Don’t Play the Numbers Game
Ditch the scale and tape measures and determine your progress by how you look and feel.
For some people this might sound like counterintuitive advice. We’re so used to thinking about our bodies in terms of numbers; I am __ years old, __ feet tall, and weigh __ pounds etc. And this makes sense, after all, it’s easy to compare numbers and numbers don’t change depending on a mood or whim. But measuring your progress by numbers can quickly lead to frustration and disappointment even when things are going really well. Here’s why:
The Scale Lies
Not literally (unless your scale is broken), but figuratively speaking your scale is not giving you a good indication of your progress. It’s telling you how much you weigh. It doesn’t care that you’ve been breaking strength PRs for 3 weeks straight or increasing your sprint time. It’s just cares about the amount of fat and muscle you’re carrying (useful!) as well as the amount of water you’re holding and amount of food sitting in your digestive tract (not useful).
Because there’s no way to parse out the useful and non-useful information in your weight, it’s never a totally accurate representation of what’s going on with your body composition. Not to mention that it can’t tell you if your fat to muscle ratio is changing (your weight might not change for weeks as you lose fat and gain muscle - but you’ll certainly be able to tell in the mirror!).
You might think “well why does my coach ask for my weight if it’s so unreliable?” And the answer is probably only half satisfying. For starters, due to sheer experience trainers have a much better eye for spotting differences in body composition and can interpret weights with a bit more objectivity. The true reason though is that we’ll take whatever information we can get and use it all to make decisions. It would be senseless for us to totally disregard numerical measurements, but it’s just as senseless for us to make client decisions based on those numbers alone. It’s a balancing act.
Potential Pitfalls of Numerical Tracking
Now if measurements were just kinda inaccurate and that was that I would say fine, go ahead and take as many as you want, but that’s not the whole story. The real reason for writing this article is that I’ve seen way too many people make decisions based on whatever their scale or tape measures is telling them. As you can probably guess, these decisions are folly more often than not.
The first big mistake people make is interpreting lack of movement on the scale for lack of progress. There are many reasons why your weight may not be changing, ranging from the obvious (losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time) to the more complex (microphysiological or neurological changes occurring before hypertrophy, rebalancing of water, sodium, or food motility in the gut etc.). So someone might be making awesome progress and then totally steer off course because the scale is showing them something they don’t want to see.
The other mistake people make is getting overly obsessed with achieving a certain number while tuning out all other markers of progress. Perhaps the best examples of this are guys that do a so-called ‘dreamer bulk.’ These are guys that have the singular goal of achieving a certain amount of weight gain (or certain size arms/chest ) and chase that goal no matter what. They make good progress for a while and their weight goes up, but then weight gain stalls. MORE FOOD. Weight starts going up but then inevitably stalls again. MORE FOOD, LESS CARDIO. Eventually they do meet their goal, but they’ve met it with fat gain rather than the actual muscle gain that they were aiming for.
Easy Come Easy Go
The reason it’s so tempting to make these mistakes is that it’s actually quite easy to manipulate numerical measurements. Your weight can easily be made to move up or down just by manipulating what you eat and when (leading to binge eating or over-enthusiastic fasting). And tape measurements (such as with your biceps or chest) can increase rapidly with rapid fat gain.
The best way to measure progress
So if you can’t go by numbers, what should you go by? The number one best indicator of progress is performance. If you are increasing in strength, endurance, mobility etc. than you ARE making progress, full stop. Even if these aren’t your primary goals they will lead you closer to accomplishing your goals.
The second best indicator is how you look. The mirror is one method of assessment, but since you see yourself everyday it can be a little misleading. Taking progress pictures can be a great way of tracking your progress. Time has a way of erasing subjectivity, so even if you feel terrible about your pictures in the moment you will eventually look back at them with fresh eyes and be able to see how far you’ve come.
Finally, you can tell a lot by how you feel. Even just adhering to your fitness plans can cause a profound sense of satisfaction that leaves you feeling energized and motivated to be on the right track (even if you can’t immediately see it). Feelings of pride, accomplishment, and hunger for more progress can tell you everything you need to know about how you’re doing.