Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenWhen you’ve decided for yourself that you want to make a change to the way you look, whether it’s losing weight, gaining muscle mass, or something else, just setting a goal isn’t enough. To work towards your goal in a structured and conscious way, measuring your progress and tracking your progress is important. In this article, we want to delve deeper into measuring your progress and your progress and what tools can help you with that. In addition, we want to provide you with the possibilities of interpreting interim goals and responding to them.
Not measuring your goals
Okay, this may sound familiar to you. You’re fed up with your pants not fitting anymore or the number on the scale showing 3 digits instead of the desired 2. You decide to do something about it and start running and eating less. You run every day and eat less every day. Every day you step on the scale and see that you’re slowly heading towards your goal. After a few weeks, you think that having a meal out and a night out won’t hurt and you decide to give in. The next days, you step on the scale again and see that your weight has increased again. Frustrating? At least.
The number on the scale
So, how should it be done? If the above example sounds familiar, then it might be good to realize that the number on the scale doesn’t tell everything. Weight, in this case, body weight is a composition of your build, water, muscles, and fat. If you do a lot of strength training and handle your nutrition correctly, it is likely that your muscle mass increases and your fat percentage decreases. This can result in a higher number on the scale than before you started. If the scale is the only measuring instrument, you can become dissatisfied with this result. While in fact, you are on the right track.
Measuring progress
So what is the right way to measure your progress? This depends very much on your goal, but we can conclude that the scale gives too limited a view of the total reality. Other aspects that you should measure for yourself are:
Counting Calories
The number of calories you consume per day. A calorie is the amount of heat (energy) needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree. Nowadays, we almost always use the kilocalorie, which is the amount of heat needed to raise 1 liter of water 1 degree. These are divided over the number of macronutrients in which you consume them. Not all macronutrients provide the same number of calories. There are four types of nutrients that provide energy to the body and these are:
Carbohydrates: 4 Kcal per gram
Proteins: 4 Kcal per gram
Fats: 9 Kcal per gram
Alcohol: 7 Kcal per gram
Measuring Body Fat Percentage
Your body fat percentage gives the percentage representation of the amount of fat mass on your body. In many cases, when people say they want to lose weight, they often mean that they want to lose fat mass. After all, there is a difference between losing fat mass while maintaining muscle mass and simply losing weight by reducing both. Measure your body fat percentage and see if you are changing your body composition in the right way.
Many scales nowadays are equipped with a body fat percentage measurement. This measurement is done by means of a bioimpedance meter. This sends a small electrical conduction through your body: from one foot through to the other and determines your body fat percentage based on the resistance in your body. Fat mass, air, or bone conduct almost no current. In contrast to blood, water, and muscles, which conduct well. This form of measurement is not very accurate, as it is limited by a number of factors (build, race, gender, amount of calluses under your feet).
Measure your Strength
You should see strength as a separate result. In most cases, strength will increase first while muscle mass has not yet increased. This has to do with improved muscle control from the brain. Muscle mass, which in turn leads to more strength, follows later. Yet you want to measure strength. Both separately and as a training tool (you know how heavy you should/can train).
Measure your Waist Circumference
One of the easiest ways to get an idea of your progress is to measure your waist circumference weekly. When you measure your waist circumference, you measure how much fat is distributed around your waist. You do this by means of a tape measure around your waist. Do this at a fixed time of day, in the same way. For the most reliable measurement, do this without clothes. It is important that you do this at the same times of the day, preferably in the morning, because your waist circumference can increase over the course of the day. This is caused by your stomach and intestinal contents and by the amount of fluid in your body.
Measure your Weight
Finally, you should also keep track of your weight. In combination with the above variables, you can get a good picture of your overall progress.
