How to Assess Body Weight

Many Americans weigh more than their ideal body weight. Whether you have just begun a new healthy lifestyle program or wonder how well your current fitness regime is doing, take time to assess your body weight. Follow these steps to accurately measure your body's weight, fat and size and then compare your results to accepted standards.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Body fat calipers
• Scale
• Measuring tape
• Hydrostatic tank (optional)

1. Weigh yourself on a calibrated scale at the doctor's office or health club. Do not trust the average household scale. Weigh yourself early in morning before eating or drinking and while wearing light clothes and no shoes. Determine if your weight is in the ideal range by plugging your weight and height into an online body weight calculator or comparing it to an ideal body weight (IBW) chart.
2. Determine your body fat percentage. Measure at home with calipers. Get the most accurate measurement in a hydrostatic weighing tank at your local health club. Wear a swimsuit or light clothes, expel all air from your lungs, hold your nose and fully submerge your body underwater while an attendant takes the measurement. A score of 25 to 31 percent for women and 18 to 25 percent for men falls within the acceptable ranges. Athletes and regular exercisers boast smaller percentages. A percentage higher than 32 percent for women and 25 percent for men indicates obesity.
3. Calculate your body mass index (BMI), a standard that measures obesity. Multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Divide the result by your height in inches. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, a person with a BMI below 18.5 is underweight; between 18.5 and 24.9 is ideal; 25 through 29.9 is overweight and 30 and above is obese.
4. Measure your waist circumference by wrapping a measuring tape securely around your waist. Your risk for developing heart disease increases if your waist is over 40 inches for a man and 35 inches for a woman.
5. Talk to your physician about your body weight assessment. Discuss the results, review your lifestyle habits and formulate a plan to reach your ideal body weight.

Tips & Warnings

• Muscle weighs more than fat; therefore BMI may overestimate fat in athletes and underestimate it in older people or those who have lost muscle mass.
• Different nations classify BMI ranges differently.