How to Track Progress?

 
As I mentioned in my previous article (‘Why Aren’t You Progressing'), one of the main reasons a person may not be progressing is due to their inadequate methods to gauge their progress in their fat-loss or muscle-gain endeavors. 

For the Scale Watchers:
Most fitness enthusiasts simply go to the gym, step on whatever scale is available and either become overjoyed or disheartened, because they did (or didn’t) see the number they wanted to see.

Solely watching the scale (at different times of the day) is really doing a disservice to yourself because:

1. The scale isn’t the best indicator of body composition (fat to lean-body-mass ratio) 
2. Weighing yourself at any other time beyond the morning upon waking is an inefficient manner to track your weight due differences in hydration levels & food content that may be in your stomach from an earlier meal. 

How to Weigh Yourself Correctly:
What I recommend is for an individual to weigh themselves every morning, upon waking, after using the bathroom and in the nude (or in undies, just be consistent). This will give them the best indication of their bodyweight.

The reason I recommend this is because weight fluctuates day to day for various reasons (food content in stomach, hydration levels, water retention from salt intake or menstrual cycle) and simply just weighing yourself 1-3 times a week isn’t enough data to really asses what is going on.

So by weighing-in everyday (upon waking) you can begin to asses what your trend of weight-loss (or weight-gain) looks like over time, because acute fluctuations are expected and will happen.

Body Measurements:
A lot of times the scale doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to gaining muscle or losing fat. Say the scale isn’t moving but your measurements (such as waist, legs, thighs, arms & etc) are going down, then you are indeed losing body-fat.

This would actually indicate that you are putting on small amounts of muscle along with losing fat! I would recommend you measure yourself in the morning, after weighing-in. Measure your arms, thighs, and waist, and make sure to record the data!

You can take measurements once a week, since measurements don’t fluctuate as much as body-weight, just be consistent with the day you measure yourself. 

Progress Pictures:
Weekly progress pictures definitely can show improvements on your physique when the scale isn’t budging. Just make sure to use the same location and lighting for accuracy purposes to compare past and present pictures. Try to take the pictures in the morning after your weigh-in, be consistent on the day you take your progress pictures as well (just like when you take your measurements).
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Just to give an idea of how progress pictures and measurements can tell a different story, below is a picture of myself. The photo on the left is from 7/23 & the photo on the right is from 12/5…Difference in weight? None, in both I weigh 188 lbs…​Biggest difference is that my waist is 1.5 to 2 inches smaller in the picture on the right. Had I only been  going by my scale weight and not taken measurements or weekly pictures, I would have thought that everything that I was doing was inadequate!

Left: July 23, 188 lbs, 35in waist...Right: Dec 5, 188 lbs, 33.5in waist

Workout Journal:
Keep a workout log and track your workouts! Record every set & rep. You should be getting stronger (completing more reps, increasing the weight, increasing sets or increasing the time under tension) every workout.

The name of the game is progressive overload, so keep a ledger of how your workouts are progressing & assess what you liked, didn't like, and what could you try differently next time to improve. This something many people overlook.

Not Recommended for Analyzing Progress: 
I don't like to measure a person’s body-fat percentage due to the inaccuracies with the most of the readily-available methods. Plus in the reality of it all, it is just a number…Either you are happy with your level of conditioning or not. 

• Body Electric Impedance Analysis Tools:
  Many times this apparatus misses out the other large areas of a person's body, meaning if you are using one of the handheld BIA tools, the electrical current will go from one arm to other…conversely, if using a BIA scale, the current will run up one leg and down the other. So essentially these BIA tools are just measuring the fat content on your legs or your arms.
  
  
• ​Furthermore, the results on from these tests are impacted by your current level of hydration. BIA tools classify changes in hydration levels (water in your body) as a change in fat mass. So if you are retaining water or simply stay hydrated (as I hope all of you are) it will lead to a higher body fat reading.
  
  ​If you are depleted and dehydrated, the device will think you lost weight, thus stating a body-fat reading lower than what it should be. Take the results from BIA tools with a grain of salt. Accuracy with these machines are within 5-8% (+/-) of your actual body-fat.

Image Source: http://www.exercisebiology.com/

• Calipers:
  It takes time and practice to really get the technique down for these, especially if you are going to be using calipers on yourself. Typically results from calipers are within 3-5% (+/-)  of your actual body-fat…So again not really accurate at all. 

Image Source: http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/

• Bod-Pod/Dexa Scans/Hydrostatic Weighing:
  Although these methods are probably the most accurate ways to measure your body-fat, they are not readily available or accessible for most people…Can be pricey at times. 
  
  
• Don't rely  on the mirror:
  This is a futile approach because it is difficult to really assess yourself in this manner since you see yourself everyday, hence it is very easy to either lie to yourself that your indeed progressing (when in reality you actually may not be)  OR be overly critical of yourself and believe that you are not progressing (even though you possibly are moving in the right direction). This is why progress pictures are a better option because you can compare each picture side-by-side and see the difference yourself. 
  
  

RECAP:

• Weigh yourself every  morning, in the nude (or undies, just keep it consistent), after using the bathroom and before eating/drinking anything.
• Take body measurements once a week, in the morning. Make sure to be consistent with the day that you do this.
• Take progress pictures once week, in morning after weighing-in. Again just like your measurements, be consistent with the day you choose to take your progress pictures.
• Keep a workout ledger: Track all of your workouts (weight training & cardio).  Assess each day on how your performance was that day, how you  felt and any other relevant notes.
• Skip the body-fat measurement tools...All of the readily  accessible tools are innacurrate and simply not worth it. 
• Don't assess progress by just going off the mirror, have something comparable that you can analyze side-by-side (aka progress pictures).