Besides Your Weight, You Need These Measurements

Your weight isn’t the ultimate in judging your progress. While it does play an important role if you’re trying to lose weight, there are other measurements that can also help you judge your progress and will give you a more complete picture. Sometimes the numbers on the scale can be devastating, but they shouldn’t be if you’ve followed a healthy diet and your exercise program. You may have water weight gain or replaced your fat tissue with muscle.

Check your measurements on your fitness journey.

Muscle tissue weighs more per cubic inch than fat tissue does, so it takes up less space per pound. Think of your body like a container designed to hold a pound of feathers. It will be larger than it would be if it were designed to hold a pound of steel. When you workout, you build more muscles and like the steel, they weigh more. You’ll be surprised at how much the measurements show about your fitness progress. You’ll look thinner, even if you never lost a pound.

Your waist circumference tells a lot about your overall health and BMI.

One of the most unhealthy types of fat is visceral fat. It crowds the organs and is hard to lose. It gathers around your midsection, which means the bigger your waist. The danger comes from abdominal obesity, which is labeled between a waist measurement of 31.5 to 35 inches in women and 35.5 inches to 40 inches in men. If your waist circumference is shrinking, congratulate yourself and smile. You’re making good progress.

Take a picture of yourself or judge by your clothing.

When you start your workout program, dig out the tightest clothing you can find. Snap a picture of yourself in this clothing. A month later, use the same clothing to judge your progress, also taking a picture in the same spot to compare how you look. If it seems like your clothes are growing, that’s fantastic! The picture is a good way to judge how you look and compare the changes month to month.

• If you’re using how clothing fits to judge your progress, when your first outfit becomes too loose, buy another tight article of clothing and use it. Don’t put a lot of money into the purchase, since you won’t be wearing it long.
• Judge by your energy level and endurance. Sometimes, people just want to feel better and weight loss isn’t nearly as important. Track your workout progress and note how hard or easy it is to do an exercise. Take a flight of stairs or two of stairs every week and judge your endurance.
• Measure the amount of subcutaneous fat that you have under your skin. Can you pinch an inch or more around your midsection, thigh, tricep or hip bone?
• Just because scales lie sometimes, they don’t do it chronically. If you’re not getting the progress you want, check with the trainer and find ways to change your program to reach your goals.

For more information, contact us today at One Love Fit Club