Calculating Your Weight Loss Percent
Tracking your weight loss helps keep you motivated and keep track of your progress toward your final goal. During this challenge, we will be counting the percentage of weight loss.
During the challenge, you are required to weigh in every Sunday between 7:00 am – 8:30 am. (If you are not in SWFL, you will be required to record and submit the video recording of your weigh-in via e-mail. (SUBMIT WEIGH IN)
Ideally, you should weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom, to get a weight measurement that isn’t influenced by your food intake for the day. You’ll need to complete at least two weigh-ins before you’re able to calculate your weight loss percentage.
Use the following equation to calculate your weight loss percentage:
Weekly Weight Loss Percent = [ (Last week’s weight – This week’s weight) / Last week’s weight ] x 100.
A Real-World Example
140-pound woman looking to lose weight. If she loses 2 pounds in her first week — lowering her weight to 138 pounds — she could calculate her percentage of weight loss like this:
- Weekly Weight Loss Percent = [ (140 – 138) / 140 ] x 100
- Weekly Weight Loss Percent = [ 2 / 140 ] x 100
- Weekly Weight Loss Percent = 1.43
If, the next week, she loses another 2 pounds — going from 138 to 136 pounds — she would calculate her weekly weight loss like this:
Weekly Weight Loss Percent = [ (138 – 136) / 138 ] x 100
Weekly Weight Loss Percent = [ 2 / 138 ] x 100
Weekly Weight Loss Percent = 1.45
Once she reaches her goal weight — let’s say it’s 120 pounds — she could calculate her total percentage of weight loss using this equation:
Total Weight Loss Percent = [ (140 – 120) / 140 ] x 100
Total Weight Loss Percent = [ 20 / 140 ] x 100
Total Weight Loss Percent = 14.29
Over the course of her entire weight loss journey, she’s lost 20 pounds, which is 14.29 percent of her original weight.
Calculating Your Calorie Burn
Whether you’re trying to lose weight, want to know how much to fuel your body after a workout, or are just curious about how many calories you burned during exercise, fitness tracking accessories have become all the rave. However, long before the use of trackers, scientists have used this method to estimate calorie expenditure.
So, for those of you that will be pressing on without a fitness tracker, here are a list of common exercise categories and the formula to calculate your calorie burn.
Total calories burned = Duration (in minutes)x(MET x 3.5 x weight in kg)/200
First, calculate your weight in kilograms — 1 kg is 2.2 lbs, but you can always type “X pounds to kg” into Google, with X being your weight, to get a number.
Second, look up your activity/MET:
- 5.8 Bicycling,( Less than 9 miles per hour)
- 7.8 Bicycling (10 miles per hour or more)
- 8.0 Calisthenics (Lots of effort – push ups, sit ups, jumping jacks, etc)
- 3.8 Calisthenic (Moderate effort)
- 2.8 Calisthenic ( Light effort)
- 3.5 Resistance Traning ( 8-15 reps weightlifting)
- 4.3 Circuit Training (moderate effort)
- 5.8 Swiming Laps (freestyle)
- 23.0 Running 17+ minute mile
- 4.5 Walking (moderate speed)