The process of getting out of shape is never instantaneous. Nobody wakes up suddenly overweight. It's a slow unraveling of fitness that happens when you're not paying attention.
So how do you pay attention? By assessing yourself on occasion.
Just don't let those assessments turn into a downward spiral that makes you post pictures in your panties on social media, telling the world that you're escaping the patriarchy by eating today. There's no need to be dramatic.
Assessments are just feedback. They can show you the effects of what you've been doing so that you can analyze whether your fitness and nutrition are on the right track.
Some assessment tools suck. They can give us widely different feedback on the same day. Other assessment tools are reliable, but impractical, expensive, or hard to find.
That's where this rating system comes in. Let's look at which assessment tools are crap, which are decent, and how to use them for the best results.
It's a skinfold test. The person administering it pinches your fat at specific places on the body, then plugs those numbers into an equation to determine your body fat percentage.
There's a 3-site, 7-site, and 9-site version, and it's assumed that the more sites pinched, the more accurate the body fat estimation.
It's best to have the same person administer it every time. If they're experienced, then they'll do it the same exact way.
Even if the measurements are imprecise, you can at least see how you're trending over time. You could also use it to simply track the fat in specific areas. A fun thing would be to compare your abdominal fat today to your abdominal fat next month and see if it goes up or down.
This grade could be higher for certain populations. Getting a look at how heavy you are on occasion is particularly helpful for those who are very overweight, those who are very underweight, and those who don't care about building muscle.
For those who intentionally build muscle, it needs to be taken somewhat with a grain of salt.
Give yourself a range. This range might be different for you if you have more muscle than the average lifter, but as a 5'10" female, my happy range is about 152-156.
It's on the high end when I'm going much heavier in the gym. And when it falls under 152, I lose my libido, can't sleep, and feel cold all the time.
People who use the scale with great success generally see their weight as a byproduct of their habits and not the be-all, end-all goal.
This dual X-ray absorptiometry scan can accurately analyze your fat, muscle, and bone density.
If you can find one nearby and don't mind shelling out, try it. But I wouldn't count on it for regular assessments unless I had access to one with a discounted price. I'm cheap.
It's a contraption you sit in that measures air displacement to determine what portion of your body is fat mass versus lean mass.
It's said to be about as accurate as DEXA if you're just wanting to measure lean mass compared to fat mass, but it won't give you any specific info on bone density.
Use it if you can, but remember that even the most respected methods can be inaccurate. And just like the other precise but expensive methods, it's a little impractical for regular use.
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), in theory, measures body fat and muscle mass via electrical currents that travel from the machine through your body.
These are the things at least one of your personal trainers has made you hold between both hands, or stand on... or both hold and stand on.
It's intended to determine what's fat and what's muscle based on the areas that are storing the most water. Muscle is said to register as having a lower impedance since it holds more water. The explanation is much more complicated than this, but it doesn't really matter since these things are known for giving hilariously inconstant readings.
Maybe use it to get a laugh? Or save time and just don't.
It's considered the "gold standard" because of its accuracy. You basically get weighed underwater to determine what portion of your body is fat mass versus fat-free mass.
Fat-free mass (bone, muscle) has a greater density than water. Fat mass has a lower density than water; it floats. So when you're underwater, the more lean mass you have, the more you'll weigh.
Do it if you can, but don't depend on it as a regular assessment tool unless you have connections.
You could obsess over the numbers all you want, but the big question is, do you look like you lift? Do you appear generally lean? The mirror answers those questions.
It's one of the most common-sense tools we have. When you're lean enough, you can see relatively quickly how a training method or dietary approach affects your body composition.
Be objective. That means assessing your physique more like a scientist, not a seventh-grade bully or a woke influencer who says to love your curves.
Use it to analyze what you've been doing in the kitchen and gym. Remember to account for time of day (or phase of month for women), behaviors you've picked up recently – good or bad – and how your digestion is doing.
Try Paul Carter's Jiggle Test if you want a more official assessment.
If you carry most of your weight in the hips and thighs, the fit of your best-fitting jeans will tell you a lot. If you carry your weight in the love handles, that waistband should tell you a lot too.
Find a pair that hug your hips, waist, and thighs without squeezing the ever-loving hell out of your body. Don't get "stretch" jeans. They will tell you lies. And try not to put them in the dryer, like I do.
This could easily be an everyday assessment that you make on the fly. Just be aware that tighter jeans could be from spending time on the gainz-train.
If your main goal right now is to avoid heart disease and type 2 diabetes, this is the best assessment tool for you.
Here's what the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) says:
"If most of your fat is around your waist rather than at your hips, you're at a higher risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. This risk goes up with a waist size that is greater than 35 inches for women or greater than 40 inches for men (3)."
Find your belly button and then measure the circumference of your waist right there. Check on this number from time to time. Do it more frequently if it's been anywhere around these metrics: 35-inches for women, 40 for men.
The one-minute body fat test will give you even more guidance on it.
The BMI (body mass index) is a calculation or chart that shows whether you're underweight, overweight, or normal. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is said to be normal.
Oh, let me guess. You're one of those lifters who's only "overweight" on the BMI chart because of all that muscle you've built. Sure, Jan.
Sometimes you're overweight on the BMI chart because you're actually overweight... even if you have a significant amount of muscle.
Of course, there are outliers. Men and women with a ton of muscle can be incorrectly categorized as overweight or obese by the BMI. But they know this and are smart enough to dismiss this calculation for themselves.
Recognize whether you're truly an outlier. You'll have a big skeletal frame and a lot of conspicuous muscle on top of it.
If you're not, that's okay! You may be a dedicated lifter who's let some non-muscular pounds creep up. The sooner you can acknowledge this, the sooner you'll be able to lean down without the excuse about how mean the BMI is to muscular people.
The key to staying generally fit as you age is just a matter of paying attention to the right things. And the biggest "right things" to be aware of are keeping muscle and limiting fat gain.
All of these tools have shortcomings, but picking out a few, keeping them in perspective, and using them fairly regularly should give you as much info as anyone would need.