Tag: Goal Weight

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Weight Loss Exercise

How Do You Know When You’ve Lost Enough Weight?


Losing weight is often a long process and many people struggle on their journey. However, after reaching your earlier set goal weight, you may ask yourself; ‘Have I lost enough weight?â? When figuring out if you’ve lost enough weight, there are a few things you must consider such as your BMI, body type, and more.

First things first, remember that a doctor is the most qualified person to tell you if you’ve lost enough weight, especially if you’re doing so due to a health condition. If you want an idea at home, however, then here’s how to do it.

Check Your BMI

Although there are a number of limitations with BMI (Body Mass Index), it can be a useful measurement. To calculate your BMI, just divide your weight (in kilograms) by your height squared (in meters).

The normal range for your BMI would be between 18.5 and 25, but this may not apply to everyone. For instance, if you naturally have a big structure and heavy bones, your ideal BMI would probably be above 25, which actually makes you overweight by normal standards. On the other hand, if you have a small structure, your ideal BMI is probably lower than others.


Measuring Your Body Fat

Measuring your body fat percentage is another good way to make sure whether you’ve lost enough weight, and is more accurate than BMI. Always use this to verify that your BMI is telling the truth!

There are a few ways you can use to measure your body fat with the simplest method being using a skin fold caliper. You do this by pinching your fat (usually around your waist) and measure the thickness with a caliper. You then compare the measurement you get to a body fat percentage chart which you can easily find online. Alternatively, you can also use BIA (Bioelectric Impedance Analysis) where you step on a scale that then estimates your body fat percentage.

See How You Look And Feel

The best and simplest way to determine if you’ve reached your ideal weight is to just stand in front of a mirror and see how you look. If you have lost quite a bit of weight and you feel that you look good and healthy, then you probably are at your ideal weight. Ideally you should also not feel tired and must have enough energy to go through your day.

Of course, the main reason for you to lose weight should be to ensure your health is good, and that you feel good in yourself. Therefore, you can also decide to either stop or continue losing weight depending on how you feel health-wise.


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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

5 Weight Loss Tracking Rules


Tracking your calories, exercise, or weight loss progress is a great way to ensure that you are on the right road to reaching your goal weight. However, you need to do it correctly to achieve the best results. Here are some rules you should always try to abide by:

1) Track Daily

First things first, if you are tracking the calories you consume and exercising, do it every day! If you start skipping a day or two you will be likely to get lazy and stop doing it altogether. Tracking is important as it helps you systematically keep track of what you are eating and helps you decide if that particular food or meal has a place in your diet.

2) Weigh Yourself Weekly

When it comes to weighing yourself, doing it once a week is adequate. Your weight fluctuates on a daily basis, and it may be disheartening if you weigh yourself every day and occasionally you see the number on the scale go up. Weighing weekly will give you a better picture of your progress.

3) Tell Someone


Stay accountable to your weight loss and tracking by partnering up with someone as their weight loss buddy, or by telling your friends and family about your approach to weight loss. This way someone will remind you to stay true to your goal and continue your efforts.

4) Get Help

In the same way, get some support from your friends and family. When you are feeling down or defeated, turn to them and express to your family so they can give you a motivational boost.

5) Be Realistic

Lastly, be sure to set a realistic caloric limit for yourself. For men, do not go below 1500 calories a day, and for women, do not go below 1200 calories. Eating too little can slow down your metabolism and hamper your weight loss efforts, and thatâ??s certainly not what you want.

Follow these five weight loss tracking rules and youâ??ll be on the right road to your ideal weight. Make healthy food choices and exercise regularly to increase your caloric burn and lose weight faster. Also, find a good calorie tracking website to automate your calorie counting, or even better, download an app for your tablet or smartphone so that you can track on the go.

As long as you stick to your calorie limit and maintain your willpower, there will be nothing that can stop you from achieving your goal weight. Keep your head up and good luck!


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General Weight Loss Tips

Q & A

I get several emails a week about this and that and thought I’d answer some questions I get most often here.

How tall are you?

I’m right smack in the middle of average at 5’4.

What diet plan do you follow?

Right now I’m dabbling in a world without refined flours and sugars. Cutting back on dairy. Cutting back on grains. And cutting back on processed foods. I eat vegetables, meat/poultry/fish, fruit, nuts, some dairy and brown rice.

What kind of exercise do you participate in?

I do strength training once a week and for the past two weeks I’ve been doing Zumba three times a week and Jillian DVD’s the other days.

Have you met your goal weight?

Nope. Not yet.

What do you do for a living? What does an average day look like? How did you get started freelancing? What are your biggest career struggles?

I am a freelance designer and writer. I also make a small line of handmade jewelry and I blog. On a typical day I wake up around 6am, eat breakfast and check all my internet stuff (email, facebook, blog, twitter etc.), around 7am I start writing. Around 9am I take an hour break (food, stretching, fresh air, email). At 10am I’m back to writing until noon when I eat lunch. If I have design work to do I will go and do that after lunch (sometimes before lunch). After that I come home, eat dinner, do more work, exercise and then relax.

Most days look like this depending on what I have going on or if I have any deadlines.

I got started by making the decision to do it. Working for myself has been a goal of mine since college. Having an office job never felt like a long term solution for me. I like working with people rather than for them. Bosses tend to feel like they have ownership and control over you, and that’s a feeling I never got used to. If I want a raise, I work harder. In the office world, it’s up to the guy signing your check. It’s also nice not to have to check in, ask for days off, take time to go to an appointment or just have a “me” day. That will never ever get old.

Struggles with balance. Getting over fears. Setting limits with other people. Owning my time. And finding respect for what I do. A lot of people in my life have no idea what I do. Sometimes being at home is perceived as “doing nothing” or being unemployed, but I work harder than most people in office jobs. I pay for my own health insurance. Every dollar I make is important to me- I don’t take my work for granted. It’s also hard for people to see what I do as important or valuable because my title wasn’t handed to me through a job description. It’s important for me to share what I do with other people and let other people know that this lifestyle is possible for anyone if you’re willing to work hard and find focus. Also having a business name and website is beneficial for legitimacy.

What is your goal weight?

Honestly, I will skip down the street at 180. And wouldn’t sneeze at 190. And will praise the skies at 200, but for my height I should be under 140. That’s a long ways away though.

Do you have children? Do you want children?

No and yes. I’m in a place where I’m (we’re) not actively trying, but would be okay if it happened. Maybe when I’m 30 I’ll warm up to the idea. I have a lot of fears when it comes to having a child: loss of privacy, pain, vulnerability, unsolicited advice, expectations…I could go on  I’d also like to be in a better place physically (and mentally).

Who designed your blog?

I did with the help of my husband. I just created a header and the custom graphics. I’m using a wordpress template for the rest.

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