What Is The Best Way To Track Weight Loss?

[Lucinda]

What do you think?

Yes there is the traditional scale, but if you are gaining muscle, wouldn't that be ineffective? Also, weight fluctuations from water etc...

Or, you could use a tape measure, and measure yourself... (hips, stomach, chest etc).

You could go by how clothes fit... But this doesn't seem very focused to me.

There are those body fat scales by Tanita... Does anyone use one?

What do you think?

THANKS!

[Cron]

Last I heard cheap body fat measuring instruments were so inaccurate that they weren't really worth it.

I think combining the use of a scale and a tape measure, with some patience is the best bet.

Because of water & other fluctuations I wouldn't use the scale more than once a week ( same clothing, no clothing, before breakfast, same day, time ).

Even then you will get some up and down fluctuations but you can write the weight down in a notebook and keep track of the trend. Measurements are good at once a month.

If you weigth stays the same or goes down while other measurements change for the better you can be sure you are on the right track.

[quin]

I prefer taking measurements. I find it's the most accurate way.

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Cron

Last I heard cheap body fat measuring instruments were so inaccurate that they weren't really worth it.

I think combining the use of a scale and a tape measure, with some patience is the best bet.

Because of water & other fluctuations I wouldn't use the scale more than once a week ( same clothing, no clothing, before breakfast, same day, time ).

Even then you will get some up and down fluctuations but you can write the weight down in a notebook and keep track of the trend. Measurements are good at once a month.

If you weigth stays the same or goes down while other measurements change for the better you can be sure you are on the right track.

I agree and disagree on a few points.

First of all, it's true that most body fat measurement systems are guesstimates, at best. The most accurate way is to go to a doctor and do an immersion test, but my preferred at-home alternative is the military standard of measuring body fat, where you plug in measurements of your neck, waist and abdomen into a calculation. However, you're not always going to measure the same spot, and you might be bloated one day or something, so this is really best to show an overall change over several months rather than an accurate body fat measurement.

When I do measurements, I prefer to do them once a week, and I add a few non-calculation measurements just to see the inches I'm losing! This predicts what clothes you'll start to fit in without having to try on the same frustrating pair of jeans every week.

I think it's important to weigh yourself every day, however. I know this isn't recommended (in fact, it predicts eating problems in teenage girls), but I'm convinced it's the most effective way to both stay on track and learn about your body. First of all, if you're only slightly off your diet, you could gain several pounds in a week. If you weigh yourself every morning, you realize, "Oh yeah, I really shouldn't have eaten that burger yesterday," and today you won't repeat the mistake.

You absolutely must be kind to yourself, however, because your water weight will fluctuate up to 5 lbs for no apparent reason! Along those lines, though, you will start to learn why your body does what it does. If you drink alcohol late at night, you might weigh less in the morning -- because you're dehydrated. If you eat pizza before bed, you'll probably weigh more in the morning -- because you're retaining water. If you eat lots of veggies all day and eat very lightly before bed, you'll be neither lighter or heavier, you'll be at whatever your neutral weight is.

Another person I know who weighs every day for accountability is DietGirl. She's lost over 100 lbs over the past five years or so.

Oh, and I would get a digital scale that's accurate to .2 lbs. Weigh yourself in the morning, maybe right before you shower, so that you're weighing conditions are always the same: You haven't eaten yet, you've used the restroom, and you're not wearing any clothes. Perfect.

Hope that helps!

[Cron]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

I think it's important to weigh yourself every day, however. I know this isn't recommended (in fact, it predicts eating problems in teenage girls),

No kidding, fluctuations go up and down by a pound or more.....not doing anything different from one day to the next. I imagine it is worse for women and if you have any emotional issues with weight this can drive you nuts.

but I'm convinced it's the most effective way to both stay on track and learn about your body.

A diet diary does that for me without the insanity of daily weighings.

[elainevdw]

I got one of Tanita's digital lithium scales with none of the body composition stuff. I've had it for two years and use it every day, and it's fabulous! Tanita Digital Lithium Scales

For measuring, I use a sewing measuring tape. Like they use in lingerie stores to fit bras. Clotilde.com - 60" Yellow Tape Measure

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Cron

No kidding, fluctuations go up and down by a pound or more.....not doing anything different from one day to the next. I imagine it is worse for women and if you have any emotional issues with weight this can drive you nuts.

A diet diary does that for me without the insanity of daily weighings.

I suppose it depends on your personality! I'm pretty mellow, so I mostly find it fascinating seeing what my body decides to do every morning.

My boyfriend has lost 30 lbs, and I hate it when he weighs himself every day, because then he decides he's not allowed to eat for the rest of the day and other ridiculous things if he doesn't like the number he sees. But, it's the only way he's been able to maintain weight loss.

I guess he likes the stress.

[Fortune]

I use the system from The Hacker's Diet. You measure daily (or however often you want) and with a simple calculation you can keep track of the "trend", which accounts for fluctuations.

Basically, you take the difference between today's measurement and yesterday's trend, round it, divide it by ten, and add it to yesterday's trend to make today's trend. That sounds kinda complicated, so here's an example:

Yesterday's weight: 80 (kg)
Yesterday's trend: 79.8

Today's weight: 80.6
Difference: 80.6 - 79.8 = 0.8
Rounded: 0.8 --> 1.0
Divide by ten: 1.0 / 10 = 0.1
Today's trend: 79.8 + 0.1 = 79.9

Whoops, I just gained something.

To make this calculation easier, take the following shortcut:

If the difference is between 0 and 0.5, the trend stays the same.
If the difference is less than -0.5, subtract 0.1 from the trend.
If the difference is less than -1, subtract 0.2 from the trend.
If the difference is more than 0.5, add 0.1 to the trend.
If the difference is more than 1, add 0.2 to the trend.

That's about it!

[Sukotto]

I like the Excel-based tools provided (for free) from John Walker's Hacker's Diet. The nice thing about it (for me) is his focus on your weight trend rather than your current weight which basicly means that minor variations in your daily weight get averaged out... and you get a much better picture of how you're really doing.
(As long as your trend is moving downward, you're losing weight)

I thought his book was pretty good (written in a tongue-in-cheek manner) though I felt he spends a little too much time trying to convince you that losing weight is a good idea.

Anyway, you can use his spreadsheets without ever trying his diet. They make pretty graphs for you, print nicely, and generally help keep track of your weight.

[moltar]

Take pictures after the shower every day! I know it's frustrating, but the benefit of being able to go back and look at yourself will only motivate you to work harder! Trust me, speaking from experience.

On the same subject, check out John Stone's website and his daily pictures. He has been a huge motivation for me! And by huge, I mean gigantic!

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Fortune

I use the system from The Hacker's Diet.

It took me a few days to get to it, but I finally read through The Hacker's Diet and figured out how to use all the spreadsheets. Brilliant! I'm looking forward to trying that out myself, since I'm aiming to lose 15 lbs and keep it off. (I'm down 7 lbs, now 8 more to go...)

Thanks so much for the link! I can identify with "Dexter," except I don't think I've ever hit and maintained my goal weight, lol.

[ahimel]

What do you hope to gain by tracking weight loss? That will greatly affect the answer of what's best.

Do you want to gain muscle mass?
This is my current goal; to maintain my current weight while gaining muscle. (Since muscle is denser than fat, this means I'll actually in some sense be 'losing' weight.)
Each week, I track how much I can lift (am I getting stronger?) and my weight (am I losing fat?) Tracking more often than that would just drive me crazy with the random fluctuations.

Do you want to fit into a smaller pair of jeans?
Track waist size. This won't fluctuate as much, so I don't see any reason not to track daily, but don't let yourself get discouraged. It'll still take a while to lose inches.

Do you want to lose a set amount of weight?
For example, "I need to lose 30 pounds to reach a healthy BMI"
Get yourself a system of exercise and diet that will result in a defecit of 500 calories per day (you eat 500 fewer calories than you burn). This will result in the loss of a pound a week. Losing weight faster than that is either a) extremely unhealthy or b) meaningless water weight.
Make sure you stick to the diet, and weigh yourself only once a week to ensure that nothing's going awry.

Are you at a healthy BMI and want to maintain that weight?
My ideal weight is 132.5 lbs. So I try to stay between 130 and 135. When the scale wanders up to 135, I start checking my portion size and foregoing food if I'm not "really" hungry. When it wanders down to 130, I start indulging in extra desserts. If it goes outside that range, I sit down and actually diet (see above). As long as it's within that range, I don't think about it at all.
The advantage to this system is that I can weigh myself daily without driving myself crazy. If the scale's at 134, I say to myself, "That might just be water weight. Or it might be fat. Either way, I'll keep an eye on food intake today. But no need to panic; I'm still within 2.5 lbs of my ideal weight."

This will obviously also depend on your emotional needs and strengths. If you're disciplined enough to stick to a diet, you can do weekly weighings to keep yourself on track. If you have a lot of trouble passing by that second helping, seeing the number on the scale each morning may boost your willpower. In fact, if your self-discipline is really bad, I might recommend weighing yourself before each meal.

But, if you tend to associate your weight with your self-worth, I wouldn't weigh more than once a week, or make sure you use one of the trend-oriented systems above.

Those parts depend entirely on you.