Effective Ways of Measuring Progress
By Chad Tackett, president of GHF
Success can be measured on a number of levels. It's important
to measure your progress by the new healthy habits you're adopting as
well as by your appearance. Long-term decreases in medical problems,
injury, and other health risks and an improved quality of life, with
or without weight loss, are the most important measures of success
Short and medium term changes can also be measured regularly
during the process. These include obvious changes in health-related
behavior patterns such as a decreased reliance on medications, increased
ability to perform physical activity, a reduced intake of fat, and the
increased intake of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals in your diet.
If you've started making slight changes in how your food
is cooked or prepared, or if you're reading labels at the grocery store
and are discovering new tastes and textures, you're making great improvements
towards a healthier lifestyle. When you feel good about yourself and
acknowledge the changes you're making along the way, you're more likely
to keep moving forward on your path.
Physical indicators of progress towards a healthier body
fat distribution include the waist circumference and waist-hip ration
(WHR). Because abdominal obesity has consistently been associated with
risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, any reduction in the waist
circumference or in the WHR is a positive step towards a healthier body
fat distribution, regardless of weight loss.
Another good way of determining physical progress is having
your body fat measured by either hydrostatic weighing, electrical impedance,
or simply by using skinfold calipers. This latter is by far the cheapest
and most accessible. Although it is not as accurate as the other two
methods, it can at the very least give you a beginning point from which
you can easily measure decreases in body fat. Please refer to the Global
Health and Fitness Personal Trainer Directory (www.global-fitness.com)
to find a certified personal trainer in your area that can measure your
body fat percentage.
However you decide to measure your physical progress, never
use the scale as an indicator. Your weight does not reflect how healthy
you are or the progress you've made. When you step on the scale, your
weight reflects the combined total of both your lean body weight (muscle,
bone, organs, fluids) and body fat weight. Two people with identical
body weights do not have the same body composition; they could, indeed,
have entirely different body types. For example a 170-pound man might
have 60 pounds of body fat and 110 pounds of lean body mass. A healthier,
more muscular man might only have 25 pounds of body fat and 145 pounds
of lean body mass. Even though these two individuals weigh the same,
one is in much better shape than the other.
Using the scale to measure your progress gives you no information
about the body composition (fat vs. muscle) changes that are actually
occurring. The scale may show that you've lost seven pounds, but it
can't tell you that half of the weight was muscle and water, not fat.
Similarly, people become discouraged when they haven't lost any weight,
even though they have actually lost pounds of fat and replaced them
with pounds of firm, fat-burning muscle.
Developing healthier eating and physical activity habits
will most likely result in a loss of body fat even though the scale
may indicate that you weigh the same. Learn to use other methods of
determining body composition and pay more attention to improvements
in how you feel, in your self-esteem, and in your physical appearance.
Height/weight charts and other tables such as the BMI (Body
Mass Index: weight in kilograms divided by height in meters, squared)
have similar limitations when used as an indicator of progress towards
a healthier lifestyle for several reasons. First, these formulas are
not always related to how fat you are since they don't take into account
body composition/fat distribution. Many people who are muscular or short
and stocky have a high BMI, even though they are not necessarily fat
or at high risk for disease. Second, the BMI is only appropriate for
adults 20-65 years of age. It cannot account for patterns of growth
in adolescents or in the elderly, who may decrease in height with age.
Third, the focus is still on changing one's weight to produce a lower
BMI (since it's not possible to increase one's height). This continues
to promote weight change as the ideal way to improve health.
Don't forget to notice and acknowledge improvements in
energy, performance, self-esteem, and the many other benefits you'll
gain from this healthier lifestyle: improvements in health risk factors
and medical conditions, improved quality of life and psychological functioning,
healthier eating, and more enjoyable physical activity. Good luck: I
hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.
This article was provided by Chad
Tackett, president of GHF.
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