Q: In relation to calories needed daily for adult males , I?ve thought if I can work out my body mass index and body fat ratio monthly using body fat/weight scales -which would be 12 and half stone for my height 6 foot two inches and under 25% body fat. If my weight and body fat goes up ? I know to eat less ? particularly of unhealthy food ? if it goes down I know I need to eat more. I?m aware that the bmi scale allows a variation something like a stone or 14 pounds above or below the ?ideal? weight ? for heavier muscular people and lighter people with very low body fat and lean muscle - in my case 14 pounds above or below 12 and half stone. Do you agree with this approach?

A: It depends on what you're trying to do exactly. If you just want to keep your weight constant, then you don't even need to worry about body fat -- just weigh yourself occasionally and eat more or less.

On the other hand if you're trying to lower your body fat, then you need a different approach. The biggest problem is that for most people body fat scales are neither accurate nor consistent, especially for small changes like you might expect week-to-week or month-to-month. That effectively makes them useless in measuring and/or keeping track of body fat levels. My recommendation would be to simply keep track of your weight -- as long as you lose around one pound per week, especially while eating well and exercising you'll be on track. At 25% body fat initial fat loss will come easily and as long as you lose weight slowly you're pretty much guaranteed to lower your body fat. As your body fat levels drop below 20% you'll want to make sure your diet and exercise are good, but for now just losing weight slowly is all you really need.