Assess Your Weight

Once you have the OK from your doctors to lose weight, talk to them to figure out a good weight for your age, height, body type, and activity level.

Most experts use one of three measurements to assess whether a person's weight is within a healthy range: a DEXA scan, waist circumference, and body mass index.

A DEXA (dual energy X-ray absortiometry) scan, which is commonly used to test for osteoporosis, is the best way to assess your body fat and lean muscle mass. Many breast imaging centers provide this service at a reasonable cost. Your doctor can order this test to assess your bone health — and your body composition can be checked at the same time.

Waist circumference is measured by placing a measuring tape snugly around your waist. This measurement is a good indicator of your abdominal fat. Women should aim for a waist smaller than 35 inches. Men should have a waist smaller than 40 inches.

For many years, doctors used body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of total body fat for both men and women. Still, using BMI to assess weight has a number of problems:

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  It may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build.

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  It doesn't account for differences in racial and ethnic groups, genders, sexes, and ages.

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  The data used to develop BMI categories came mainly from non-Hispanic white people.

BMI is now seen as so problematic that in June 2023, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a policy saying that BMI is an imperfect way to measure body fat. The policy also said that doctors should use BMI carefully and only along with other measurements to figure out if someone is overweight, including:

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  measuring fat that wraps around the belly, liver, and intestines (visceral fat)

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  body adiposity index, which uses the size of your hips in relation to your height

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  body composition, the percentage of fat, bone, and muscle in your body, often measured with skin calipers, underwater weighing, or a DEXA scan

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  relative fat mass, another measure that uses the size of your hips in relation to your height

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  waist circumference

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  genetic and metabolic factors

If you still want to figure out your BMI, the National Institutes of Health has an online BMI calculator and tables that you can use to estimate your total body fat.