Weights and Measures

There are different ways to evaluate progress.    .

Weighing yourself once or twice a week can be a reasonable indicator of the effects your new healthy eating plan is having.  But relying solely on the weighing scales is not really a good way to gauge your progress over the long term. 

Because it’s not 100% accurate, you can end up feeling frustrated and demotivated by the results.  Especially if you are one of those people who have a habit of looking at the scales every day!  Who’s woken up, seen their weight has gone up and ended up eating badly because you feel like giving up?

Our bodies are complex and are constantly changing, so there’s a lot more to how our body’s composition alters over time than just weight.  There are many factors which can affect your weight on the scales including:

• Body weight can change by up to 2% overnight just from the moisture exhaled when sleeping!
• Bowel content, due to some foods staying in the gut longer
• Water and glycogen volume, due to a change in carbohydrate intake
• Changes in water volume, due to dehydration
• Water volume, due to changes in salt intake
• Water retention, due to stress or the menstrual cycle

Sometimes the scales don’t seem to move for weeks at a time, but using other measures might show that you are actually still doing well.

So, rather than rely solely on the scales, you can also use the measuring tape and the mirror or photos.  We want to have some evidence of our progress towards our target, so a combination of all of these will really help.

Make a new habit of taking fortnightly measurements and/or fortnightly photographs.  Measure your chest, waist, hips, upper arms and upper thighs. Try to be consistent in where you measure.

These methods will be more reliable in telling you how your body is changing with your new health plan.  Remember, SmallerKnickers is all about the long term, not short term fixes, so aim to also have fun with it.

You can attend one of the SmallerKnickers Workshops, to obtain more details and support so that you can achieve long term success.