Tip #4: Losing Weight (The Healthy Way!)

Almost everyone these days wants to lose weight. Whether it's that stubborn five pounds that are making you anxious about swimsuit season, or you have a significant amount of weight to lose, it can be a difficult process. The problem that most people don't realize, however, is that losing weight in a healthy way involves a lot more than just the number on the scale.

Assuming that you're healthy (or unhealthy) based on how many pounds you weigh is like assuming a car is safe to drive just because it has a nice paint job. There's a log going on below the surface that you need to pay attention to. Below, we'll show you the numbers you should be looking at if you want to make sure your weight loss journey is a healthy one.

Focus on Your Body Composition

Your body composition, especially your body fat percentage, is very important. Your body composition is a breakdown of how many pounds of fat, muscle, and other tissues make up your total weight. If you fall outside the range of what is considered a healthy body fat percentage, you may not be in optimal health. Having an excessive or insufficient amount of body fat increases your risk for metabolic diseases, breathing problems (like sleep apnea), joint pain, malnutrition, and more. And it doesn't matter what clothing size you are, either; an unhealthy body fat percentage can create health problems whether you wear a size 4 or a size 44.

For men, that optimal range is between 6-25%. Anything lower than 6% can result in organ shrinkage, diabetes, cognitive problems, and gastrointestinal disturbances. Anything higher than 25%, while also putting you at risk for diabetes, can cause cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, fatigue, and sleep apnea. For women, the optimal body fat range is between 14-30%. Women who are under that range have the same health risks as men, and may have serious fertility issues as well. And women who fall on the higher side of what is considered a healthy body fat percentage, on top of everything, have a higher risks of developing female cancers.

How to Calculate Your Body Fat Percentage

You'll need some sort of special tool for calculating your body fat percentage on your own. The easiest (and most affordable) tool is the fat caliper. You can usually find them for less than $10 online or at your local health & fitness store. A good fat caliper kit will come with a set of instructions on how to use them. There are also electronic scales and handheld devices that measure your body fat by sending an electric current through your body; but they are much more expensive.

Start Taking the Right Measurements

It's time to put the scale away and bust out your tape measurer. In reality, the numbers you get from measuring the circumference of certain areas on your body tell a much more detailed story about your health and wellness than a 3-digit number on a scale.

Medical experts have known for a long time that carrying too much weight, especially in the form of adipose tissue, around your waist puts you at risk for a whole host of metabolic diseases. Reputable organizations, such as the National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization, all agree that a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) > .85 for women and > 1.0 for men can put either at serious risk for health problems. In many cases, the WHR (sometimes in conjunction with a person's body fat percentage) is more effective at predicting things like mortality in elderly patients and cardiovascular risk factors than the BMI or waist circumference alone. The WHR is also a powerful indicator of fertility in both women and men.

How to Calculate Your WHR

Figuring out your WHR is very simple. All you need is a tape measurer, a pen and paper and, if you're not so great at math, a calculator. Just follow these easy steps:

Your first measurement will be your abdominal circumference. Wrap the tape measure around your waist, about an inch above your navel, keeping it parallel to the floor and as straight as possible. Write that number down.
Follow a similar procedure for your hip circumference, making sure to measure at the widest part of your buttocks. Write that number down as well.
Take the number of inches in your waist measurement and divide that by the number of inches in your hip measurement. That is your WHR.

As you start to lose weight, be sure to measure your WHR and your body fat % once a week. If you're losing weight, but your WHR and/or BF% aren't changing, then you may need to talk to your doctor.

You can read more about how to eat for weight loss and how to sleep better (which also helps with losing weight) at ForVita.