Use Measurements Besides the Scale

[Jann]

Use Measurements Besides the Scale

What's So Motivating About Numbers Anyway?

-- By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer

Pretend for a minute that gravity doesnt exist. Everything is weightless, including your aunt Sophie, yet it all manages to stay on the ground. You dont know how much you weigh because scales have never been invented. How would you define your state of health? After all, you wouldnt be able to say "I need to lose 10 pounds" or "I weigh 150 pounds, so I must be overweight."

What would be your benchmark? You might still not like how you look. You might be tired of being tired all the time. You might need to trim down and take care of that blood pressure problem. You might want to avoid diabetes.

In a gravity-free world, those are all still good reasons to create healthy diet and fitness habits. Who knows, you might decide "Hey, I feel alright, I look alright, and Im healthy. If I can just maintain the habits I have, I should be okay."

The point is, you can decide for yourself what shape youre in. You dont need the scale to tell you. Unfortunately, many times we get down on ourselves simply because something as trivial as gravity tells us were out of shape. Some people feel and look fantastic in every respect, but if the number on the scale doesnt match expectations, theyre miserable. This doesnt make sense. Gravity should not be able to wield that kind of power.

In this gravity-rich reality we live in, we have a fascination with the scale. While its good for giving you a general idea of your health, this can be the most discouraging and frustrating part of a diet. Your weight can fluctuate all the time and reasons why are never completely known. Time of day, temperature, the days activities, water level all can skew the numbers one way or the other. In reality, you could be getting discouraged over something thats not really accurate.

To stay motivated, try finding other ways to measure your progress instead of stepping on the scale. Try some benchmarks that actually matter. Some may be tougher to measure than others, some are more subjective. But we think youll find that these measurements can still be a lot more meaningful and motivating.

Take some of these regular measurements to stay motivated, even if the scale isnt moving:

• Body Measures dress size, waist, hips, neck, arms, fitting into favorite clothes
  
• Performance more endurance during exercise, doing them at a higher level, jumping higher, walking longer, running faster, playing a sport better
  
• General Feeling rate energy level, rate attitude and outlook, track how often you feel very sleepy during the day, rate your confidence level
  
• Health blood pressure, cholesterol level, blood sugar level
  
• Intangibles how you look, compliments you receive, how others respond to you
  

[JazzyJude]

That is exactly what I do. I measure myself when I weigh. I am only weighing myself once a month, so it should be interesting.

GREAT post Jann!

Jude =)

[Kittycat]

Great post Jann...we all need to look at the NSV and other numbers, other than the ones on the scale.

The scale has moved for me in almost 2 weeks...but I feel great and figure it took 8 years to get here, it's going to take time to get back!!

Love your new profile pic...you need to show your pretty smile!

[Jann]

Great post Jann...we all need to look at the NSV and other numbers, other than the ones on the scale.

The scale has moved for me in almost 2 weeks...but I feel great and figure it took 8 years to get here, it's going to take time to get back!!

Love your new profile pic...you need to show your pretty smile!

Thanks Kitty. I still suffer from stiffness around cameras unfortunately. I can barely keep my eyes open nevermind smile too! hehe

Jann