Easy way to get results with your weight goals? Measure! Smartphones are almost ubiquitous now, its so easy to keep track of our weight loss / maintenance goals, and to get back on track in case of straying. Happens often with me :)

1. Download a Pedometer app. It measures the number of steps you take every day. You don’t need to switch it on or anything, just carry your phone with you, and it will go about its job of recording the number of steps you take. Aim for 10,000 per day. But its great even if you hit 5000. That would be approximately 3 km for an averagely tall person. The recommendation is 150 min of exercise per week, recently upped to 250 min for Asian men. This can be recorded too.

2. Maintain a Food diary. eg SuperTracker, MyFitnessPal, WebMD, etc. Be diligent and consistent with recording every single bit of food that enters your mouth. These apps will give you the total calories consumed, along with breakup of major food components, ie proteins / fats / carbs / sodium consumed. It also gives you your BMR, the number of calories you need for just normal body function. And when you enter your exercise, it calculates calories burnt. Aim for 500 calories per day LESS than your requirement, if you aim to lose weight in a gradual, healthy way. Just the act of maintaining the diary creates a consciousness and automatically, you start to make healthy choices and begin to see results. Try it, it really works. Its easy, and free!

3. BMI calculator. BMI is the ratio of height to weight. Definitely aim for a level below 25, and ideally for Asians, below 22. This app also gives you another important value, the body fat percentage. Aim for 25 – 30% if you are a

woman, and 18 – 24% for men.

When you aim for weight loss, it is very important to look for fat loss rather just weight loss, which could be muscle loss and that’s not healthy. So when you go to a ‘Slimming Clinic’ and triumphantly lose weight, check. Is it fat, or muscle you’ve lost. Talk to the staff before starting a program, and make sure you’re going in the right direction. How you lose fat will depend on your individual exercise program and your diet but essentially its important to reduce your carbohydrate intake and maintain adequate protein intake.   Measure also the ratio of waist circumference to hip circumference, this tells you about your ‘visceral’ fat – the fat around your organs. Higher visceral fat is more dangerous for the heart than, say , fat on the arms or thighs. This ratio should be no more than 0.7 for women and 0.8 for men. In absolute numbers, women should aim for a waist circumference of 80 cm ( 31 inches) and men, 90cm, 35 inches. Above this, your health is at risk.

4. You can share your goals and progress with friends you can invite on the same apps. This makes you accountable and makes it easier to achieve your goals. And provides support if you happen to slip ( it will happen, don’t beat yourself up over it.)

So StayHealthy!