Some of you may possibly have learned of SMART goal setting techniques.
For those who haven’t, SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. The idea, in a nutshell, is that all desired goals should be SMART if they are likely to be of any use at all. There is simply no point establishing a goal that doesn’t have even one of these 5 pieces. In this post, I’m going to go over how you can calculate body fat percentage and how this relates to the “measurable” element.
First, I want to state several things about the “specific” component.
A fitness objective needs to be specific in order for it to be measurable. If your ultimate goal is to “lose weight”, that’s virtually impossible to measure. My main physical fitness target for 2010 was to drop my body fat percentage lower than 8% within 6 months and keep it there for the remainder of the entire year. Notice that I utilized body fat percentage, not body weight, as my desired unit of measurement. I think body fat percent is a superior indicator of overall human body composition to weight. Someone can be extremely muscular and also at a really low body fat percentage and nevertheless be regarded as “overweight” strictly by BMI, though they look amazing. On the other hand, an individual may be “skinny fat” with a sensible body weight, but really high body fat percentage that shows once they take their shirt off.
I recommend utilizing body fat percentage as your measure of body composition.
If your body fat percentage is on point, the weight will take care of itself. The downside of using body fat percentage is that it is not the most basic thing to measure. To have a actually precise measurement of body fat percentage, you need sophisticated techniques such as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) which can be expensive. I evaluate my body fat percentage weekly and I don’t know what you think, but I’m not willing to spend $50 – $100 per week to determine my body fat percentage.
What do I use?
I personally 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 assess total body water that it utilizes to calculate body fat percentage. Don’t worry, it’s completely harmless. The drawback: it’s not too precise. BIA scales tend to understate body fat percentage. Nevertheless, I’m alright with this since I’m more interested in the trend with time than the specific figure.
The trick is to keep as many parameters consistent as is feasible.
I attempt 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 . When you’re checking measurements over time, it is very important to regulate these variables when working with a BIA scale because it utilizes body water to determine body fat percentage. If I were to chug a couple of glasses of drinking water and then weigh myself once more, my body fat reading my jump up by 1% or so.
Once again, I’m okay with this since I’m not a professional sportsman or bodybuilder who has to know an exact number. I want to just make sure I’m in the right ballpark (surely in the single digits, close to 8% +/- 1-2%). The benefit of utilizing a BIA scale is that it’s very inexpensive. This was a one-time price of about $60. I ordered mine a few years ago and technology has advanced since then, so today you can probably get a less costly, more accurate one.
Now let’s talk about the fun part: monitoring how well you’re progressing.
As I stated, I usually weigh myself once a week… in fact, let’s say once every 5-9 days. If my control factors aren’t suitable for a weigh in (for example, if I forget to weigh myself prior to eating supper), then I’ll hold off until the following day. I’ve been repeating this for over a year now and tracking my figures within an Excel chart. I can’t stress how important it is to own some form of visual reinforcement of your progress. For me, an Excel chart is the most convenient way to make this happen. 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 started monitoring my body fat percentage and bodyweight in 2009 (the beginning of my “fitness journey”) and I don’t intend to stop… ever.
The constant visual presentation is perhaps the strongest tool you can leverage. The reason for this is that it increases awareness and this is vital to accomplishing your goal and then staying on track. There is an unconscious connection with tracking your progress that offers you something concrete that’s always in the back of your head. Trust me, it really works. Every time I assess body fat percentage and check out my spreadsheet, I’m reminded never to let myself go because I don’t want my chart to get out of whack! So, I’m happy to state that I attained my body fat goal in 2010.