if there is anyone who does not like to measure her or his own progress, please raise your hand. Thing is that you get a boost when you have the feeling to be close to your target. And that, my friends, can happen only if you can measure it.
The easiest and most well know method is measuring your weight with a scale. The cheap ones that you find in supermarkets are in my opinion not very accurate. Once you get a decent one there is a way to define your ideal weight by measuring your height and use the formula for BMI (body mass index) = weight / height². A healthy BMI should be in the range 18-25 but of course this number should be taken with care because it doesn't take into account body composition. Namely, a fat person can have the same BMI than a body builder.
Below you can find a BMI chart, provided you would like to know if you are in the green zone:
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| Table 1: BMI chart |
More accurate scales for medical usage such as those that you can find in pharmacies like wellnescentra and fitnesscentra can do a great job. One brand I suggest is Tanita.
It uses BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) technology, which sends a safe, low-level electrical signal from footplate and hand electrodes through the body. BIA is quickly calculated and it is also non-invasive. This is considered one of the most reliable ways to measure body composition, even clinically comparable to DEXA (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) and hydrostatic (underwater) weighing. These methods usually return your weight, fat percentage, fat mass, fat free mass, total body water, muscle mass, bone mass to provide a very complete profile of your body.
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| Figure 1: Tanita MC- 780U |
Those scales are also quite expensive, one more reason to keep reading.
If you can have access to one of those scales in your city or gym, fine. Otherwise you can use other cheaper techniques which go under the term of kinathropometry.
Kinanthropometry is an emerging scientific specialization concerned with the application of measurement to appraise human size, shape, proportion, composition, maturation and gross function. It is a basic discipline for problem-solving in matters related to growth, exercise, performance and of course nutrition.
The measuring tools you need are:
1) a scale
2) a calibre (to measure skinfolds)
3) a measuring tape
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| Figure 2: Calibre |
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| Figure 3: Skinfolds to measure |
Let's get busy.
Biometry
They are a lot of things you can measure such as height, weight, the circumference of the upper arm, waist, hip, calf, thigh and some other stuff but those are not really important. The skinfolds can be measured with a calibre.In Figure 3 you can see the correct places that you should measure. Measure each twice or more to make sure you did it well, then take the average of those measurements.
Body Density (BD)
The measures at hand will allow you to calculate your fat percentage. There are 3 different formulae to do that. I will explain the two ones that I consider as the most accurate. These formulae adapt quite well according to your age, gender and the amount of skinfolds you measured.1) Jackson- Pollock (3 site skinfold formula)
- Men
where Y= sum of Chest, Abdominal and Thigh skinfolds in mm.
- Women
where Z = sum of Triceps, Thigh and Suprailliac skinfolds in mm.
2) Durnin - Womersley (age 20-29)
- Men
where X is the measure of the skinfolds and L = log of the total of the 4 skinfolds (mm): triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac.
- Women
Fat Percentage
Now it's time to calculate your fat percentage with a formula specifically created by physiologist Siri. The Siri Equation is based on the two-compartment model, that is the body is made up of essentially two components: fat mass (the total fat of an individual) and fat-free mass (everything else: bone, water, lean tissue etc).
% Body Fat = (495 / Body Density) - 450
That's it, maybe it looks so much work for you but do it together with your buddy, husband, friend, sister or brother... it will be so much fun!
Happy measuring,
Caroline
