Challenge #1: measure your body
You will need:
Bathroom scale
Measuring tape
Friend (optional)
How to measure
If you are measuring yourself in a private place, strip down to remove extra bulk and weight. If you are in public, workout clothes or other form fitting items are suitable.
Height: Take off your shoes. Let down any hairstyle that covers the top of your head. Stand against a doorframe or wall. Press your heels into the wall, draw your shoulders back and keep your chin level. Have a friend use a pencil to mark the doorframe at level of the crown of your head. Measure from the floor to the mark.
Weight: Step on your scale without shoes, bags, or extra clothing. Ideally before a meal, not after.
Waist: Measure above the belly button, at the level where your elbow crease falls if you let your arm rest at your side. According to the World Health Organization, the waist is midway between the lowest rib and the top of the hipbone (iliac crest). Take the measurement on an exhale.
Hips: Measure around the fullest point of the buttocks, with the tape parallel to the floor.
Neck: Wrap the tape just below the larynx (Adam’s apple). Relax your shoulders; hunching them up causes your neck to broaden.
Wrist: Measure around the wrist just below the ulnar joint, right about where you’d wear a watch.
Using the measurements
With our measurements taken, we can do calculations and comparisons to get a sense of our health. No single calculated value is going to give you a true sense of things and all are flawed in various ways — especially for people who are extremely fit or unfit. Try them all and see how you measure up.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the most basic, and possibly most inaccurate, calculations. If you are on either end of the height bell curve or highly muscular, your BMI is going to be wrong. For the rest of us, it’s a fair general indicator of obesity. BMI = weight in kg divided by height in meters squared. BMI from 18.5 to 25 is considered normal.
Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR) calculates the distribution of abdominal fat. Higher values indicate a correlation with abdominal obesity, which is related to cardiovascular disease.
In healthy adults, the number should be under 0.5. Waist divided by height yields the number.
Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) indicates obesity and in older people, mortality. The ideal ratio is under 0.8 for women and under 0.9 for men. Waist divided by hip equals the ratio.
U.S. Navy body fat calculation
This is said to be accurate within 3% and uses the neck, waist, height and weight measurements, plus hips for women. The formula is a bit complicated, so here’s an online tool that lets you plug in your values:
Frame size shows whether your body is generally small, medium or large. Your wrist size indicates frame size and height is considered in women’s frame size, but not for men. This chart explains it.
What other measurements and calculations do you use to help yourself get a picture of your overall health? Join us on the Kilter Metrics Challenge Whatsapp group to discuss.
