The scale sucks.
You know and I know it.
We know it's never an accurate picture of what's actually going on inside, and it can be skewed by so many factors.
Here are seven other ways to see if you're actually making progress.
1. Progress Pictures.
This may be my personal favorite.
How often do you look at an old picture of yourself and say "holy crap!"
Some of our progress pictures from our clients are CRAZY, and the scale never moved more than a few pounds.
If you’re a member at Spurling you can use your app, My Coach, to take and store your progress photos right on the app.
If not, just take them on your phone and batch them together.
We prefer a front facing shot and a side facing shot.
2. Jeans Test
Pull out a pair of jeans that are very tight or don't currently fit.
At the beginning of every week or month try to put them on.
We love this, especially for those looking for a "thinner waist."
We even once had a client once their jeans on the refrigerator as a constant top of mind reminder.
3. Stronger
I cannot think of any reason why you would not want to get stronger.
If you're stronger you're going to have a faster metabolism...
If you're stronger you're going to feel better and look better...
If you're stronger you won't have to ask the husband or wife for help to get the ladder down...
If you're stronger you'll be able to get up and down off the ground easily.
I recommend picking 1-3 exercises (squats, push-ups, etc) and track the progress of those over time.
The coaches at Spurling do this for all of our clients, and they call also see the numbers on their My Coach app.
If you’re not a client, just use a small notebook to track your strength numbers.
It's really cool to see that you may have started being able to squat 10lbs, and now you can squat 100lbs!
4. Sleep
We've had clients go from not being able to sleep through the night, only getting 2-3 hours, to sleeping like a baby, 7-8 hours per night.
Results come in many forms, and although for a lot of us we're going to default to looking at the scale, something like tracking your sleep can be a great indicator of progress.
5. Energy
This one can be a hard one to track, I recommend a 1-10 scale that you journal at the midpoint of each day.
One of the biggest benefits of a solid exercise routine is increased energy throughout the day, and this can be a huge win for clients, impacting so many aspects of their life including family time and work life.
6. InBody
Okay, I guess this could technically be a scale, but it may be my favorite addition to Spurling in 2018.
InBody is a medical-grade scale that not only tells you your weight, body fat percentage, and BMI, but it gives you a digital print out of your body telling us what your body is made up of, what areas of the body are stronger, how much water you're storing, and if the scale did change, was it in fact fat loss, or did we lose water or muscle.
This all comes in a printout the client can take home with them or bring in to their doctor.
Again, we like this because it gives us a better picture (literally) as to what is actually going on.
Even if the scale doesn't move we can see if you're retaining water or if you gained muscle.
Simply, it just shows a lot more into what is actually changing.
7. #NonScaleVictories
This final one is one that we’ve really latched onto recently.
A non scale victory is the name for any “win” you can celebrate that isn’t the scale.
Can you now go kayaking with your family because of your improved fitness and flexibility?
We’re you able to jump on the 24” box?
Can you carry all the grocery bags in without asking for help?
Did you accomplish a major mountain climb?
My favorite one I’ve seen so far…
“I’m finally happy with the reflection I see in the mirror.”
Anything.
It’s any win that takes your mind away from the scale.
#NonScaleVictories
I think seeing results is one the most important keys to success in fitness.
If you're not seeing results, you're not going to stick with it.
That being said, I think it comes down to two things...
One, knowing what it actually takes to see the results you're looking for, and being willing to change and stay consistent with it.
Most people want the result, but then never actually end of up changing that much.
Two, being able to see results in many different ways, in addition to the scale.
Again, it's not that we don't want to scale to move, it's just we don't want it to be the primary measure of success.
How do you measure results?
1% Better.
Dedicated to Your Success,
Doug Spurling