Body Fat Guide

To lose weight, you must not only change your eating and exercise habits, but you also have to change the way you think. Many people really overdo it when it comes to weight loss. They think if one thing is good, then more of it will be better. They believe things like: If walking is great for losing weight, then running a marathon once-a-week will work wonders. If I can lose 5 pounds by eliminating 100 calories, then I'll eliminate 300 calories and lose weight even faster. That kind of thinking can get you into serious trouble and ruin your body.

Cutting too many calories can cause your metabolism to drastically drop. When this happens, your body could go into "starvation mode" and store more fat than usual. Then guess what happens? It becomes harder for you to lose weight. And too much exercise is just as bad for your body as no exercise. Unless you're on Celebrity Fit Club or The Biggest Loser, leave the drill sergeant mentality to the television. Set your focus on achieving a healthy balance between exercise and nutritional food choices.

You want to get into better shape, but how? What exactly should you do to get started? Well, there are numerous approaches to getting into shape. Your exercise style will depend entirely on your likes and dislikes. There are exercise classes, workout DVDs, sports, and many other options. But until you discover the type of physical activity that you find appealing, let's layout a few ground rules to get you started.

Get Motivated. Get Going.

Before starting on this life-changing journey, take a snapshot of your current health. Record the information so you can track your progress on a monthly or weekly basis. In addition to getting the go ahead from your medical doctor, it's a great idea to record your:

1. Weight. After you began your new healthy lifestyle, track how well you're doing by monitoring your weight. Some people weigh themselves daily, but that can lead to an eating disorder or weight obsession. Really, once a week should be enough. And don't overdo it with your weight loss goals. Studies show that losing as little as 10 pounds can do wonders for your health.

2. Resting Heart Rate. When you're out of shape, your heart does a lot of work to keep you going. An average resting heart rate is 72 beats per minute. But a body in bad shape normally has an elevated resting heart rate. Keep track of yours to see if it gets lower as you get healthier. The best time to check your pulse is in the morning after a night of peaceful sleep. Simply count how many times your heart beats per minute.

3. Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is the percentage of fat on a body. A BMI between 14 percent to 16 percent body fat is good for men. For women the numbers are slightly higher. A BMI between 20 percent to 22 percent body fat is good for women.

BMI is measurable in a number of ways. If you have money to spend, BMI monitors (also known as "fat loss monitors") are available from numerous online retailers. But free is good too, so here's a formula to manually find your BMI:

Multiply your current weight by 703.1 and divide by your height in inches. Divide by your height again to get your BMI.

4. Body Measurements (waist, arms, hips, and thighs). This is important because muscle takes up less space than fat - but muscle is also heavy. So after you've been exercising for awhile the scale numbers may remain high, but your body measurements will shrink. This means you've been doing a great job of burning fat and building muscle. Great!