Tracking Progress
Metrics matter.
If you aren't tracking, how can you know to make the necessary changes?
If you can’t make the necessary changes, how can you move forward?
If you don’t move forward, or progress, how can you get closer to your goals?
It’s no secret that im a fan of tracking our calories/macros, at least for a period of time. This is one metric that will clearly help guide you toward your body composition goals.
And from here, how do we measure our progress and know if we’re going in the right direction?
We can take our bodyweight and/ or some specific measurements (waist measurement is a common one), these are great indicators of progress, however, they are easily manipulted and dont always tell the whole story. + depending on your goals, could actually be relatively irrelevant to your deired outcome.
So what are some other metrics we should consider that may not be numerically quantifiable but can still show progress toward our goals?
You’re not hungry all of the time! Your choosing to eat mostly whole, unprocessed nutrtious foods that are ueling your body and giving it all of the nutritents it needs to operate optimally. This in turn, is leaving less ‘room’ or desire to turn to poor quality, un-satiating ‘junk’ food.
You’re energised. You wake up feeling good, feeling happy. Your training sessions are fun, you feel motivated. You dont have that ‘crash’ in the early afternoon.
You’re getting quality sleep. You’re winding down before bed. Finding it easier to fall asleep and make it through the night. You’re waking up in the morning feeling refreshed and recharged!
Your clothes fit better… Maybe thats a little looser, maybe thats a little tighter! Regardless, you’re noticing that your body composition is changing.
Your mood is improved through out the day. You feel happy, calm, have a clearer head, more positive thought patterns, more confidence. Maybe you notice that you’re speaking more kindly to yourself.
Your performance in the gym improves. You’re making noticable gains on lifts/reps are increasing. You feel noticably stronger & more energetic. You’re learning more skills. Maybe you’re more able to face your fears and do things you didnt think were previously possible.
You Start to think of what you’re doing as a lifestyle, no longer a ‘diet’. You notice yourself drinking more water, making food choices to support your goals, your building and maintaining a morning routine, building and maintaining a bedtime routine, Maybe you’re preplanning and perparing your meals at home for the week.
So if utilised correctly, as the TOOLS that they are, tracking our bodyweight via scales as well as body measurements do remain a good indicator of trends when looking at our body composition goals. It is, however, important to realise that that are plenty of other indicators of progress that may be better suited to an individuals mindset,lifestyle & overall success toward their goals.