What percentage of your body weight have YOU lost?

[hiddnstar 167]

HI

In case anyone else was wondering what percentage of their original body weight they have lost, here is the formula:

Divide number of pounds lost by the starting weight.

Multiply the answer by 100

Example: 40 divided by 330 x 100 = 12.12%

I've been watching old episodes of The Biggest Loser lately and was wondering what my own percentage of loss is. Today it is 22.5%!

What is yours?

~hiddn

[reverie 49]

40%! Exciting.

[Loving everyday 0]

28.25% nice!!!!

[honk 780]

From highest weight (start of work out routine)30%; about 109 pounds. No wonder I had such a problem climbing the stairs at work. Most people dont carry another person ups the stairs!

[Jodi_620 37]

That is cool...mine comes out to 44.4%!

[cwm812 11]

Mine is easy....50%

[Kalipso2 25]

i'm at 29.1%

[hiddnstar 167]

Those are amazing answers!!!! Im blown away!

Love, hiddn

[Humming Bird 275]

41.3% for me !

[Blaze21 5]

Mine is 43.97%

[isaviolinist 11]

I've lost about 30% of my excess pounds on the scale (I try to focus on my body fat % more than scale weight though). I have about 18% more that I'd like to lose on the scale and about 10% more body fat that I need to lose.

[hiddnstar 167]

I've lost about 30% of my excess pounds on the scale (I try to focus on my body fat % more than scale weight though). I have about 18% more that I'd like to lose on the scale and about 10% more body fat that I need to lose.

hi

How do you figure percentage of body fat? I'd love to do that.

thanks!

~hiddn

[isaviolinist 11]

hi

How do you figure percentage of body fat? I'd love to do that.

thanks!

~hiddn

Hey hiddn - yea body fat percentage is really the most accurate measure of health. BMI is pretty worthless, other than for getting approval from insurance companies for WLS and scale weight doesn't tell you enough pieces of the puzzle.

I like this picture to illustrate why BMI isn't a good indicator of health: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/bmi3.htm . Two people of the exact same weight and height will have the same BMI - lets say they both have a BMI that puts them in the Overweight category. If one does no physical activity and eats tons of processed junk food, and one is a body builder with no fat to be found on his body, are they both in the same physical health since their BMI is the same?

I'm 5'2, and currently have about 140 pounds of lean mass on me (anything that isn't fat). Thats a much higher amount of lean mass than most women my age/height have (most women my age and height have between 110-115 pounds of lean mass). That number will go down as I continue to lose weight and exercise (the less you weigh, the less muscle your body needs to keep itself up and running). Ultimately, If I end up at around 130 pounds of lean mass and weigh 150 pounds, I will have around 15% body fat (that would put me above the healthy range, into the 'athletic' range...right now I'm just aiming for healthy/fit range which is about 22% body fat for women). At 150 pounds, despite that extremely small percentage of body fat, I will still be in the 'overweight' category of the BMI chart.

Anyhow, I'm very passionate about body fat percentage vs scale weight (although I still compulsively weight myself... but at least I know more logically why the scale says what it does...even if it goes up and I'm doing all the right things, I freak out less because I have a better understanding how my body works now and I know that if I am consuming less than I am burning, I haven't much to worry about). And I think BMI should be discussed WAY less than it is.

We (fiance and I) get our body fat % measured every week at our fitness center via skin fold caliper tests. There are many ways to do it (However, I'm not a fan of the DIY body fat % measures - I've tried to do it myself and compare it to my actual body fat % and it never comes out even close) - the least feasible way is the underwater test. I don't even know who would do that or how you would get access to someone who does that. If you're associated with a university or know someone who is associated with the health sciences dept at a university, they may be able to help you. There is BIA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis), which you could probably have done at a health practitioners office. Our scale (its a Tanita) is supposed to perform BIAs, but we lost the components that you need to have to make it work (actually my fiance got the scale before he met me, and lost the components before I ever saw the scale so I blame him ). I may buy another Tanita at some point, just because I'm curious to see if it is accurate. And lastly, you can have skin caliper measurements taken, which is what we do at our fitness center every month and a half. You have to have the same person do it (someone who is qualified and trained to do it) and they have to be very accurate with their measurement sites. Some fitness center with a comprehensive program (not just personal training, but look for nutrition, weight loss counseling, body composition assessments, etc.) will do this. And I'm sure many doctors offices will do it too. Probably your best bet is to call your surgeon and/or nutritionist and see if they can tell you their recommendation!

At our body compositions, we also have measurements taken - which is another great indicator of loss. Even if the scale isn't moving (or moving as fast as youd like), you may be gaining muscle and losing fat and inches. I've lost over 30 inches all around since September.

Sorry for that long post - Im just REALLY passionate about this and want everyone to know about it!

[karewpah 173]

10%... and I'm almost 4 weeks out from surgery

[nina874 48]

46.1% !!! I am very happy with that