Calculating changes in body weight provides a means for tracking your progress for weight loss or weight gain. Whether your goal is to lose excess fat, gain weight in general or gain muscle, calculating the change in your weight requires only basic math. Calculate the percentage of your weight change at regular intervals to record your progress.
Body Mass Index
Although body mass index calculators or charts offer a tool for assessing your body mass, they don't offer an accurate assessment for all bodies. Muscular individuals receive overestimates of their body fat because muscular body mass weighs more than fat. Older individuals receive results that underestimate their body fat, because of the loss of lean tissue that tends to occur with aging.
Tracking Your Weight
Weighing yourself regularly on a home scale or a scale at your fitness center or gym helps you track your weight change. Weighing yourself at the same time of day gives you the most accurate results. It isn't necessary to weigh daily. Weighing once or twice a week will help you to track your results. Drug stores and health equipment suppliers carry scales for home use that measure body fat percentage based on your height, gender and weight.
Percentage of Weight Change
Calculating the change in your body weight involves subtracting your current weight from your starting weight and then determining the percentage of change. For example, if you started a healthy eating and fitness program at 200 lbs. and now you weigh 192, that's an 8 lb. weight loss. Divide the number of pounds your weight has changed -- lost or gained -- by your starting weight. Multiply the answer by 100 to arrive at the percentage of change. In this example, the eight pounds represents a 4 percent weight change.
Tips
Setting specific goals and writing down your improvements helps to keep you motivated and on track.
Taking measurements of body areas you're working to change offers an additional means to track improvements. For example, take waist, hip and thigh measurements to track weight loss.
Measure your biceps, forearms, thighs, calves and abdomen at the navel to assess improvements in your muscularity.
For weight loss, stick to losing up to 2 lbs. a week, the maximum rate recommended for healthy weight loss.
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