Should you daily step on the scale?
One thing we know, we all are different hen it comes to maintaining the healthiest body that we can possibly have. This means that for those of us that want to maintain a healthy weight, or change weight to have an ideal body composition and ideal BMI range, what works is a very individual set of strategies.
Daily and weekly weigh ins, particularly if incorporated into a weight loss program can help a dieter lose weight.
There are other ways to monitor successful body shaping and health through a weight loss regimen, other than just checking weight, it's not always the amount of weight on the scales, as everyone knows. And it's not just whether you fit into your jeans. It's exactly how fat you are. We've written a lot about fat distribution, and we've written about getting that fat rearranged, but everyone knows as long as they don't look fat, they are fine, right? Of course wrong.
Daily weights are a much better strategy to track loss than just stepping on the scale at the doctor's office. At the doctor's office, but that's just one weight, and one set of numbers. So When you go to the doctor's office are they measuring the right things? How about waist to hip ratios? That will at least tell you whether you are a pear or an apple. But how about the old fashioned calipers to grab your flabby parts. All these numbers mean something a bit different, and for long term health, you want to evaluate all of them.
We may or may not be fat according to our weight, but the scale can still be a good indicator of whether your muscle, fat, and your BMI and fat are changeling in many cases. The American Bariatric Society endorses some criteria for obesity, that we are used to. However, the scale does not always determine fitness physique, a physician Dr. Eric Braverman, who is associated with Weill Cornell neurological surgery department, but also seems to support some non-substantiated alternative therapies on his website, has reported that a study by his PATH Research of New York's recent study showed that at least 5% of individuals are deemed obese by BMI but are not, and about 37% of Americans are obese, meaning more than 30% of body fat for women, and 25% for men, if accurate DXA measurements are used. Thin women can benefit from getting off only scale measurements and checking their body fat. T
Fitness can determine how much body fat you need for your health. You need some fat if you are a winter athlete, you need nutrients to feed muscles as well. Lots of weight fluctuations doesn't always help your fitness. Typically female athletes have about 5% less body fat than the non-competitive athlete.
You want to keep hormones stable, and daily weighing can help with that. And If you are less than 22% body fat you might be at risk for ovulation and menstrual disorders.
Find out what your BMI means about your overall health from your health care provider. Measurements of BMIs are also categorized by the degree the abnormal BMI risks poor health. BMI: grade 1 obesity is 30-34.9, a grade 3 is over 40 BMI, grade 2 is all in between.
Daily weight ins at home doesn't mean measure your waist all the time, but you should measure it some of the time. Or obesity can be determined by the size of your waist over 35 inches.
The accurate BMI tests on bone densitometry may be relatively more costly (at WHP Health we try to keep very affordable as most insurance companies won't cover) but they are so much more accurate at predicting the waist related obesity.
Also combine weigh ins with some sort of consistent hip measurements. If you insist on being cost effective, get out a measuring tape and check the weight to hip ratio! Women, you should be no more than 0.8! Quit reading, and go do some core work for at least 10 minutes!