Measure Up Without Discouragement

New muscle gained from a proper activity and nutrition plan can actually add body weight. So the bathroom scale does not necessarily make for a good measure of weight loss success. Monitoring your body composition is a better gauge, but it can get complicated. Using a measuring tape is a nice and simple tool for charting progress. However, for some people, the numbers can be more discouraging than motivating. So getting creative with your measurement methods can help you stick to your plan.

A spool of ribbon can make for no-stress measurements at home. Take the spool and use it to measure the circumference of your arms, waist, hips, thighs, and calves. After each measurement, cut the ribbon and label it with the body part measured. Once you have all your pieces of ribbon cut and labeled, store them away. After a month of following your activity and nutrition plan, take out the ribbons and re-measure yourself using the same length of ribbon you previously cut for that body part. Add a new mark on the ribbon at your new smaller size and date it. You will see from the marks that you have lost inches of fat fromall over your body, without ever having had to see potentially discouraging numbers the first time.