Do-It-Yourself Body Composition Measurements

I recently posted about the secret to seeing weight loss results - particularly the significance of body composition measurements (such as body fat and circumference readings) on assessing your progress. Nothing works better to motivate you than visual confirmation of all your hard work!

Measuring Your Progress (Literally)

A circumference reading is possibly the easiest and least expensive method for assessing body composition. And it is exactly what it sounds like: a tape measurement reading of particular areas of your body, taking the circumference of the body part being measured. Common areas of measurement include the waist, hips, chest, arms, and thighs.

As you progress through your weight loss program, you will be losing inches on different areas of your body – and trust me, you’ll want a way to track these changes. In fact, I take circumference readings on my clients every 6-8 weeks in the beginning. I often find they’ve lost several inches long before they see a change in body fat or weight!

Equipment Needed

Although the principle behind these measurements is simple, there are some particulars that I want to review – especially if you’ll be doing this for yourself at home. To start, you’ll need a non-elastic cloth or fiberglass tape measure, something bendable like what you’d use for sewing. When you are measuring, make sure not to pull the tape too tight – you want it taut enough to stay in position without causing any indentation of the skin. So no cheating to get smaller numbers! You want to be as accurate as you can to really track your progress effectively.

Where to Measure

To ensure the accuracy of your readings, you should also associate anatomical landmarks with each reading (like taking your abdominal circumference at the level of your belly button). This practice keeps your recordings consistent and reduces the chance for error. The list below contains specific measurements and their landmarks.

Circumference Locations & Landmarks

Waist: the narrowest point between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your hip bones

Hips: with your feet together, the point where your butt sticks out the most (not our favorite measurement, I know…)

Abdominal: at the level of your belly button

Chest: the very center of your chest, across the nipple line (without a padded bra ladies!)

Upper Arm: with your arm extended, you want to measure the largest part of your upper arm (the belly of the muscles)

Forearm: with your arm extended, the largest part of the lower arm (usually right below the elbow)

Wrist: with your arm extended, the narrowest point above your hand

Thigh: stand with one leg in front of the other, measure the front leg at the largest part of the thigh (again, the belly of the muscle)

Calf: measure the front leg at the largest part of the calf (the lower portion of the leg)

The important thing is to take your measurements in the same place every few months. So make notes if you decide to measure elsewhere, so you’ll remember to do the same later on. For example, perhaps you have a birthmark on your upper thigh and you decide to measure at that level. It’s perfectly fine to do this – you’ll be losing weight across your whole body so all of these measurements (and more!) will work to track changes. Whatever you decide, just be consistent.

Since everyone has a different body size and shape, I don’t have a list of “right” or “wrong” numbers for circumference measurements. A thirty-six inch waist might be small for you, but would be large for someone else. This is another reason accuracy is important – your previous readings are all you have to compare to!

Determining Your Waist-to-Hip Ratio

This being said, you can use your measurements to determine your risk for abdominal obesity and heart disease. To do this, divide your waist measurement (this one is above your belly button, at the narrowest point) by your hip circumference. This figure is your Waist-to-Hip Ratio. For women, this figure should be less than 0.80. For men, less than 1.0. Values above these indicate a greater health risk for type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and other conditions associated with being overweight. As you can see, this ratio is something you really want to keep low.

Seeing Results from the Beginning

Circumference measurements alone are a great way to see results from the beginning. As you lose weight, gain muscle, and change the shape of your body, your circumference measurements will reflect every change, whether it’s three centimeters or three inches. If you’re going to be tracking your progress for yourself at home, then circumference measurements are really all you need – no expensive equipment required. You’ll get an overview of the changes taking place across your body and see results all along the way. I would recommend taking a set of initial measurements and then re-measuring every 6-8 weeks.

In addition, there are some cost-effective ways to determine your body fat percentage and to calculate some realistic weight loss goals. You can even use the circumference measurements you just took to do so – no extra equipment required!  For more on body fat percentage and the difference between body fat and BMI, continue reading here.