Measuring Inches

Today I want to talk a bit about why the scale is not the only thing you should use to see progress on your weight loss journey. There have been many times through this journey where I got on the scale and was not happy with what I saw. For me that's an area that has always been able to get me down. When I don't see results I say why bother...why do all this work? (it's worth it that's why, but I want to provide with more of a reasoning behind this.)

Part of my workout consists of lifting three days a week. I lift between 50-75lbs. using machines. It's important to build muscle mass because muscles help to burn fat. Therefore, the more muscles you have the more fat you are able to burn. However, creating muscle mass can cause you not to see any movement on a scale. You can replace 1lb. of fat with 1 lb. of muscle. What's important to note though is that muscles require less room than fat. So while you may not see any pounds being loss you may actually be losing inches! It's super important that you build muscle so it's important to realize that just because the scale didn't go down doesn't mean you were defeated that week!

I use a tape measure (they are super cheap not over $2 and can generally be found in the craft section of any store). What I notice is that even if I didn't lose any pounds that week I may have managed to loss some inches. I mainly measure my waist because that's where I would really like to see some change, but you can and should measure all over. Measure your arms and legs. Measure your hips and bust. Keep track of those numbers and watch them go down!

So remember losing inches is just as important as dropping the overall weight! Don't let a bad scale day stop you from seeing actual results. Make sure to measure, measure, measure!