Each week, our own fitness fanatic Bethany Shirilla will explore the latest workout crazes, diet fads and dish out tips for healthy living. Managing your schoolwork is tough enough- let us take care of your health.
Seeing results on your own body is extremely rewarding. When you’re working diligently on your fitness goals, the results are what inspire you to progress. Sometimes, however, recognizing results on your own body is difficult and can be misleading. Measure results in a way that will visibly show how much improvement you’re making.
Don’t make the scale a priority. Weight is a quantity, not a quality of progress. Focus on your overall health, rather than specifically losing weight. Losing weight is not an indication that you are getting into better shape, or eating cleaner. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so the scale may stay the same or even increase slightly.
Don’t become discouraged when your number on the scale fails to decrease, despite the visible results. If you do choose to weigh yourself, do not do it every day. Weight fluctuates day-to-day and it will only provide you an inconsistent measure of progress. Weigh yourself weekly, immediately when you wake up and before you eat. Rather than using a scale, measure yourself using body mass index determinations.
Take before and after pictures so you can see the most rewarding proof of your progress. Just as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you eat clean and workout, the progress will be evident even in a few weeks’ time. When the changes are occurring on your own body, recognizing toning across its entirely can be tricky. Make sure to take pictures from the front, side and back views. Compare your before and after pictures side-by-side and you’ll be amazed at how much your body has changed!
Write everything down. Designate a notebook for tracking your daily food intake and workouts. Writing down what you eat can help identify foods you should eliminate. If you have a habit of skipping breakfast, the pattern will be obvious and changes will come easier. Writing down workouts also helps you recognize the smaller advancements that lead to great progress. With the flip of a few pages, you will become motivated to continue working hard with endless opportunity.
If you fail to properly measure results, you might not realize how much progress you are actually making. Try to avoid numbers, but rather estimate improvements based on how your body feels and responds to the changes. By measuring results as suggested, motivation and inspiration to become a better version of yourself will push you to train further.
Photo by Jonathan Hsieh
