02/01/2023
READ âŹď¸
-
Tracking is important for maintenance and progress, but our medical system and culture have adopted metrics that often are inaccurate and/or not great for mental health.
-
BMI uses your weight and height to calculate your âBody Mass Index.â Our medical system still uses this as an indicator of body fat for adults and children. The issue is that it does not consider body composition at all, so itâs completely inaccurate at predicting body fat. For example, I was recently diagnosed as âoverweightâ at my most recent physical. Whatâs funny about this is I also recently had to do a DEXA scan for my job and was told that my body fat percentage is in the 8-14% range.
-
WEIGHT is one of the worst ways to measure SHORT-TERM progress. Itâs definitely useful to track trends over the long term (months and years), but really isnât helpful on a daily or weekly basis for general health. Women fluctuate weight more than men due to their menstrual cycle, so this can cause inaccurate representations of body composition changes. Individuals who are overweight can use weight loss as a metric, but this is still something that should only be tracked to measure trends, not day-to-day changes.
-
BODY FAT calculators and devices that are affordable and accessible to the general public are inconsistent and usually very inaccurate. DEXA scans and hydrostatic testing are accurate, but are both expensive and inconvenient, making regular testing unrealistic for most.
-
WAIST-TO-HEIGHT is a cheap and easy place to start. The waist should be less than half the height. Measuring tape will cost you less than $10 online and your height is something that rarely changes as an adult. This measurement doesnât give you a specific body fat percentage, but is a starting place to know if youâre carrying excess fat.
-
Itâs also important to note that Iâm not a doctor and not providing medical advice with this post. This is something that I have learned and applied over years of training. DM me if you have any questions!