Does the Scale Tell Me I am Healthy?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Does the Scale Tell Me I am Healthy?
Do you use the scale as a way to measure if you are healthy or not? Using the scale only to see if you are at a healthy weight does not mean you are healthy. There are many things the average weight scale does not show. A healthy body weight depends on more factors than just what you weigh. It depends on various factors such as, age, diet, lean muscle, genetics, metabolism, and daily activity.
Is Body Fat Measured on a Body Weight Scale?
A basic body weight scale does not measure body fat. The healthy percentage of body fat differs according to gender and age. To be healthy the range for women is 18 percent to 32 percent. For men the body fat range is 10 percent to 25 percent to be considered healthy.
If you weigh yourself frequently and notice that your clothes are getting looser, but you are still near the same weight or weigh a little more, there is a good chance that you are losing body fat. A good way to see if this is the case is to take measurements. When you take measurements you should get in the habit of doing it at the same time of the day. For the most accurate measurement, remove your clothes and stand in front of a mirror.
Places to Measure
- Neck
- Chest across the nipple line
- Upper arms
- Waist (just below the ribs, slightly above belly button)
- Hips (biggest part of the butt)
- Calves ( biggest part of calf)
- Thighs ( biggest part of thigh)
Make sure to write down all measurements as you do them. Also make sure to measure both sides of your body.
Waist-to hip-ratio (WHR)
Another way to see if you are at a healthy weight is to use the Waist-to-hip-ratio. This is a simple calculation: Waist circumference divided by hip circumference. A small waist combined with big hips provides a smaller number than a big waist with small hips. A smaller number is better when it comes to Waist-to-hip-ratio. At a ratio of 0.85 the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other health problems start to increase for women and is set as the cutoff. For men, 0.90 is the ratio for such problems.
Waist Circumference used to check if you are at a healthy body fat
This type of measurement does not measure overall total body fat. Instead it measures the active fat that collects around the organs and abdomens. This measurement is a good predictor of diabetes and heart disease risk. To measure your waist circumference, use a tape measure. Start at the top of the hip bone, then bring it all the way around — level with your navel. Make sure it’s not too tight and that it is parallel with the floor. Don’t hold your breath while measuring it.
You are considered at high risk if your waist circumference is:
- For a woman- over 35 inches (88 cm).
- For a man- over 40 inches (102 cm).
The scale is only a small picture of what is really going on. Make sure you add taking measurements to your fitness tracking. If you find you are considered to be at a high risk of the above mentioned diseases do not panic. Just realize that you need to lose weight to be healthy and to lower that risk. Start today by going for a walk and making that walk a part of your daily routine. Take a look at your diet. If there are a lot of processed foods in your diet it is time to start to make the change to fresh foods. Change starts with a single step.
Here are a couple of quotes to keep in mind:
When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens – and when it happens, it lasts.
John Wooden
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” Lao Tzu