Get Moving! by Shwetambari Shetty

Author:Shwetambari Shetty [Shetty, Shwetambari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353059712
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2020-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Lose Some to Win Some

Over the years, I’ve had a chance to train a lot of people, whether at Zumba classes, Tribe or Cult.fit. While everyone has a different idea of the ideal body they want, weight loss is often the most common goal. If you can easily do certain things, such as run for 15 minutes, cycle, swim, do household chores, play a sport, or play with your children/grandchildren, that’s good news on the fitness aspect. But it’s also important to control your weight as per your height and avoid any unnecessary weight gain for a long and healthy life.

If you’re struggling with day-to-day activities, it’s a good idea to evaluate what you can do to improve your fitness. The moment you design your workouts and start paying attention to what you eat, weight loss tends to follow automatically.

The best way to understand how healthy you are is to do a body composition analysis (BCA). I prefer it to checking just the body mass index (BMI)—the ratio of your height to your weight—as BCA also tells you details such as the amount of body-fat mass you’re storing in comparison to fat-free mass, which is made up of organs, muscle, bones, etc. A lower body-fat mass to muscle-mass ratio is better for your health. To know your BCA, you can use special machines that are available at most nutrition clinics or diagnostic centres that offer nutrition counselling. Your report will have details about your muscle mass, bone density, water composition, etc. You can also do a test at home using skinfold calipers. These are easily available online and come with instructions and a chart to determine body fat percentage. The calipers are used to gently hold a skinfold on the back of the arm, below the shoulder blade, below the armpit, mid-thigh, chest, abdomen and just above the hip. The measurements can be used to determine the composition of your body fat.

The reason I recommend tracking your body composition every 3 or 6 months is that it can guide you, motivate you and help adjust your fitness plan according to the results. I’ve noticed that people who track their results tend to sustain them and also keep improving over time. Being able to quantify the changes in your body also gives a sense of pride and achievement, and people see steadier weight loss, increase in metabolism and better management of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

One of the most important indicators, which you don’t learn from BMI, is body fat percentage. To look lean and toned, men need to achieve 10–11 per cent body fat whereas women need to aim for 18–19 per cent. If it exceeds 35 per cent for either gender, it means you need to lose fat and are at risk of lifestyle diseases.

Here’s a chart to help you determine your current level of health and set your own goal. Remember that it will vary according to your body type.

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