Health Assessment Tools for Adults

How Do You Measure Up? Learn the Six Basic Criteria of Health

Health Criteria #1: Scale Weight.

Weight gain has become a problem of epic proportions in our society. Back in 1905, only 5 percent of the population was obese, but that figure has been growing at an alarming rate. In the last decade alone obesity has risen 8 percent. Sixty percent of people over the age of twenty, about 97 million people, are either overweight or obese. Of that number, 12.5 million are severely overweight, and 2 million are morbidly obese. This means that they are at great risk for serious and life-threatening health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

The first piece of information you need to complete the MET FIT Questionnaire is your scale weight. To get an accurate scale weight, one that you can track over the twelve weeks of this program, it is important to have access to a fairly good scale—either a good bathroom scale or one at your gym. Ideally, you should weight yourself nude first thing in the morning, before you have eaten breakfast. If you weigh yourself with clothing at the gym or at a doctor’s office, you might allow one or two pounds for shoes and clothes.