to understand better and how it relates to weight loss you could better deal with toning up.

First, I'm sure you understand that "obesity" is not just a condition involving too much weight, but also a disease that poses multiple health risks.

I'm not going to beat you down with those risks, since I assume you must know them by now. If not, just do a search on Google or Yahoo on Obesity.

Only you know what affects it has on your physical performance, which might be as simple as walking up a flight of stairs or heading to the mailbox.

To get started in conquering obesity, you should educate yourself on how to achieve better health. I'm thinking you may not even be aware of the fat-to-muscle ratio, which is crucial to losing the right type of weight.

You see, if you're not combining good eating habits, cardio exercise, and weight training, then you're not helping your body at all and most likely even doing it harm.

These three things together create the synergy needed to lose weight while maintaining muscle.

For instance, if you eat a good, balanced diet and go to the gym but only do cardio to lose weight you will in fact lose weight, but unfortunately, you will lose the wrong kind of weight.

The weight you're dropping is not the fat weight you need to lose, but muscle. When this happens, your body's metabolism and muscles are inefficient, you may be getting thinner but you'll notice you're also getting weak.

If you're eating right and only doing cardio exercises, what you are is a skinny fat person. With all the same health risks as a fat person. Sure, you're losing weight but again, it will be muscle weight.

Therefore, the fat-to-muscle ratio drops, giving you a soft, undefined appearance. Additionally, because your fat is not lost, all of the health risks such as diabetes 2, heart attack, and other serious diseases still exist.

Therefore, it is essential that you use a combination of good nutrition with the cardio and weight training to lose the fat and not the muscle.

Keep in mind that you do not have to overdo the weight training but you do need to incorporate it into your daily routine. Resistance training is what shapes and sculpts the muscles, bringing the fat-to-muscle to a healthy ratio.

Keep in mind that if you had a dozen people undergoing a body composition evaluation, all of them obese, you would discover not only a laundry list as to why the person is obese, but also come to understand that the same weight loss and exercise program would not work for every person.

As mentioned, most people become obese simply because they start into bad eating habits and stop exercising.

However, another reason for obesity relates to health. Some people have inherited or developed health issues that cause them to be overweight, such as thyroid problems. In connection with that, a person can experience significant weight gain because of medications being taken for health issues.

Therefore, creating a one-for-all weight loss or exercise program simply wouldn't work. Through a body composition evaluation, all of these factors will be exposed so the appropriate program can be developed. This is important since what I want is for you to enjoy eating and exercising, as well as benefit from it.

However, if you're not on the right type of program based on your body composition, you could be taking the long way to the body you want.

The key to losing weight, the right type of weight, and living a healthy lifestyle is to remember that a poor fat-to-muscle ratio will have a negative impact on both.

Sadly, more then 45% of the population is overweight, with many of them being at the level of obesity. When the body has high composition levels of fat, not only is there great risk of serious disease but also injury to your knees, ankles, and your back.

It also affects your mental health, often throwing you into a tailspin of depression. That's something I really empathize with. I see it all the time at the gym around February and March when members begin to quit.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to check your body's composition level so you know exactly the amount of fat you're carrying.

In reaching the right fat-to-muscle ratio, it is important you know your body needs some fat to function.

For one thing, an appropriate level of fat helps to cushion internal organs and nerve conduction. However, when the fat is over a healthy ratio, trouble begins.

You need to measure your body's composition on a regular basis with the use of a caliper, which can be purchased at a minimal cost.

Remember, by understanding your body's composition, what is happening inside your body both good and bad, you can take control to lose the excess fat.

Armed with this newfound information, you will no longer have to guess where you are with your fat-to-muscle ratio, you will know.

-Jaikob

Jaikob Mateo is an Internet consultant and a voracious student of human nature. Jaikob fashions himself after the Watcher in the Marvel comic series. His heroes are Superman, Dare Devil, the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and most members of the Justice League. His employment history led him to manage thousands of employees. This provided him with endless opportunities to pursue his near-obsessive fascination with human nature and persuasion. Jaikob claims he used to have super powers but his therapist took them away. You can visit his Blog at: http://phatbody.blogspot.com/