Some of you may well have learned about SMART goal setting.

For those of you who haven’t, SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.   The concept, in a nutshell, is that all goals must be SMART if they’re likely to be useful at all.  There is simply no purpose establishing a goal that doesn’t have even one of the 5 parts.  In this write-up, I’m going to go over the best way to calculate body fat percentage and how this pertains to the “measurable” element.

First, I’ll say a few things about the “specific” component.

A fitness objective must be specific in order for it to become measurable.  If your ultimate goal is to “lose weight”, that’s pretty much impossible to measure.  My main fitness target in 2010 was to drop my body fat percentage lower than 8% within six months and keep it at that point for the remainder of the year.  Notice that I utilized body fat ratio, not body weight, as my desired unit of measurement.  I believe that body fat percent is a superior gauge of all round human body composition to weight.  Someone can be quite brawny and also at a very low body fat percentage and nevertheless be regarded “overweight” purely by BMI, even though they look incredible.   In contrast, an individual may be “skinny fat” with a reasonable weight, but really high body fat percentage that shows if they take their shirt off.  

I strongly suggest using body fat percentage for your measure of body composition.

When your body fat percentage is on point, the weight will take care of itself.  The problem with using body fat percentage is that it isn’t the most basic thing to determine.  To get a truly exact measurement of body fat percentage, you need advanced techniques including an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) which can be expensive.  I evaluate my body fat percentage every week and I don’t know what you think, but I’m reluctant to spend $50 – $100 a week to measure my body fat percentage.

What do I use?

I use an electronic body composition scale which measures body fat percentage through bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).  BIA transmits a tiny electric current through your body to measure overall body water that it employs to estimate body fat percentage.  Don’t worry, it’s completely safe.  The drawback: it’s not too precise.  BIA scales often understate body fat percentage.   Nevertheless, I’m okay with this because I’m more interested in the trend with time than the actual number.  

The key would be to hold as many factors constant as you can.  

I try to weigh myself on the same day each week.  This doesn’t always happen, but I do always weigh myself at around the same time of day (in the evening) after working out, taking a shower, and urinating but before eating or drinking anything.  When you are keeping track of measurements over time, it is vital to manage these variables when working with a BIA scale because it depends on body water to determine body fat percentage.  If I were to chug several glasses of water then weigh myself again, my body fat reading my jump up by 1% or more.

Again, I’m okay with this since I’m not a professional athlete or bodybuilder who must know an exact number.  I really want to just be certain I’m in the right ballpark (definitely within the single digits, about 8% +/- 1-2%).  The benefit of using a BIA scale is the fact that it’s highly affordable.  This was a one-time expense of about $60.  I purchased mine a few years ago and technology has upgraded since then, so today you can most likely get a cheaper, more accurate one.

Now for the fun part: tracking your progress.

As I mentioned, I normally weigh myself once a week… actually, let’s say once every 5-9 days.  If my control parameters aren’t right for a weigh in (for example, if I forget to weigh myself before eating dinner), then I’ll hold off until the next day.  I’ve been repeating this for more than a year now and tracing my figures in an Excel graph.  I can’t stress how crucial it is to own some kind of visible reinforcement of your progress.  For me personally, an Excel chart is the easiest way to do this.  As I said, my focus is on body fat percentage.  I don’t really care much about weight.  It is just something interesting to track and see how it changes over time as my body fat percentage changes.

I began monitoring my body fat percentage and weight in September 2009 (the start of my “fitness journey”) and I don’t plan to stop… at any time.  

The ceaseless visual display is perhaps the best resource you can make use of.  The reason behind this is that it increases awareness and this is critical to accomplishing your goal and then staying on track.  There is an unconscious connection with checking your progress that offers you something concrete that’s always in the back of your head.  Trust me, it truly does work.  Every time I assess body fat percentage and look at my spreadsheet, I’m reminded not to let myself go because I don’t want my chart to get out of whack!  So, I’m thrilled to say that I attained my body fat goal in 2010.

Categories : Lora's Posts