To calculate the weight loss percentage:
\[ WLP = \left( \frac{OW - FW}{OW} \right) \times 100 \]
Where:
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.
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:
\[ WLP = 0.1 \times 100 = 10 \% \]
