Measuring Your Body Composition Changes: Beyond the Scale

In the pursuit of health and fitness, many of us are accustomed to stepping on the scale as a primary measure of progress. While the number on the scale can be a useful indicator, it doesn't provide a complete picture of your body's transformation. To gain a deeper understanding of your progress and overall health, it's essential to look beyond the scale and explore other methods of measuring your body composition. In this blog post, we'll delve into these alternative methods, discuss their significance in your fitness journey, and also explore the often-overlooked non-scale victories that are equally crucial indicators of your progress. 

Why Go Beyond the Scale?

1. Body Composition vs. Weight

The number on the scale reflects your total body weight, but it doesn't distinguish between muscle, fat, water, or bone density. Monitoring body composition allows you to track changes in the proportion of these components, offering more accurate insights into your fitness journey.

2. Health vs. Aesthetics 

Achieving a healthy body composition isn't just about aesthetics; it's about overall well-being. By focusing on body composition, you can ensure that your fitness efforts are promoting good health, including reducing the risk of chronic diseases associated with excess body fat. 

3. Precision in Progress

Measuring body composition provides a more precise way to track your progress. It helps you differentiate between muscle gain and fat loss, offering a more comprehensive view of the changes happening in your body.

Trending Methods for Measuring Body Composition

1. Body Fat Percentage

 Body fat percentage is the proportion of your body weight that is comprised of fat tissue. There are various methods to measure body fat percentage, including skinfold calipers, bioelectrical impedance scales, and DEXA scans. Each method has its accuracy level, with DEXA scans being one of the most precise.

2. Waist-to-Hip Ratio

The waist-to-hip ratio assesses the distribution of fat in your body. A high ratio (indicating more fat around the waist) is associated with a higher risk of certain health conditions. It's calculated by dividing your waist circumference by your hip circumference.

3. Circumference Measurements

Taking measurements of various body parts, such as the waist, hips, chest, arms, and thighs, can help you track changes in muscle and fat distribution. These measurements provide insights into areas where you may be gaining muscle or losing fat. 

4. Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA)

DEXA scans are considered the gold standard for measuring body composition. They provide a detailed breakdown of fat, muscle, and bone density, offering comprehensive data on your body's composition.

Tracking Your Body Composition Changes

Now that you're aware of these methods, here's how you can effectively incorporate them into your fitness routine:

1. Regular Assessments

Perform body composition assessments regularly, but not too frequently. Monthly or quarterly measurements are often sufficient to track meaningful changes.

2. Record Your Data 

Keep a log of your body composition measurements to monitor changes over time. Tracking trends in your data is more informative than isolated measurements.

3. Celebrate Small Wins

Remember that small, consistent improvements in body composition can lead to significant overall progress. Celebrate your achievements along the way, even if the scale number doesn't change dramatically.

4. Adjust Your Approach

If your body composition measurements aren't aligning with your goals, consider adjusting your fitness and nutrition strategies. Consult with a fitness professional or nutritionist for guidance.

The Non-Scale Victories (NSVs)

Non-scale victories (NSVs) are the tangible and intangible improvements you experience on your fitness journey that go beyond mere weight or body fat numbers. These victories represent the holistic impact of your efforts on your overall well-being. Let's delve into some of these valuable NSVs:

1. Improved Sleep Quality

As you adopt a healthier lifestyle, you may find that your sleep quality significantly improves. You fall asleep faster, enjoy more restorative sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. This improved sleep is vital for muscle recovery, hormonal balance, and overall vitality.

2. Enhanced Patience

Patience is a virtue, and it's often cultivated through the discipline required in a fitness routine. You learn to persevere, set long-term goals, and work steadily towards them, which can positively impact other areas of your life.

3. Sharper Focus and Mental Clarity

Regular physical activity can sharpen your cognitive abilities. You may notice improved focus, mental clarity, and better decision-making in your daily life. These mental gains are priceless in today's fast-paced world 

4. Increased Alertness

Exercise stimulates blood flow to the brain, resulting in increased alertness and a heightened sense of awareness. You'll find yourself more present and engaged in various activities.

5. Boosted Energy Levels

While exercise can be physically demanding, it paradoxically leaves you with increased energy throughout the day. You'll have the vitality to tackle tasks with enthusiasm, making you more productive overall.

6. Revived Sex Drive

Regular exercise can lead to an improved sex drive. It boosts circulation, enhances mood, and increases self-confidence – all contributing to a more fulfilling intimate life. 

How to Acknowledge and Celebrate NSVs

Recognizing and celebrating non-scale victories is just as important as tracking your body composition changes. Here's how you can acknowledge and commemorate these achievements:

1. Keep a Journal

Maintain a journal where you can record your NSVs as they happen. Include details about how each victory makes you feel and the positive impact it has on your life.

2. Share Your Success

Share your NSVs with friends, family, or a supportive fitness community. Celebrating these victories with others can be motivating and reinforce your commitment to your fitness journey.

3. Reward Yourself

Consider rewarding yourself for achieving NSVs. Treat yourself to something special, whether it's a relaxing spa day, a new fitness gadget, or a day off to enjoy your favorite activities.

4. Stay Mindful 

Stay mindful of the non-scale victories as they occur. Sometimes, it's the little moments – like feeling more energetic during a family outing or noticing improved mental clarity during a meeting – that have the most significant impact.

Embracing a Holistic Approach

In conclusion, while tracking your body composition is essential, it's equally crucial to acknowledge and celebrate the non-scale victories along your fitness journey. Improvements in sleep, patience, focus, alertness, energy levels, and sex drive are not only indicators of a healthier body but also reflections of your dedication and commitment to self-improvement.

By embracing a holistic approach to health and fitness, you recognize that your well-being extends beyond the numbers on the scale. It encompasses the positive changes you experience in your day-to-day life, your relationships, and your overall sense of vitality. These non-scale victories remind you that your fitness journey is not just about transforming your body; it's about transforming your life.

Using Wearable Fitness Technology to Monitor Your Progress

In the ever-evolving world of fitness, staying motivated and tracking your progress is essential to achieving your health and wellness goals. Thanks to advancements in technology, we now have access to a wide array of wearable fitness devices that can help us stay on track and take our fitness journey to the next level. In this blog post, we'll delve into the exciting world of wearable fitness technology, exploring how these devices can aid you in monitoring your progress effectively.

The Rise of Wearable Fitness Technology

Wearable fitness technology, also known as fitness wearables or fitness trackers, has taken the fitness industry by storm in recent years. These devices come in various forms, including smartwatches, fitness bands, and even smart clothing. What sets them apart is their ability to collect and analyze data related to your physical activity and overall health.

Key Features of Wearable Fitness Technolog 

1. Activity Tracking: Most wearables can monitor your daily steps, distance traveled, and calories burned. This data provides a baseline for your physical activity level.

2. Heart Rate Monitoring: Many devices come equipped with heart rate sensors that allow you to track your heart rate during exercise and throughout the day.

3. Sleep Tracking: Sleep is crucial for recovery and overall health. Wearables can monitor your sleep patterns, helping you optimize your rest.

4. GPS Tracking: If you're a runner or cyclist, GPS-enabled wearables can track your routes and provide valuable data on your speed and distance.

5. Calorie Counting: These devices often estimate the number of calories you've burned based on your activity and heart rate.

The Advantages of Using Wearable Fitness Technology

1. Real-Time Data

One of the significant advantages of wearables is the ability to access real-time data. You can check your heart rate during a workout, see how many steps you've taken, and even receive notifications and reminders right on your wrist.

2. Motivation and Accountability

Wearables can serve as constant reminders to stay active. Many devices set daily activity goals and send you notifications when you're close to reaching them. This gamification aspect can boost motivation and accountability.

3. Goal Setting and Tracking

Setting and achieving fitness goals becomes more accessible with wearable technology. You can establish targets for steps, distance, calories burned, or even sleep duration, and monitor your progress over time.

4. Insights for Optimization

With the data collected by wearables, you gain valuable insights into your fitness habits. You can identify patterns, such as when you're most active during the day, and use this information to optimize your workouts and overall routine.

5. Community and Social Integration

Many wearables allow you to connect with a community of like-minded individuals. You can share your progress, compete in challenges, and even find workout buddies through these platforms.

Choosing the Right Wearable for You

The market is flooded with a variety of wearable fitness devices, so it's essential to select one that suits your specific needs and preferences. Here are some factors to consider:

- Purpose: Determine your primary fitness goals. Are you a runner, a weightlifter, or looking for an all-in-one device for overall health? Different wearables cater to different activities.

- Features: Consider the features that matter most to you. Do you want GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, or a combination of these?

- Design and Comfort: Since you'll be wearing it daily, ensure the device's design and comfort align with your lifestyle and preferences.

- Compatibility: Check if the wearable is compatible with your smartphone and the apps you prefer to use.

- Battery Life: Assess the battery life to ensure it meets your usage patterns.

Wearable fitness technology has revolutionized the way we monitor our progress on our fitness journey. These devices offer real-time data, motivation, goal setting, insights, and community engagement to help you stay on track and achieve your fitness aspirations. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or just embarking on your fitness adventure, a wearable fitness device can be your trusted companion on the path to a healthier and more active lifestyle.

Small Habits = Big Changes

The Mom Go To:

You’re either not in the picture at all or your kids are a human shield standing in front of you so you can hide from the camera 📷.

🙋‍♀️ if you’ve been there.

I had a client tell me once that she hadn’t been in a picture with her family in over 20 years. 20 YEARS. She always found a reason to be the one taking the picture.

That broke my heart 💔.

It also made me determined AF to give her everything I could to get past it.

How did we do it?

Consistency and intention.

Along with a BOAT 🚤 load of patience. Because things change, life throws you for loops, and you have to be able to adapt on the fly.

It didn’t happen over night. But it did happen for her. 

My advice to you: small steps forward are still forward progress. Put a habit into place daily, even if it’s a small one, that you can maintain over time.

Those small habits will accumulate into a lifestyle that works for you.

Expand Your Comfort Zone

Step outside of your comfort zone so your comfort zone can get bigger. 

Here’s the thing about working out:

It will NEVER get easier. It’s not supposed to because you’ll be continuing to get stronger.

But all of that effort is on YOU.

I can’t make you do this. I can’t make you grab heavier weights or go faster. 

I can (and will) encourage you all day long, but ultimately the degree to which you push yourself is totally up to you.

Like one of my mentors used to say “the good news is: you’re in control, the bad news is: you’re in control”…

It’s your choice what you do with it. 

Let the Goals Happen

When you love the journey, the goals just happen.

We focus SO much on the goals. Losing the 10 pounds, fitting into the dress 👗, or rocking the bikini 👙.

Here’s the problem:

✔️ when you focus TOO much on the goal, when you reach that goal, there’s no motivation to keep going.

✔️ that goal can also seem SO far away that reaching it feels impossible. 

Here’s what you do:

✔️ find out what you love about the journey itself. It can be ANYTHING. Even the stretch at the end of the workout 🏋️‍♂️.

➡️ Once you figure out what you love about the process of being healthy and getting stronger 💪, keep working towards your goals but focus on your journey and how good it feels.

📌 then celebrate the small steps you’re taking towards that goal. It’ll give you incremental steps to focus on that will eventually culminate into that larger victory.

Don't Rewrite Your Story

Don’t allow yourself to rewrite the story. 

The fact is:

✔️ you showed up for yourself today. 

✔️ you did something for yourself today. 

✔️ you’re better off for it. 

When you finish your workout today and you start berating yourself for how it could’ve gone or what you should’ve done, just stop. 

Regardless of how your workout goes, you will always walk away stronger than when you started.

That effort is not something that should be discounted.

Give yourself credit for what you did do instead of beating yourself up for how you think it should’ve gone. 

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4 Rounds

10 reps each exercise

Single leg deadlift right

Single leg deadlift left

Bench press

Russian twists

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What Pisses You Off?

Training gives me the ability to hear about everything that pisses you off.

I launched A Healthful Life because I kept overhearing the same problems about working out from my community and I wanted to be able to help solve those problems.

Hands down, the two biggest problems I heard were about having a consistent workout routine and being able to adjust that routine based off of the chaos of life.

Followed quickly by frustration of results not sticking around. You can push yourself to get them but as soon as you do, you realize how burned out you are and then you stop.

Not being able to drop weight, not being able to GAIN weight, not being able to workout when you want, not seeing a difference from your workouts , that’s just to name a few.

Working out is not a perfect practice. 

It is the practice of patience.

All the change you want isn’t going to happen instantaneously. 

Especially the change you want to see stick around. That kind of change takes time and consistent effort.

It also takes you not giving up on yourself because during that time, you’re going to have imperfect moments and even more moments of frustration.

It’s time to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go.

Don’t quit now. If you’re frustrated or over it, sick of showing up, take the time to remind yourself of what you’ve done and why it’s worth it. 

Do the Work

If you don’t do the work, this isn’t going to work for you. 

Let me be clear: I don’t train idiots.

We all know the power behind eating healthy and working out consistently. We know the positive impact it has not just on our immediate future but also the longevity of our lives.

We know working out needs to be a priority, and yet it’s the first thing to fall down the list of our priorities.

We also know it’s the thing that no one else can do FOR you.

After over 10 years of training people from ALL different backgrounds and with all different goals, this is what I know for sure:

The people who SEE change are the ones who consistently put their health back on their priority list.

They’re the people who get creative with the type of workout they’re doing so they can continue to workout regularly.

They’re also the type of people who are flexible with their workouts. The time, the type, even the day because they know that working out needs to be a regular aspect of their routine.

Ultimately, they know if they don’t do the work, the work isn’t going to happen and then the work won’t work for them.

There are No Shortcuts

I’m not trying to sell you a shortcut. 

Shortcuts with a healthy lifestyle will NOT get you a healthy lifestyle. They’ll earn you a temporary fix that’ll soon disappear when the work is done.

This is why I’ve never been a proponent of “diets” or time limited programs. I get the incentive behind it. We all want results quickly, but do you want that fast result if it won’t last?

I ask my clients that all the time when they tell me they’re doing something wild.

Are you willing to do this for the rest of your life?

If not, you haven’t found a solution that works for you.

Don’t search for the shortcut, search for the SOLUTION.

I’m here to do the work with you.

I believe that every single person can create a healthy lifestyle.

A lifestyle that:

✔️ has you working out consistently 

✔️ has you eating well 

✔️ feels balanced

All without feeling like you’re sacrificing.

I believe it so fervently that I do the work right beside you, so we can hold each other up and encourage each other along the way.

Gratitude

There is not a day that goes by that I am not grateful for being able to move.

Truth: I never used to talk about my injury. Since you can’t even tell I’m disabled by looking at me, a lot of clients didn’t know what I went through.

Then one day, one of my clients asked me how I came up with all the motivating stuff I say during class.

I told them I never remembered what I said when I taught BUT I always had the same image in my mind:

Being 19 years old, on bed rest in my parents’ family room, not knowing if I would ever walk again and if I COULD, what my life would look like. I didn’t know if I would need a cane to walk, if I would be able to live independently, if I would need further surgical repairs, or even if I would be able to get well enough to graduate college.

Things turned around obviously better than what I could ever dream of for myself.

But that being said, I’m not a huge fan of the process. I would totally rather sit on my couch most days than do a set of Tabata.

That’s just me.

But even on the days I hate it and would rather do my taxes, I’m grateful I can do this for myself.

I’m stronger for it.

I’m more capable because of it.

I’m happier with it.

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4 rounds

Bridge hip taps

Bench press

Froggie crunches 

Renegade rows

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