- By James Stevenson -
I think showing an interest in your ideal body fat percentage is a good sign. It means you care about yourself, and you're trying to turn that care into action! My guess is you're high in wisdom, looking at things now, that although difficult, may prevent certain problems later on.
Taking action to improve our health is a massive contribution to ourselves, to those around us, and to society. It's a seriously wise goal!
No-one wants to be in agony day after day with heart disease or some other serious illness! and although some may still have to face that even with all kinds of efforts toward health... doing something now to prevent future illness is a massive thing. Aiming to get our body fat percentage at a healthy level is one of them.
What is a “healthy” body fat % anyway? With all the wonderful variety in natural body shapes can we really measure a healthy body so simply? Is big beautiful? Or are the slender catwalk models more what you're aiming for? Are you impressed by body builders who lower fat so much their bodies resemble comic book superheros? Or maybe you just want to lose the beer belly?
At the end of day, I reckon each person has gotta say to themselves, "Forget for moment what's going on around me. This is what I want! Then step that way.
Anyway, I had a bit of excess baggage around mid-riff. One too many beers perhaps. So I bought an "Accu-Measure Body Fat Caliper" for a couple of quid on Amazon. Pretty easy to use. You basically grab your humps of fat (embarrassing) with what looks like a giant pair of tweezers and it kindly informs you how much fat you grabbed. That number is your body fat %.
Take a look at the charts. Choose the right one for you (male/female). You can find your age on the left hand side of the chart and run your finger across the pretty colours and body fat percentages in the chart stopping at GREEN for your ideal body fat target. You can also check how big a challenge you have ahead!
My ideal body fat percentage is between 15% and 18%. So I set a goal to reach 18% body fat. I decide when this is going to happen by.
Don't freak out about the when. Writing it down helps. If you don't reach it, nobody dies. There is no wild mob waiting for you to fail so they can point and laugh at you all day long. Be ballsy, write it down and see what it's like. I assure you the experience will be valuable.
If I reach my target, watch out... large head incooooooommmmiiiiiing. I did. Then I decide if I'm happy with it. I was. I then consider setting another goal to maintain my body fat or lose more. I didn't but instead had one too many beers again. Whoops! Around and around on the merry-go-round we go! Thank goodness for goal setting. That's all I can say.
To set high quality goals that work check out this, and for free resources to write down your goals check this out.
James Stevenson is the owner of WiseGoals.com. Living in the UK, but also working internationally on-line, James is also a highly qualified, experienced, and accredited trauma-aware wellbeing coach at TraumaAwareCoaching.co.uk. He works with clients in a future focused and solution orientated way by exploring what the good life or a flourishing life might look like for them. Harnessing that motivation, obstacles that come with trauma like the toxic inner critic, self-blaming, self-judgement, fear and avoidance, anxiety, depression, and intense and confusing emotions are worked through. More about James here.
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Nice variety of blank goal setting templates for you to use in various ways. Perfect of you have a project and want to choose the language or the focus.
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Set body goals here and you'll have the highest chance of making progress. Give it a try! Grounded in scientific study these methods will get you going
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