7 Ways to Measure Weight Loss

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Full Episode Transcript:

7 Ways to Measure Weight Loss

Hi there, welcome to the podcast. So, I know the most popular way to measure your weight loss results is to weigh yourself on the scale. But there are so many other ways to measure weight loss and that’s what I want to discuss with you today. The 7 ways to measure weight loss that I’ll talk discuss in today’s episode, get more interesting as we go, so be sure to stick around to the end. And again, there are so many other ways, but I’m just going to narrow it down to seven for this episode.

The reason why I want to talk about these other ways to measure weight loss is because oftentimes you can get stuck on just the number on the scale. As you know, there are lots of different things that can affect that specific number and so what you’re seeing on the scale at that moment isn’t necessarily an accurate representation of your weight loss results. For example, muscle weighs more than fat so if you’re burning fat but you’re also building a little bit of muscle, you may not see that number budge so much.

Also, water retention can affect the number on the scale. This can have a lot to do with salt intake. Hormone fluctuation can affect the number on the scale. So, this can be a monthly cyclical kind of a thing. And there are a few other things that can affect the number on the scale in that moment that you’re weighing yourself. That is just a moment in time, and you could potentially weigh yourself an hour later and that number would be different, right?

So that’s why I want to talk about seven ways to measure weight loss results in this podcast episode, so that you’re not purely basing your success or lack thereof on the number on the scale.

Alright, so of course the number on the scale is one of the seven ways to measure weight loss period but again, keep in mind all of these different variables that could be playing a part on what you’re seeing the scale read at that specific moment.

One very good way to make tracking your weight by weighing yourself a little bit more accurate, is to weigh yourself every day at the same time, with no clothes, shoes, or jewelry on, before you’ve eaten or done anything for the day. Then you take those daily weights for the week and find the average. Then you can look at that weekly average over the weeks to gauge your progress.

One of the things that I helped my clients with is making sure that what they’re thinking about the number on the scale is not making them feel badly, causing them to give up. We always want to make sure that the number on the scale is just being seen as data and not the only measurement of weight loss.

So for you, I would ask yourself if you tend to feel bad if you don’t like the number on the scale, which then may be prompts you to do or not do something that is not very helpful for your weight loss journey. For example, do you see the number, get disheartened, and then go and eat a whole bunch of cookies, or a bag of chips, because you feel like why bother? This is what we want to avoid. And this is one of the things that coaching helps with.

Alright, the next of the seven ways to measure weight loss also has to do with numbers, but this is measuring circumferences of body parts. I won’t spend a lot of time talking about this, but you can take a measuring tape, more specifically one that you would measure fabric with that you can easily wrap around an arm or a leg or a waist, and take weekly measurements, or every other week.

Don’t bother with daily measurements. You shouldn’t be having quick enough changes in your thigh circumference for example, to see daily changes. You may not even see weekly changes, but over the weeks you will start to see some changes.

And just a note, if you’re doing circumferences, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re doing the exact same location each time, otherwise you can get a lot of variation.

I think an easier way of getting a rough estimate of circumferences of say legs, arms, waist, hips, chest, is with this third way to measure weight loss which is going by how your clothes fit on your body. Pay attention to how they feel in different areas. Do they feel a little bit looser in certain spots or all over? Or if they don’t feel loose, do they just feel better if they were maybe a little bit tight in areas before?

This is a more subjective way to measure than doing actual measured circumferences with a tape measure.

This can provide a lot of satisfaction as you are changing your eating habits, maybe building some new exercise habits, and better sleep and hydration habits. You’re not only noticing that you must be losing some weight or body fat if you are noticing that your clothes are fitting differently, which means that you’re moving in the direction that you want it to be moving in. But you may also be getting a benefit because you’re able to fit into clothes that you used to be able to fit in that you still really would love to wear.

I’m thinking of a particular client of mine who had some beautiful business attire that she hadn’t really been able to fit into in the last couple of years, and now she is able to. It’s like she has brand new clothes, without having to spend the money.

And I just want to mention, my own personal experience when I was losing some weight was that I’ve really enjoyed noticing that my clothes felt differently on me.

So, over the course of a couple of years, some of my pants were getting tighter, and then when I was losing that weight, I absolutely loved that they were starting to fit me like they had before. Those jeans were no longer tight in the thighs and butt. They fit just right again. Which is so fun, because we oftentimes have those favorite pair of jeans or pants that we never want to get rid of.

You also might notice things like your watch or wedding band being a little bit loose, or having to buy a new belt, as one of my clients recently told me she had to do, which she was happy about.

So, it’s not just the pants and the shirt, but also some of the smaller things that you wear that you’ll notice fitting differently.

Alright, Next up for one of the seven ways to measure weight loss is of course just visual differences. This can be differences that you’re noticing when you’re looking down at yourself or looking in the mirror. It can also be other people noticing differences in how you look and mentioning it to you.

Now just a note here, if you feel like you’ve been losing weight and you’re very happy about this, but you’ve noticed that not many people have said something to you about it, oftentimes that’s because they don’t feel comfortable.

People will refrain from commenting on someone else’s appearance, even if it’s something that they think is good or most likely intentional, but it still can be a little bit uncomfortable for them. They might think that if they complement you on weight loss, that they’re saying that you weren’t at a good body weight before.

So, people can be fearful of you may be taking it differently than they intended it. Also, other people may not necessarily know that you’re trying to lose weight. And because there are medical issues that can cause weight loss, they might refrain from saying something out of fear that maybe you’re losing weight because of a medical issue.

My point is that just because people may not be complimenting you outright, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not noticing and not thinking to themselves, “Wow, she looks really great.” And really, the most important thing is that you’re noticing your weight loss and that you are getting pleasure more internally, from your own thoughts, rather than externally, from other people.

That’s because you want to be sure that you always have your back and not have to rely on other people to help you feel better. You want to be able to create your own positive emotions anytime you want, completely independent of other people.

Alright, next up is measuring your weight loss by the benefits that you’re getting with physical activity. Or just more physical benefits in general. I’ll explain.

So, many of my clients want to lose weight because they want to be able to be more physically active. Whether that’s getting back into sports like tennis or hiking. Or it could be because they want to be able to go up and down stairs more easily without knee pain. This will all be completely individualized.

Because remember, the reason why you change your eating habits may be because you want to lose weight, but the reason why you want to lose weight is oftentimes because it’ll enable you to do more. Or feel better. So, think about what you want to be able to do more of. Or think about what you think weight loss will help you with as far as maybe decreasing some pain or lack of mobility.

Maybe you have young children or grandchildren, and you want to be able to run around after them more easily. Maybe you and your significant other want to be able to go on more hikes together. Be able to walk or bike longer distances when you travel. Maybe you just want to not be experiencing as much pain and difficulty with moving around on a day-to-day basis.

When you’re carrying a lot of extra weight, it can be a lot more effortful to walk down the hallway. And then you may feel like you’ve spent all this energy on just doing some simple things like walking from here to there, and don’t have energy to do the things that you’d much rather spend your energy on.

My husband Paul started exercising and eating healthier in his late 30s. He had an experience where he was walking up a medium-sized hill and was out of breath and got some chest discomfort.

In fact, he felt like he was having a heart attack. That was the moment that he decided that he needed to make some changes. He wasn’t overweight, but he and his wife at the time had a sedentary lifestyle and would go out to eat a lot at bars, so it would be a lot of that heavier bar food and beer.

He said that one of the first things he started noticing when he started to change his eating habits was that he no longer went to bed with heartburn, so slept a lot better. Also, not drinking several glasses of beer when they went out, meant his stomach felt a lot better. So, he noticed less physical discomforts purely with changing his eating habits.

As he got into better and better shape as far as his body was concerned, he was able to go back and start playing volleyball again like he had in his high school and college days. He also was able to add weight-lifting and more recently running, so at 50 years old, actually feels decades younger.

So, think about why you want to lose weight as far as physical activity or how well you feel physically, and as you lose weight, that’s something that you can measure. With my clients, I often ask them how they’re feeling physically when they’re doing their daily activities, to bring awareness to any improvements.

You can also be a little bit more objective with measuring your physical activity level or how well you feel physically in several ways. But even just subjectively, by getting some awareness of how you’re feeling, is very helpful.

Alright, the next of the seven ways to measure weight loss is by seeing what your emotional health benefits have been along the way. Are you feeling more positive emotions? Are you feeling less of those negative emotions? Now I just want to mention that your emotions come from what you’re thinking. If you are losing weight, you’re going to have a thought about that which will then create the feeling. So if you’re feeling better, if you’re feeling more positive emotions, it’s because of your thoughts about your weight loss progress.

Conversely, if you are thinking that you’re not losing much weight, then you might be feeling badly about that. You might be having more negative emotions. One of the things that I help clients with is to not have such negative thoughts that those negative emotions come into play and affect actions negatively.

But if you’re having some weight loss results, then you’re most likely thinking thoughts that then lead to positive feelings. So those positive feelings are a subjective measurement.

The final of the seven ways to measure weight loss, and again these are not the only ways to measure weight loss, is the medical benefits. If you’re losing weight in the right way, meaning that you’re going from less healthy eating habits to healthier eating habits. Maybe you’re also moving your body more, hydrating better, sleeping better, you should see some medical benefits.

For example, maybe your cholesterol panel has improved. Maybe your blood pressure has improved. Or maybe if you suffered from reflux before, you no longer have this issue. There are lots of other medical issues that can be greatly improved with healthier eating habits and just healthier habits in general that can then result from weight loss.

So, if you’re losing weight by improving your eating habits and those other healthy lifestyle habits, you’re most likely going to see benefit with your overall health. You’ll definitely help prevent a lot of diseases. And if you have a disease currently that can be improved with lifestyle changes, you’ll see results with that as well.

As you can see, all of these seven ways to measure weight loss are anywhere from subjective ways to objective ways, some of them are a little bit more outside of the box than you may have been thinking. Everyone will be a little bit different as far as what measurements they find to be the most useful for them, but there are options besides just weighing yourself on a scale.

All right my career women, you’re getting lots of information in my podcasts, and if you want to go deeper and more on an individual basis to break your “bad” eating habits, create healthy ones, along with other healthy lifestyle habits that assist with overall health, well-being, and weight loss, coaching is for you. Especially if you feel like you’ve tried on your own at least once already.

Get more insight into your specific eating habit or weight loss challenges, and see how I can help you with coaching, by booking a free 60-minute consultation.

You can do that right on the episode page if you’re listening on my website. If you’re listening from a podcast listening app like iTunes or Spotify, then just go to the episode description and you’ll see the link there.

Thanks for listening, take care and I’ll talk with you next week.