Can You Pinch More than an Inch?

The scale may say that you're slim, but your frame may still be carrying too much body fat, says Michele Olson, Ph.D., a professor of exercise science at Auburn University. "Women with little muscle tone may not be overweight but still have unhealthy levels of body fat," she explains. A new Italian study found that normal weight women with higher than 30% body fat are at greater risk for heart disease. To learn you fat level, try one of two tests available at many gyms: calipers, which assess skin thickness at key areas, and bioimpedance devices, which send an undetectable electrical current through the body to read the ratio of fat to other tissue. Both are reasonably accurate when used by a trained professional.