How to Measure Your Success
What are things you can actually measure?
Those are good questions…and the answers really depend on your goals. Here you’ll find a list of things you can measure, along with some of my thoughts around using them.
But first, I think that you want to keep things as simple as possible so that you don’t get lost in the metrics…you don’t want to measure just for the sake of measuring.
For healthy weight loss (and overall health!) I offer my top 3 recommended measures at the top of the list below...
The Objective Measures
#1 Food Log. Keep track of what you eat and when you eat. I think this is one of the most useful things to measure because you are much more mindful about what you eat when you keep track of it. And it becomes even more powerful when you share it with others.
#2 Eating Window. I think this is another useful metric to track while keeping in mind that less isn’t always better. Along with your food log, you can track the number of hours you are eating during the day.
#3
Waist Circumference. This is my favorite measure for body composition that seemingly nobody uses. It’s basically the “how well do my pants fit?” measure. If you’re losing fat (and more important, the visceral fat around your belly) then you’ll have a slimmer waist. It’s that simple. All you need is a tape measure like this:
https://amzn.to/2OuUfYZ Of course you can measure other parts of your body as well, like your hips, chest, legs, arms, etc.
Other measures...
Bioelectrical Impedance Scale. Depending on your body type and accuracy of the device, these scales can be useful for measuring body mass (fat, lean and bone). If you have a lot of muscle on your body, it's likely to be less accurate and less useful. I recommend the
RENPHO Smart Body Fat Scale.
Blood glucose (sugar). This is one of my favorite (and arguably the most useful measure - that's easily accessible to the general public). It's so useful that I plan on running a course where the focus is on measuring and tracking blood sugar. Basically, if your overall
blood sugar is trending down then you are losing weight in a healthy way. Your blood sugar changes based on food, rest and stress and can be used to see how these things (especially specific foods) affect your health. I highly recommend getting a prescription for a Continuous Glucose Monitor. Otherwise you can do the finger prick with one of these:
https://amzn.to/3bViUUU
Calories. Along with tracking your food, you can count the number of calories in your food. This can be useful especially when you know your daily calorie expenditure. This way you can see if you are at a caloric surplus or deficit. If your goal is to lose weight, you’ll want a caloric deficit on most days. Although I think counting calories can be useful in the short term (for maybe a month or so) I don’t see it as sustainable because too often people obsess over the numbers. This is where the food log can be more useful because there are no numbers to worry about.
Weight. This is the most popular measure and one of my least favorite. In terms of obsessing, I think people read too much into their weight. One big problem with measuring weight is that muscle is much more dense than fat. So, if you compare the weight of, let’s say, a bodybuilder and a sumo wrestler, you may find that, although they have the same weight, they look very different. Why? One is full of muscle and the other is full of fat. If you do a good amount of resistance training (which you should!) then you’re likely going to be adding muscle weight to your body while burning fat. This could lead to better body composition without much of a change in your weight.
BMI. Measuring your body mass index - or your weight/height ratio - is about the same as measuring your weight. The problem with BMI is basically the same as weight. The thinking beyond factoring in your height is that, in general, the taller you are, the more you weigh. Because there are so many different body types, it’s really not a fair measure. Take the bodybuilder again as an example. She’s full of muscle so for her height, she is going to be extremely heavy and therefore have an unusually high BMI that says that she’s obese. But is she really obese? Of course not. Sure, she carries a lot of weight but it’s much more muscle than it is fat.
Blood Pressure. This is important because people with high blood pressure are at risk for heart disease and stroke. You can get your own blood pressure monitor and see where you’re at on a regular basis.
https://amzn.to/2MjVrAV
Other Biomarkers of Health. Of course there are some of the usual things you’ll get from a blood test you can measure and track like: HbA1c (Hemoglobin A1c), Triglycerides, Cholesterol, Inflammation via CRP, Testosterone, etc.
Cognitive Tests. How well is your brain functioning? You can test this with various apps. The easiest is a simple tap test to see just how fast you move.
https://smudge.io/cnstaptest/
Then there are the Subjective Measures
Pain. If you have chronic pain, you may want to measure it on a regular basis in an effort to see what makes it better or worse.
Energy. How much energy do you have? You can measure this daily though it may be interesting to see how your energy changes throughout the day as well and then figure out why. Was it something you ate? What about sleep?
Mood. Are you happy or sad? You can track how you feel over time and figure out what changes your mood. Is it your food, sleep, stress… or just the weather?!
What about you: What do you measure for successful weight loss?
Leave a comment and let us know!