5 Ways to Track Your Physical Goals Without A Scale

Author: Shaela Daugherty, Founder & CEO

In a previous blog I wrote about how the scale isn’t always the best way to measure progress, if you didn’t read that one, you can read it here. In this post I want to focus on alternate ways to measure progress that don’t involve the scale. So let's dive in:  

• Use a Measuring Tape and Measure Your Body: This method allows you to see your physical composition change by the amount of inches you may lose. For this, be sure you get a flexible measure tape (like a sewing one) and you need to measure in the SAME place each time; otherwise your results could get skewed. Always measure on the right side of your body, because for most people they are right dominant, if you are left dominant than measure on your left side. You need to take measurements on your: biceps, waist, hip, and thigh. For your biceps & thigh make sure you are in the middle of the arm/leg, if you need to measure the length of your leg/arm, then measure it, find the middle and measure the circumference of that area. For your waist, you want to measure in the smallest part of your waist where it dips in a little and comes back out. For your hips you want to measure at the biggest part of your hips & butt. Write down the circumference each time you measure. I suggest you measure at least after every 3-4 weeks, but you can measure up to every week if you feel comfortable with that (but don’t feel discouraged if you don’t see change the first two to three weeks, your body is learning and getting used to your new program)

2. Clothing Sizes: Use the way your clothes feel as a positive for how your body is changing. Still have those pants that you barely fit in to? See if after the whole program they fit better. If they are fitting more comfortably and not as tight, then your body is definitely changing. It’s easy to use clothing as a way to measure change because you already have it in your closet and you will take notice, and others probably will too.
3. Body Fat Composition Testing: If you have the resources to do body composition testing, this is a great way to get exact results on the percentage of fat, muscle, water, and bone mass you have in your body. There are scales and ways you can calculate it, but they aren’t exact by any means, actually going and getting the testing done will give you exact results. If you are able to do this, do this at the beginning of every month to see how your body starts changing.
4. Progress Pictures: Again, unlike the scale which may remain unmoving for a while, progress pictures are a great way to keep track of the physical changes in your body. Most people will take progress pictures in a sports bra & shorts at the beginning of the program, halfway through the program, and at the end of the program. Using progress pictures is helpful because if you get halfway through the program and don’t feel or see a difference, if you go back and look at your first picture, chances are you will see that some changes have been happening, they may be slow at first, but you know your body so well that you will be able to see the difference. These are great for long term progress tracking, because you can look back at what your body looked like over a year ago compared to what it looks like on that current date.
5. Log Other Milestones/Wins: Maybe your goals have nothing to do with physical appearances, but has to do with being able to walk up your stairs without getting out of breath, or walk around a lake without having to stop and take a breather, or improve your balance. Start the program out by testing what happens with your goal, write it down, then once a week re-assess where you are. For example, if your goal is to improve your balance: start out the first week of the program by trying to balance on 1 leg for 30 seconds at a time. Continue to practice weekly and track how far you are able to make it, hopefully by the end you will have achieved your goal.

I have all my clients use a variety of measurements for their wellness journey, because each element is incomplete on its own. But when you put them all together you can see all the different changes happening physically and mentally. This is a much more encouraging and self-rewarding way to see that progress is still happening outside the scale. My favorite way to see clients track progress is by doing "weekly wins." This is something I institute at the beginning of my 1-1 coaching clients, every week they have to share 1 good win or thing that happened that week related to their health and wellness. This gives them a much bigger perspective to all the little changes happening and how they all add up to their big goals! Need help figuring out which way to measure your progress? Chat with me below and I'd love to help you get started!