[styled_image image=”http://sixpackforgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/alternativesToWeighingYourselfOnTheScales1.jpg” alt=”Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales” title=”alternativesToWeighingYourselfOnTheScales” w=”0″ h=”0″ align=”center”]Scales are generally the first method of tracking diet progress that people think of and turn to but, as we’ve previously seen, they’re not the best method and shouldn’t be used on their own.
Part of the solution to getting the body you want is to reduce your body fat; just weighing yourself won’t tell you how you’re doing with that.
So here are some alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales, exclusively, which will give you a better over all picture of how you’re getting on.
Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales
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Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales #1 – the tape measure
The humble tape measure is just one of the many alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales that you have in your arsenal for tracking diet progress.
We’ve already established that your diet goal is not necessarily to lose weight, but to reduce your body fat.
As fat takes up rather a lot of ‘body space’, it stands to reason that you’ll become smaller as you reduce your body fat – all hail, then, the tape measure for tracking diet progress.
Choose the areas of your body you’d like to monitor – the usual are chest, waist and hips, but if you have an issue with your thighs, for example, then measure them too.
The important thing to remember is to measure yourself in the same place each time and keep the same tension – look for an identifying mark to help you, or draw on yourself with permanent marker if you really want to keep accurate tabs on things <—-yes, I have done this.
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Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales #2 – body fat % measurement
As one of the alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales, you have a number of options for obtaining a body fat percentage number ranging from the Navy Method to various machines that you either stand on or grip with your hands, which send an electrical current through your body.
The Navy method is probably the easiest, and cheapest, of these alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales as it just requires body measurements and your weight to work out a body fat percentage.
There are various online calculators you can use, here’s one I’ve used in the past: Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales – Navy Method calculator
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Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales #3 – skinfold calipers
Skinfold callipers measure, in millimetres, the fat you have under your skin at various sites on your body, you then use a formula to translate that into a body fat percentage or you can get digital ones that work it out for you.
For accurately tracking diet progress these are going to require a bit of practice – I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with my digital callipers for a long while.
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Alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales #4 – your clothes
Of all the alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales, this has to be my favourite as it’s pretty fool proof and is the one I find most satisfying
I love my clothes and I have a fair few items that aren’t at all forgiving when it comes to gaining even just one pound – they are very, VERY effective for tracking diet progress.
[hr]So of all the alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales, which ones are the best and most reliable for tracking diet progress?
Well, there is no ‘best’ – they’ll all throw a number at you which in itself isn’t what’s important. What’s important, with whichever of the alternatives to weighing yourself on the scales you choose, is a consistent downward trend over time.
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