Weight Loss Percentage Calculator





Formula

To calculate the weight loss percentage:

\[ WLP = \left( \frac{OW - FW}{OW} \right) \times 100 \]

Where:

Weight Loss Percentage Definition

A weight-loss percentage is a ratio, known as a percentage, of your initial body weight over your final body weight or goal body weight. The reason looking at weight loss in a percent is useful is because, for extremely light people, it may be tough to lose 5 lbs, but as a percentage of total body weight, it would equal a much larger amount if they weighed a lot more. This puts into perspective the perceived difficulty of losing weight. Let’s say there’s a 500lb man, and he loses 50 lbs. You might and should think that is a huge accomplishment because it is. But how does that compare with the weight loss of someone weighing 200 lbs? While not a direct correlation because weight loss depends on many factors, you could visualize that weight loss as the same as 20 lbs on the 200lb man.

Example Calculation

Let's assume the following values:

Step 1: Subtract the final body weight from the original body weight:

\[ OW - FW = 200 - 180 = 20 \]

Step 2: Divide the result by the original body weight:

\[ \frac{20}{200} = 0.1 \]

Step 3: Multiply by 100 to get the percentage:

\[ WLP = 0.1 \times 100 = 10 \% \]