Diet, Fitness, Weight Loss
Tools
Body Mass Index Calculator
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Please Note
I know there’s a really good chance you came here to use a Body Mass Index Calculator, but, I really want to warn you: if you’re trying to do something about your weight BMI is not the best way to track your weight loss. You’re far better to look into your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and eat fewer calories than you burn. (There’s a tool for that here)
On a personal note, I lost and have kept off over 60 pounds using the tips from Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Click Here to Check it out.
With that said, here’s the calculator: 
enjoy!
*please note: if this looks ugly on your computer, please consider checking out Firefox. I’m annoyed by the disgusting look in IE and Chrome, but don’t quite have time to futz about with fixing it. If you’re skilled in the arts of web design, let me know if you’ve seen this one before. jQuery + IE/Chrome
How Much Do You Want to Lose?
1053 days
If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a lot of years not making the connection between all that food you’ve been chucking down your gullet and the great big mass around your waist. If you’re just getting started there’s a lot of math to go through. 3500 calories in a pound, Base Metabolic Rate, 500 Calories a day Divided by the number of pounds you want to lose… and so on.
Considering the amount of work you’re going to have to do, I’ve found it really useful to have a focus on the amount of weight you want to lose.
Set the goal
Deciding how much weight you want to lose shouldn’t be a guessing game. It takes a long time and a lot of work to get to where you want to be, you’ve got to have a clear plan. You want to think about what your ideal weight should be.
In order to do that, you need to know what your Body Fat Percentage (BF%) is. In another article I’ll go into detail about body composition, but for the short term, you’re just going to have to trust me. There are a number of ways to figure out what your BF% is, but I’ll just focus on the one that is quickest: Body Fat measuring scale.
You can either buy one at your local shop or order from amazon.com… any one you can get is fine, but this omiron one is a real caddilac of body fat scales. As is the internet enabled Withings scale (I’d really love to write an integration for it so you could use it with my site. One day ). Both are way better than the one I have, so don’t worry too much about the one you get.
Even if it’s inaccurate, it’s fine as long as it is consistent.
Once you’ve got your BF% you can very easily figure out what you would weigh if you had no fat on your body at all. This is known as your FAT FREE MASS. The next thing you want to do is figure out your “Target” BF%. From there, you can easily work out all your other numbers.
One last thing is trying to decide what BF% you actually want to get to. This number is very different for men and women.
Women
| Age | Underfat | Healthy Range | Overweight | Obese |
| 20-40 yrs | Under 21% | 21-33% | 33-39% | Over 39% |
| 41-60 yrs | Under 23% | 23-35% | 35-40% | Over 40% |
| 61-79 yrs | Under 24% | 24-36% | 36-42% | Over 42% |
Men
| Age | Underfat | Healthy Range | Overweight | Obese |
| 20-40 yrs | Under 8% | 8-19% | 19-25% | Over 25% |
| 41-60 yrs | Under 11% | 11-22% | 22-27% | Over 27% |
| 61-79 yrs | Under 13% | 13-25% | 25-30% | Over 30% |
The above chart comes from About.com and has a section called “Under Fat” which from a health perspective may be true, but that is the range you want to be in to have a set of six pack abs showing. Generally the 6% to 8% range is what you’d see on the cover of Men’s Health magazine (for men) and 18% to 21% is generally what you’d compare to a “Victoria’s Secret” model for women.
All said and done, it surely must be time for another calculator… (Can you tell that I love these things? )
Weight Loss Goal Setting Calculator
Weight Loss Goal Calculator
The goal setting calculator is a very simple tool to give you an idea of how much time your goal should take. Enter the number of pounds you’d like to lose, Enter the number of calories per day you’re *NOT* going to eat and find out how many weeks your plan will take you. Use the BMR Calculator Tool to find out how many calories per day you should be able to eat.
Alternatively, if you’ve got a number of weeks until a specific event, try out the “Timed Goal” calculator. It works the same way but has different dependent variables.
One word of caution on this whole thing though… “over reduction” of calorie intake will send your body into what is colloquially known as “Starvation Mode” (think of it as when an electrical appliance goes into “low power standby” or “low battery mode”). If you go into Starvation Mode you won’t just burn fewer calories, but you’re also going to burn muscle.
A good rule of thumb for avoiding starvation mode is to never let yourself get hungry. A tough task when you’re also trying to reduce the calories you eat? Not at all! More on that in another post.
Calories: How Many Should You Eat?
Basal Metabolic Rate
In order to use the calculator, enter your age, height in centimeters and weight. Select weather you are Male or Female and try to make a determination about how active you are.
- Sedentary – You work in an office, and don’t get much exercise.
- Low – You might go for the occasional walk, but not much more than a few hours a week of physical activity
- Moderate – You make an occasional effort to work out, 2 to 3 times a week
- Active – You engage in vigorous activity 3 to 4 times a week.
- Very Active – You work out 5 times or more per week.
*please note: if this looks ugly on your computer, please consider checking out Firefox. I’m annoyed by the disgusting look in IE and Chrome, but don’t quite have time to futz about with fixing it. If you’re skilled in the arts of web design, let me know if you’ve seen this one before. jQuery + IE/Chrome
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