Pop Quiz - How do YOU track progress?

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fifipink
fifipink Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, so I'm curious ... apart from waiting to see the results on the scale, are there other ways that I can track my weight loss progress? I find that the effort I put in every day takes a very very long time to show up on the scale :# It just doesn't balance ha ha!

While I get through the days and wait and hope! for the number changing, I think it would be healthier to focus on something else :D Maybe non scale victories ... I wonder if there are other ways to do this weight loss thing without anxiously waiting for the scale to move!

So, (other than weigh ins) I wonder how do YOU track your progress? And how do you keep motivated day by day?
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Replies

  • SaraydaB
    SaraydaB Posts: 120 Member
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    Measure yourself, sometimes we see the progress in the inches we lose
    And when your clothes start getting loose
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    My entire experience with weight loss changed when I started paying attention to trends instead of a number at a specific point in time. It's so much less stressful now.
  • ISweat4This
    ISweat4This Posts: 653 Member
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    Measurements, photos, the way your clothes fit. Don't give the scale so much power.
  • alondrakayy
    alondrakayy Posts: 304 Member
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    Pictures, clothes fit, gym progress, and THEN the scale!
  • Fitnessgirl0913
    Fitnessgirl0913 Posts: 481 Member
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    All excellent suggestions above! One thing I have to add is by doing something you have never been able to do before. Last summer (after I lost 80 pounds) my fiancé and I hiked Mt Marcy together (the highest mountain peak in New York State) it took about 8 hours roundtrip and I was sweaty as *kitten* but there is no way I would have been able to do that pre weight loss!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    The mirror and my clothes.
  • kms234
    kms234 Posts: 132 Member
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    My main indicator is how my clothes fit. I've "outgrown" all of my pants so I bought a smaller size. They are snug but it's motivating to get to a point where they fit well. I've noticed the arms in my long sleeve shirts are fitting much better too!.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I'm this weird person who tracks progress by tracking calories. Yes, I weigh in every day and measure once a month, but my only real indicators of progress are my calorie logs and trend weight. Trend weight does not show leaps of progress, it's more gradual and less noticeable, but my calorie logs do. If I ate enough calories to lose a pound, in my head it means my progress is 1 pound, regardless of what the scale says. I've been at this for a good while, so I have fine tuned my intake and expenditure to represent my weight loss pretty accurately, that's why all I need to do to know that I've made progress is look at my calorie data and see how much of a deficit I have achieved. No roller coasters, stalls, or weird data, unless I put it there by eating.
  • fifipink
    fifipink Posts: 7 Member
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    These are all great, I'm going to try them all! I'm still a long way off before I notice any change in the mirror though
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I'm the odd one who weighs daily and that is my goalpost. I use trendweight and just like to see the line going down. I'm down 1.9 from yesterday, but on track for ~1.5 week to week, which is my current goal.
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
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    I use my scale every day and track using the Happy Scale app. I also do a little happy dance when my pants get looser.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    The mirror and my clothes.

    This, plus measurement and a weight trending app.
  • Paschen81
    Paschen81 Posts: 150 Member
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    Pictures. The mirror doesn't work for me because 1. If I'm depressed my mind sees the reflection as excessively more than what's really there which causes me to be negative to myself and disgusted with myself which then can worsen my depression. 2. If I'm not depressed I tend to see my reflection as being not as bad as it really is which causes me to not be as strict with myself. I started taking pictures at each weigh day and that seems to do the trick... I don't see the mental distortions in picture form that I do in the mirror and I can compare the changes from week to week.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,140 Member
    edited August 2017
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    The scale, because I suck at taking measurements, how my clothes fit, and the mirror (with clothes on). Pictures don't work for me.

    Edited to add that I am in maintenance.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,224 Member
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    I track everything. Weight, guesstimated BF% (good enough for long term trending), measurements, photos, lots of fitness (times, distance, paces, Hr's, effort, weight lifted, reps of things, etc.) and health measurements (resting HR, blood pressure, etc.). I track everything because progress doesn't always show up in one place. And some are slow to show but over time they do. And often even when one thing isn't moving (like weight), something else is (measurement or resting HR or something).
  • Meelisv
    Meelisv Posts: 235 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Number on a scale is a proxy, it's just an indicator of some things. Mirror however never lies :D
    Weight trending so is still fun to use though, unless you're very twitchy ;)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I was and still am very process focused...

    FOCUS-on-the-PROCESS-and-you-will-achieve-your-GOALS-300x300.png

    commit-to-the-process-quote.jpg?resize=800%2C800

    quote-every-result-or-goal-you-want-to-achieve-is-preceded-by-a-process-the-secret-to-success-hal-elrod-103-44-35.jpg

    quote-it-s-the-same-with-business-if-you-focus-on-the-goal-and-not-the-process-you-inevitably-yvon-chouinard-76-81-75.jpg

    goal-focus-process.png
  • jennyhart200
    jennyhart200 Posts: 692 Member
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    I weigh myself everyday and take pictures every other day so I can look back and see changes. I also use my gym workouts to track my progress (how long I can run, how much I can lift, etc).
  • topomapper
    topomapper Posts: 13 Member
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    Too tight pants and see how much muffin is over the top. Scale once a month.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I was and still am very process focused...

    FOCUS-on-the-PROCESS-and-you-will-achieve-your-GOALS-300x300.png

    commit-to-the-process-quote.jpg?resize=800%2C800

    quote-every-result-or-goal-you-want-to-achieve-is-preceded-by-a-process-the-secret-to-success-hal-elrod-103-44-35.jpg

    quote-it-s-the-same-with-business-if-you-focus-on-the-goal-and-not-the-process-you-inevitably-yvon-chouinard-76-81-75.jpg

    goal-focus-process.png

    This is awesome!!

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