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When getting fit & healthy or wanting to lose weight, most people want to jump on the scales and see the numbers decline.  Most people think that losing weight on the scales is the way to measure success and to track your progress. This is the worst thing you can do.  Get rid of them.

The reason for this is your weight shows your current levels of body fat, muscle, hydration status (fluid levels!) and the weight of your organs, bones, blood etc. Therefore if you drink more water, you will gain weight. If you build more muscle, you will gain weight. However these things can off-set losses in body fat. Long term you will see the scales decrease, but it is not something you should be measuring on a daily or weekly basis.

Building Muscle – some women will worry that you will ‘bulk up’ if you do lots of weights etc. You would have to do very heavy weights, for hours a day to get a body builders body, and also add some testosterone into your diet!

Muscle weighs more than fat, which is another reason not to hop on the scales. The more muscle you build to tone up (not bulk out!), the more calories you will burn after exercising. Your muscles work harder, when you are challenging them, which in turn burns more calories!

Often when you change to a healthy lifestyle and exercise more, your body shape will change as well, so you could drop a dress size, or pant size and not notice much difference on the scales. Changing your shape is a good thing, it will make your clothes fit better if they are a bit tight, or they might even feel loose, which means you might have to go shopping for some new clothes – WIN WIN!!

So what is the best way to track your progress? There are a few options:

1. Take your measurements

  • Chest – measure in line with your nipple
  • Waist – in line with your belly button
  • Hips
  • Thighs – measure just under the line of your butt
  • You can also do arms if you want – measure half way between your shoulder and elbow, or just under your underarm
  • Take them fortnightly or monthly

2. Take your photo – wear bikini’s or underwear. Take a front on shot, side on (both sides) and a back view.  Take them monthly and make sure you wear the same clothes each time.

3. Go by how your clothes fit. Have a piece of clothing that you want to fit into, or that is a bit tight and use that as your guide.

4. Go by how you feel in yourself. Do you have more energy? Are you sleeping better? Are you less stressed? Are you happier? Are you less bloated?  Are you less moody? Are you more relaxed? Do you feel more toned?  Do you feel more positive?

So it’s time to chuck those scales in the bin, get out the measuring tape and the camera and start feeling good about yourself and what you are achieving. Think about measuring in centimetres or inches, rather than kilo’s or pounds!

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  • Great article – the way my clothes fit has always been my best measurement.

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  • Interesting article.
    Personally I don’t feel the need to throw the scales away, Don’t feel the need to make photo’s or measure myself either.
    But have been thinking to hide the scale lately as my 3 older kids (12, 11 and 6 year old) jump to often on it in my opinion,

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  • My scales stopped working years ago. And they aren’t even mine, they can with my rental property

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  • A really interesting article! Thank for this read!

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  • Great article I like the “take a photo every month’ idea

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  • Thanks for the great article. Now I know why my clothes fit better though the scale isn’t saying anything new.

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  • you could be a big person and be really fit or a skinny person and be really unfit! cardio, cardio, cardio! lol

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  • Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative article.

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  • I like to go by how I feel.

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  • I also don’t weigh myself I go by the size of my clothes and how well they fit me.

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  • I don’t weight myself but go by the fit of my clothes. Works for me.

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  • There are many pictures on the net which support this saying these scales dont represent your worth etc which are all so true! There are so many different ways to measure weight loss / changes etc.

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  • I threw out of scales a while back, but then bought new ones. The measurements and photos are a good way to see changes over time.

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  • I was told bu the Dr. as long as I get rid of the fat around my stomach is of more benefit in some ways than overall weight. People with more fat around their stomachs are of more risk of heart attack, stroke, fatty liver, diabetes or insulin resistance.

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  • I have stopped weighing myself now.

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  • I don’t weigh myself, I gauge my weight by the size of my clothes.

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  • My belief is that muscle weighs heavier that fat so for me who seems to hv that viking build i dont trust scales. threw mine out years ago. best thing ever

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  • My bathroom scales scream in terror every time I look at them. If only I could do something about the evening “sugar cravings” that I get, losing weight would be so much easier. At least this article has some good advice for me to start my weight-loss journey with.

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  • when exercising scales are useless

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  • I was obsessed with weighing myself but have done so much better sticking to once a week

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