Breaking Free From The Scale: Better Tools For Measuring Progress

Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness , nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body . Hello , hello , welcome back to another episode of your Strongest Body . Thank you for being here . You know me , I'm Betsy , I'm your coach .

I have a guest in studio today , so if you hear any little giggles in the background , I've got somebody in here today . We're going to jump in right away . I'm going to keep this quick , but we're going to talk about three the problem .

We're going to talk about the problem with the scale and why a body weight measurement , why a body weight measurement is not going to give you the most accurate picture of your physical change . Now it is totally under and I'm going to give you ways where you can better measure progress from a fitness standpoint , from a physique change standpoint , all of that .

It is really understandable why you might feel really connected to the number on the scale because it is the measurement that we rely on most often when you go to a doctor's office . When you probably in school or in PE class or something like that , any measurement of health has typically been around that number on the scale .

It's also just very ease of access to get a number on the scale . No wonder we sort of rely on it . When you go to the gym there's probably a scale in the locker room that is easy to access . If you are losing weight , that number on the scale changes .

The challenge with losing weight versus when we talk about losing body fat is that it isn't always equal . Losing weight could also mean losing water , water retention , losing muscle mass . You could be losing muscle mass and that could change the number on the scale . When we talk about losing body fat , what that typically means is that we aren't losing muscle mass .

Losing body fat is going to change your physique while also giving or helping to maintain that kind of what many people call a toned look or a more athletic look . Losing body weight is going to be all over body .

Losing body fat is probably going to be a little bit more physique changing , at least when we talk about that sort of more athletic look and generally , when we're talking about losing body fat , we are . We are , since we are maintaining muscle and or adding muscle because the body weight could change .

Your weight actually could go up if you increase muscle and still lose body fat but those health markers are improving . They're improving because we are better off with more muscle mass and less body fat . So what are some ways we can then measure progress and physique change , progress without the scale ?

So let's talk about the other ways that we can measure that progress and the ways in which we can probably measure it a little better . One of them is with a more accurate body composition measurement . Now , this is something that you may not be able to do easily in your home .

Some scales bathroom scales , some sort of like high-end scales do offer a sort of bioelectrical impedance measurement that can measure changes in body fat and muscle mass , but that's a little tricky to achieve at home .

You can seek these out at either a gym in a university setting sometimes some private companies offer and there's an opportunity to take a look at not just your physical weight but the amount of muscle mass you have and the amount of body fat you have , and you can then measure the progress that way .

Another way to do that body composition measurement is with a caliper , and sometimes these are offered in gyms or you can get them from a private company , but they're actually going to kind of pull at the body fat , measure that and be able to , with a formula , taking those measurements and adding them together , finding the average , they're going to be able to

tell you , give you an estimate of your body fat percentage and then , if you are exercising , you're doing resistance training and you are doing some kind of high protein and or calorie deficit , you're probably going to see changes in body composition and then you will be able to track that progress . So that is a way .

Another way , a more easily done at home way , is to do some circumference measurements , meaning you're going to use a tape measure , something that you would wrap around yourself and in a few designated spots , measure your size . Then you can actually see the physical changes .

If you're trying to put on muscle some spots or reduce fat in some spots even though we can't necessarily pick those places that we reduce fat , we can't spot reduce fat so then what you're going to do is measure certain spots and you'll be able to see those physical changes in size , and you could combine that certainly with body weight measurements .

The challenge again is that when we're talking about the density of muscle in our body , sometimes when we add lean muscle it doesn't add size per se . It changes the shape of our physique and we might misinterpret those numbers on the scale .

And lastly , one of the great ways to measure progress from a resistance training program , from a focused diet or improved nutrition plan is to take stock on quality of life . So thinking about do I have more energy ? Do I have more strength ? Am I continuing to feel stronger and faster ? Can I lift heavier weights ? Am I sleeping better ?

Am I feeling satisfied at the end of meals ? I mean , all of that goes together . It's not to say that one is more important than another , but it's certainly . We want to look at the whole picture and that is what is lacking when we are focused solely on that single number on the scale , because it literally just tells us our relation to gravity .

It gives us no better insight . So I think it tends to be more useful for us to accumulate a Lot of different measurements . Then we take those measurements and we can put them all together and get a clearer picture . Okay , I'm gonna keep it short today Because my my guest coach is getting a little antsy , but I want you to think about those things .

I want you to know that tomorrow , when this episode comes out , it's gonna be Monday , march 25th . Tomorrow , march 26th , my built bodies program officially launches to the public . This 12 week Full-body training program is designed to help you build visible muscle , get stronger and have your most confident summer .

We're doing all of the training part , so you're getting four workouts a week , a really progressive designed program to help you reach those goals . But it also includes the nutrition components .

So I'm giving you the tools to Properly fuel your workouts , build the muscle that you want , lose the body fat that you want , and then I am also providing all of the other tools that help you support that transformation so that , 12 weeks from now , you are really experiencing your strongest body , with with strength improvements , physique change and the kind of

energy and confidence in the body that you have created , so that you have just the most fulfilled summer of your life . So you can Check back with me , but you're going to be able to access the website when it is ready . It's going to be be foster strong , calm , slash built bodies . Be foster strong , calm , slash built bodies .

And that program opens and launches . So it launches to the public on Tuesday March 26th . The program actually opens on the 8th , but you have Five days to take . The cart will close on Sunday March 31st .

So that maybe was a mouthful , but I will put the link in the show notes and then you'll be able to click on it and get that access to that page on Tuesday March 26th . Alright , thank you , as always , for listening . I really appreciate you . Until the next time , go build your strongest body and I'll talk to you later . Bye .