How do you measure success? BMI? Body Fat %? Weight? Feeling?

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Hypsibius
Hypsibius Posts: 207 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So right now after 6 weeks of aggressive dieting and exercise, my BMI is 26.8, and my body fat percentage (according to my tape measure and this Army body fat calculator is 25 percent)

Curious as to what folks are using as their measure of success or measure of most importance? I've probably been weighing myself a bit too much (which I know that objectively, weighing yourself daily is a mistake).

What about you?
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Replies

  • boopster99
    boopster99 Posts: 48 Member
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    What's most important to me is feeling awesome which is what I get from being very active and eating healthy - it's good for my body and soul. How I measure my success is by inches lost and the way my clothes fit. Yes, I'll admit to falling into the scale trap from time-to-time but I'm getting better at avoiding it (moving it to a far location in the basement helped a lot with that!!). Cheers
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Mostly my health and fitness...I maintain a healthy weight, but I don't really look at any particular weight or BF% as reflective of success or failure...
  • Daddy78230
    Daddy78230 Posts: 125 Member
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    While losing weight: Punching new belt holes is my most reliable measure (I've had the same belt for the past 70 lbs). But I also track my BF% (bio impedance), LBM and weight.
  • qweck3
    qweck3 Posts: 346 Member
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    #1. How I feel #2. How my blood sugars have improved. #3. How much better my clothes fit... #7,975: What the scale says.
  • crazyycatlady1
    crazyycatlady1 Posts: 292 Member
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    Blood test results is how I measure my success/where I'm at.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    For me it's how I look and feel as well as hitting my goals.. so bodyfat% estimates, strength increases, increasing/decreasing weight (looking for a trend), how my clothes look and fit, measurements, progress picture comparisons.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited April 2017
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    How I look and feel, what my weight is, what my BF is and how much I can lift are all factors in measuring my success.

    I look and feel great (not just my opinion), have been maintaining my weight at 160 for the past 4 months after 6 months of weight loss, my BF dropped to 10% from over 25% and I can lift at an advanced and elite level for my age (66) and weight based on various charts. So, all indicators for success are positive.

    BTW, I weigh myself every morning and monitor all of my food intake on MFP daily. Couldn't have measured my progress and achieved the results I've achieved over the past 10 months without doing so.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Weight, fitness, strength, body fat %, health, happiness, ticking off challenges or goals.

    Nothing wrong with daily weighing if you have a healthy attitude and understand what the numbers actually mean.

  • mudonthetires856
    mudonthetires856 Posts: 79 Member
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    For now, it's just weight. I just started again after a long and fattening hiatus. I will be taking my measurements as well and once I get closer to goal weight, my success will be based on other things like strength and maintenance.

    I like weighing myself everyday. I don't mind seeing the scale go up and down and back again. It gives me a realistic view of how the weight is coming off. I tend to get less stressed when I see the number go up because I know it's coming back down again. Not advisable for everyone but totally works for me.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    It depends on what your start point is, where you're at currently and what your goals are. For somebody who's obese and suffering from the comorbidities thereof, "success" may be losing some of the weight and improving their blood work/relieving their symptoms. For a fairly lean person who's interested in aesthetic goals, "success" may be single digit bodyfat % (for a male) or bodyfat % in the teens (for a female). For somebody who just wants to be reasonably slim and healthy, "success" may be getting to the middle of a normal/healthy BMI. For somebody with competitive goals, "success" may be getting to race weight, improving their VO2max, lowering their race times, etc. - or maybe getting stronger and hitting PRs in their lifts. There are a lot of ways success can be measured and many different goals people want to attain that they can use as their markers.

    The definition of success can also change/evolve as you progress. In the beginning when I was obese, my goals were to get to a healthy weight, rid myself of my bulging gut and get rid of obesity-related issues I was experiencing (high blood pressure, edema, fatigue, acid reflux, etc.). I've since reached a healthy weight/BMI/BF%, those obesity-related issues are gone, and now my goals are mostly aesthetic - to lose the last few vanity pounds, get a little leaner, then add a bit of muscle and maintain it. As a related goal, I want to keep improving my cardiovascular fitness and strength training. I already consider myself very successful based upon my original goals (beyond what I imagined possible in all honesty), but now the goalposts will keep getting moved to set new challenges and improve further. I doubt I'll ever consider it "done".

    As far as weighing daily, I've done it for over 18 months now - it gets entered into a trend tracking app and keeps a running average, which smooths out the daily fluctuations and gives insight into the overall trend, which is a useful metric. For people who like data, it's a good thing; for people who don't understand the concept or freak out over daily fluctuations, maybe it's not such a good thing.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    At the moment I'm judging success by Functionality Threshold Power. I weigh weekly just to see where I'm at.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    Relative strength, bodyfat, in that order.
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Appearance, body fat estimate and level of endurance.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
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    The mirror
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Hypsibius wrote: »
    Curious as to what folks are using as their measure of success or measure of most importance? I've probably been weighing myself a bit too much (which I know that objectively, weighing yourself daily is a mistake).

    No, it certainly isn't. It's only a mistake if you are one of those that loses their mind every time they see a normal fluctuation. I weigh myself every morning, and have done so for 15 years.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited April 2017
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    I weigh myself every 2-3 days, it was everyday for over 2 years. I do this to stay on top of any weight creep and nip it in the bud asap!

    I have been killing myself for the last 6mths desperately trying to get down to a certain magical number on the scale, even though I'm happy with where i am now. So my success is gauged by how i look and if i am happy and content with my figure.
    I changed my calories to maintenance yesterday because i am sick and tired of chasing that number (2lbs less than what i am now), and in all honestly it's not going to make a difference in how i look anyway, it was just a pointless mental game that has completely taken over my life and i just can't do it anymore! My body fat is fine, my BMI is well into the normal range, so that'll have to be good enough.

    Sorry for the rant :blush:
  • loftus4827
    loftus4827 Posts: 54 Member
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    That Army body fat calculation is horiibly horribly inaccurate. It's off by over 10% with me compared with a reading from hydrostatic weighing.
    Take that number it calculated you at with a grain of salt
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    It doesn't have to be one thing.

    At first, I measured my success by blood sugar numbers
    Then I measured it by weight (daily weighing and trend charting)
    Then I got interested in running, so I measured by performance and weight
    Every month I measure my success by the measuring tape
    Every time I get close to fitting into an item of clothing that was too small, I measure my success by achieving a comfortable fit
    As I'm getting closer to a BMI milestone I will measure my success by BMI
    Later once I'm at a healthy weight, I might or might not measure my success by body fat (not one of my priorities right now, but that might or might not change)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,905 Member
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    Hypsibius wrote: »
    Curious as to what folks are using as their measure of success or measure of most importance?

    Whether or not I can cycle my events.

    Whether or not I can complete my university courses with a decent grade.


    And while I do weigh myself daily, my weight isn't an indicator if whether or not I'm successful.

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