Unsuccessful people lose their motivation and give up on their weight loss goals when they find their weight unchanged even after having heavy physical exercises and controlled diet for weeks. Most people think, slimming down means losing weight which is absolutely wrong. It is a fact that one can get thinner without the slightest change in his or her weight. Actually, it is our muscles and bones that weigh more than the body fat.

Then how is it possible to measure our losing weight? An effective method is body mass index or BMI based on weights and heights but it only works as a screening tool. Its unit is kg/m2. You are not fit if your BMI is less or more than the standards.

Waist to Hip (WTH) ratio is another measuring tool with which we can compare the thinnest position of the waistline with the widest point at the hip. Higher Waist to Hip ratios exhibits greater health risk as fat is stored on the stomach where as lower ratio means fat being stored in other parts of the body. An average man should be aware about his health when his waist circumference becomes 40 inches whereas a woman should be alarmed at 35 inches. Calipers, bioelectrical Impedance Scales, Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, Hydrostatic Weighing, Online calculators (used in conjunction with skinfold or tape measurements) are some other existing tools for measuring your total body fat.