How to Measure your Weight Loss

When it comes to weight loss, there are plenty of ways to measure the results.

The scale, let's talk about this first and get it out the way. Probably the most straightforward and most accessible, but the most inaccurate. Unfortunately, it will regularly lie to you about your progress, especially if you are female.

The scale measures everything, although we tend to think it measures one thin FAT.

We need to remember that every sip of water, every bite of food, your bones, muscles, organs, fat will show it that singular number. There's no way to distinguish between what you're gaining (which could just be water) or losing (which, again, could be water).

If you are going to use the scales as well as measuring It's a great idea to weigh first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything. Every time you retake your measurements, take them at the same time, under the same circumstances so you can trust the results.

Introduction to body measurements

Taking your measurements is a better way to track progress because you get an idea of what's happening with your body. Then you can find out exactly where your body is losing fat. This is essential information since we all lose fat in different areas and a different order.

Taking your measurements will reassure you that the fat is coming off, even if you're not losing fat exactly where you want just yet (the scales can't do that).

It takes time for your body to get around to those stubborn areas, so be patient, and you will see a change.

Before You Take Your Measurements

• Wear fitted clothing or no clothing at all if you can.

• Stand with feet together, and body relaxed for all the measurements.

• Use a flexible, inelastic tape measure.

• Take your measurements at least twice and take the average of both measurements to get your final numbers.

Are you losing inches without losing weight? That's a sign you're losing fat and gaining muscle, which is excellent progress.

How to take your measurements

Pull the tape measure so that it sits on the surface of the skin, but doesn't compress the skin. You can record your measurements each week on your progress page on your profile.

It's a great idea to take your measurements first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything. Every time you retake your measurements, take them at the same time, under the same circumstances so you can trust the results.

Measuring your body

Waist: Find your natural waist or the narrowest part of the torso.

Hips: This is the widest part of your glutes. Try looking in a mirror while standing sideways. Make sure the tape is parallel to the floor.

Chest: Stand with feet together and the torso straight and find the widest part around your bust.

Abs: Stand with feet together and torso straight but relaxed and find the widest part of your torso, often around your bellybutton.

Arms: Stand up straight with the arm relaxed and find the midpoint between the shoulder bone and the elbow of one arm.

Thighs: The midpoint between the lower part of the glutes and the back of the knee, or the widest part of the thigh.

Calves: Halfway between the knee and the ankle.

Monitor your measurements

When people start a weight loss program, they tend to want the fat to go away in a specific area but keep fat in other areas.

For example, a woman might not want to lose a breast size but may want to lose more from the hips and thighs. A man might want to lose his spare tire, but keep his legs the way they are.

We hear this question a lot. Can you preserve certain areas while losing in others? Unfortunately, we can't choose where the fat comes off.

Spot reduction, or doing an exercise for a specific body part in the hopes of getting rid of fat there, doesn't work. Your body loses fat as a whole and the areas that hold excess fat take longer.

Unfortunately, you can't control where the fat comes off, but you can look at your body type and that of your parents and get a decent idea where you tend to store more fat and where you don't.

Are your measurements right for you?

The short answer to this is yes, whatever your measurements are, they are right for ​​you. Everyone has a different body shape and size. It helps to know the general body types, which determine where we store extra fat, so you have a better understanding of yourself.

For women, we tend to use body shapes:

• Apple: An apple-shaped person has broader shoulders and narrower hips.

• Straight or Rectangular: This shape usually has a waist measurement that is less than 9 inches than the hips or chest.

• Pear: This person has hips that are larger than the chest.

• Hourglass: In this shape, the hips and chest are almost the same with a narrower waist.

Some women also wonder what the 'rite' shoulder width is. As all other measurements, the width of your shoulders is rite for you, but maybe not for someone else.

For men, we generally categorize body types rather than shapes:

Endomorph: This body type tends to have higher body fat, big bones, and a slower metabolism, making it hard to lose weight.

Mesomorph: With this type, a person is more muscular and may have an easier time losing fat and gaining muscle.

Ectomorph: People with this body type tend to be lean and may even have trouble gaining weight due to a faster metabolism.

Most of us fall somewhere on this continuum, but what does this information mean to you?

Knowing your body type or shape tells you where your body stores excess fat. Knowing that can lower your frustration level if you don't lose fat in those stubborn areas right away.

As long as you're losing fat somewhere, you're on the right track.

Why don't your waist size and jean size match?

One of the more frustrating aspects of weight loss is buying clothes. You can measure your waist all day long, but go to any department store and pick up five different brands of Jeans in the same size and they're all going to fit differently.

When we're trying to lose weight, many of us equate weight loss with a specific clothing size. For example, there's a rumor that if you lose 10 pounds, you typically go down about a dress size. The truth is, these two measurements just don't correlate, so there's no way to know how much weight any person might need to lose for smaller clothes.

The reason

No Standard for Sizes Exists Among Clothing Manufacturers: We've all experienced that situation where we're one size in one store and an entirely different size in another store. That's because of what we call Vanity Sizing - which comes down to putting a more attractive size on clothes without changing the measurements.

Our Bodies Are Different: You could take five people who are the same weight but find that some have bigger waists while others have bigger thighs or calves, just think of some friends the same weight as you. This makes it impossible to predict just how much any one person needs to lose to fit into smaller clothes.

To deal with this, keep these measurements as separate entities since they don't correlate. It's perfectly normal to lose weight without experiencing much of a change in how your clothes fit.

Another tip - Choose one pair of Jeans/trousers to go by and try them on every four weeks or so.

Why Your Weight Doesn't Always Match Your Size

Another odd phenomenon of weight loss is that it's entirely possible to lose inches from your body without actually losing weight on the scale.

This is another reason that the scale can be deceptive because, as mentioned previously, it weighs everything and it can't tell you what comes off or what goes on.

This can be frustrating if you're watching the scale...you may feel your clothes getting looser, so why is the scale staying at the same number? Or worse, getting bigger?

This is what happens when you're gaining muscle. You're losing inches even though you're not losing weight and that's perfectly normal if you've added strength training to your routine or you're doing a new activity that triggers your body to build more lean muscle tissue.

Muscle takes up less space than fat so, while the scale may be telling you one thing, your clothes are telling you something else: That you're slimming down.

That's why taking your measurements can tell you more than the scale and also why it's body composition, not your weight, that shows the real story. The more muscle you have, the slimmer you are, no matter what the scale says.