Six Weeks to a Healthy Diet

Watching Your Weight

Your weight is an important measurement in your overall health. In fact, every doctor's visit begins with a step on the scale to see how much you weigh. You can weigh yourself at home too, or at the gym or health club. All you need is an inexpensive scale. If you decide to use weight changes as your goal, be sure to use the same scale each time you weight yourself because there can be a pound or two difference between any two scales. As long as you use the same scale, you can be sure that the changes in your weight are accurate.

Weighing yourself the first time is easy. Just get naked (if you are at home), step on the scale and record your weight. Subsequent weigh-ins aren't difficult either, but you might want to weigh yourself at the same time of day since your body weight naturally fluctuates a little bit. If you weigh yourself at the gym or doctor's office, choose clothing that is similar in weight each time.

You really should only weigh yourself about once every week. Don't hop on the scale every day. It takes time to make long-lasting changes and you can drive yourself crazy with worry when the numbers on the scale don't change as quickly as you want. Remember the discussion on choosing goals? Another reason choosing weight change as a goal isn't so good is because your weight will naturally fluctuate every day.

As you meet your action goals each week, the number on the scale will go the direction you want it to. But don't just depend on weight; you can also measure your body mass index, waist circumference (both of which are important clues for your health) or you can grab a measuring tape and monitor changes in your dress size. And, of course, in a few weeks, you will feel a difference in how your clothes fit.

• Women - How to Find Your Size
• Men – How to Find Your Size

Calculating Your Body Mass Index

Your body mass index, or BMI, is an estimation of your body fat based on your weight and height. For most of us, it works just fine, but it does have limitations. The BMI may overestimate the amount of fat in people who are very muscular and it may underestimate the amount of fat in elderly people who have lost muscle mass. The formula for estimating your BMI is your weight in pounds/height in inches squared x 703. You can use the BMI calculator to do the math for you.

Understanding your BMI

Your BMI is used to determine if you are overweight, obese, at a healthy weight, or underweight:

• Underweight = less than 18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Having a BMI or 25 or more may put you at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Measuring Your Middle

This measurement only requires an inexpensive cloth measuring tape. Place the measuring tape around the largest part of your belly. Men who have a waist larger than 40 inches (102 cm) and women with a waist larger than 35 inches (88 cm) have a greater risk of chronic disease.

As your BMI rises above 25 and your waist grows, your risk for chronic disease increases too. You need to cut your calories, exercise and work hard on choosing healthier foods.

Getting High-Tech: Body Fat Percentage

You can measure the amount of fat you have stored in your body easily with a body composition scale. This type of scale sends a small electrical signal through your body that will give you an estimate of how much of your body is lean body mass (muscles, bones and such) and body fat. Men should aim for 15 to 18% body fat and a healthy range for women is 20 to 25%.

Tracking Your Progress

Now that you have a few numbers to work with, write them down and re-assess your weight, BMI, waist circumference, dress size or fat percentage periodically. How often? No more than one time each week. Your body will change for the better as you clean up your diet, however those changes will occur slowly. Weighing yourself every day may just frustrate you if you expect the numbers to change dramatically over night.