Metrics Challenge: the list
What metrics are meaningful for you? That depends on your daily habits, your health, and what you are hoping to change. As a middle-aged woman, I am definitely interested in different metrics than a 20-something man. I care about flexibility, hormone levels, and calcium. You are concerned about your weight, endurance, and blood sugar.
Regardless of our concerns, medical history, or plans we have to begin by understanding where we are right now — our personal metrics — so that we can change.
So if everyone’s key metrics are a different set, how do we set out a monthly challenge? By choosing a few physical metrics that make sense for everyone to measure or test before they start changes to their diet and health habits.
We’re going to focus on these three basics in our challenge over the next couple of weeks:
- Body dimensions — height, weight, and other physical measurements — starting Sunday, August 6
- Lab tests — CBC & Chemistry Panel blood tests — starting Sunday, August 13
- Fitness — flexibility, strength, balance, and endurance — starting Sunday, August 20
The challenge is to collect these metrics before Friday, August 25. We’ll host an event at HasGeek House in Bangalore that evening to discuss our experience and start making plans for our future improvements.
These basics are only the beginning of a myriad of tests and measurements that define your current state. I’ve come up with a list. I know it isn’t complete, so your suggestions are welcome. Let’s keep building this list as we consult with doctors, coaches and other professionals.
Body Dimensions
Height
Waist
Neck
Hip
Chest
Wrist
Weight (See our article, Weigh yourself every day)
Calculations
BMI
Waist-to-hip ratio
Waist-to-neck ratio
Laboratory Tests
Blood tests
CBC: counts and compares blood cell levels
Chemistry panel: tests cholesterol levels, blood glucose, and some minerals
VMP: vitamin and mineral panel A, B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, folate, C, D, E, iron, and zinc
Lipid panel: cholesterol (part of chemistry panel)
…and beyond. There are many blood tests available! For details, see our article: https://blog.kilter.in/get-a-blood-test-f4dd06aa08e9
Urinalysis: checks the composition of your urine and can spot numerous serious troubles.
Genome tests: looks at your DNA and can determine predisposition to diseases, heritage, pharmaceutical efficiency and more
Microbiome: checks the flora in your digestive tract
Body Composition
Body fat
Muscle mass
Bone density
General Health
Blood pressure
Eye exam
Audiogram (hearing test)
Chest x-ray
ECG (electrocardiogram)
PAP smear (women)
Prostate check (men)
Dental exam
Mental Health
Personality type test
Stress questionnaire
Depression questionnaire
Cortisol level
Food & Diet Metrics
Food diary
Calories in/out
Macros (%fat, carb, protein)
Alcohol consumption
Sugar intake
Fitness testing
Strength
Flexibility
Balance
Endurance
See our series on Fitness testing: part one, part two, part three
Tomorrow’s challenge will be to make the commitment to the challenge. A pledge! Join the conversation in our WhatsApp group.
