Empowering Ways to Measure Progress without a Scale

There are countless ways to measure success. If you’re ignoring these non-scale victories, your shorting yourself some real opportunity for celebration and motivation. Read on for my top 4 ways to measure progress without a scale.

I’ve coached a lot of women over the years who have come to me with their weight loss goals. When we first start working out or talking nutrition together, the number on the scale always plays a big role in the discussion. Gradually, though, we’re able to push the scale off to the side – reducing it’s literal and figurative significance when it comes to measuring fitness and health progress.

There are numerous ways to measure your progress that have nothing to do with how much you weigh or how many inches you’ve shaved off your waist. Celebrate these wins and you give yourself a chance to look at the big picture.

Empowering Ways to Measure Progress without a Scale

Non-scale victories often go unnoticed. This is especially true if the scale isn’t moving as fast as you’d like it to.

But we should pay more attention to these signs of progress. Because it’s actually these non-scale victories that signal long-term and sustainable health and success. Including these factors in your measurements/check ins creates a larger, fuller picture of your fitness progress.

Long-Term Consistency

Consistency is one of the, if not the, most important component in accomplishing your goals. It’s not something you snap your fingers and attain. In fact, by definition, consistency is measurable only over time. It takes practice. And it’s a glaring sign of progress.

Without consistency adopting and getting comfortable with healthy habits is challenging if not impossible. It’s more difficult for your body to adapt and get stronger. And it’s nearly impossible to tell if you are getting any closer to your goals – because without consistency there is always an excuse.

In theory, consistency is simple. Do a thing, with purpose, over and over again.

In real life? Consistency is not so simple. The path to success is lined with obstacles and distractions. That’s life. There’s no way around it.

Consistency is a test of patience and commitment in overcoming those obstacles and distractions. If/when you nail it, you can feel secure in the fact that what you are doing is not a one off and not a fad. That’s incredibly motivating and builds confidence and discipline. It creates momentum.

Take a look at how consistent you are with the habits and routines that you are trying to establish.

Signs of Consistency:

Before: you worked out sporadically, when and if you felt like it.
Now: you workout 3-4 times a week without fail, even if the workout is shorter than you’d like

Before: workouts were based on whatever equipment was available and whatever you happened to think of in the moment
Now: you’ve been following a training program, with only slight variation when needed, for weeks or months

Before: dinner always came in a box from whatever take out place was open/had no wait
Now: you cook most of your meals at home because you’ve made a plan to get groceries in the house a couple of times a week

Before: goals? What goals?
Now: you have a daily checklist of actions you want to take, gradually building habits that will move you closer towards your goals.

Ability to Stay Injury Free

Even the strongest athletes get hurt. But it takes a lot more pressure and strain to injure a healthy human than it does an unhealthy human.

Your ability to stay injury free while working out with intensity and living a full, active life is proof of progress. Here’s why…

• Working on functional movement and exercise ensures that your body stays strong when and where it counts.
• Learning better technique and muscle control allows you to use the right muscles and the right time – instead of relying on overused joints and muscle imbalances to go through the motions.
• Building total body and core strength and stability protects your spine, allowing you to move freely and without pain in a full range of motion.
• By targeting key muscle groups, you can actively support your lifestyle, build bone health and muscle.

I have clients who used to refuse to squat or lunge because it hurt their knees. As they started to learn proper technique, build primary and supporting muscle and strength, and improve their mind-muscle connection, they became more confident and less inhibited by previous pains and injuries.

Slow and Steady Gains/Change

When you first start working out your gains might come quickly and obviously. That’s because the sudden onrush of muscular stress and physiological challenge triggers your body to respond quickly. Overtime, that obvious progress slows down.

But think about progress like this.

If you follow a 12 week strength training program in which you add just 2 pounds to your barbell squats every month, you might feel like you’re not really progressing. But zoom out with me…If you slowly and steadily add 2 pounds to your squat max every month without getting injured, you’ll have added 24 pounds in one year! That’s an incredible strength gain.

Now imagine that you’ve committed to changing your diet. You have the option of severely cutting out calories (a juice cleanse!). It’ll last a week and you’ll most likely loose 5-7 pounds. Then you’ll go back to eating real food, with real nutrients, in real life, and gain all of that back.

Alternatively, your option is to slowly, steadily change small aspects of your diet, a day or a week at a time. Add a fruit here. Reduce a bag of chips there. You might only lose a pound that first week (or nothing). But you can continue to make these kinds of changes consistently over a long period of time. And you will slowly and consistently see your weight trend in the right direction without feeling deprived.

Slow and steady strength gains are sustainable. They’re proof of your hard work day in and day out. And they’re manageable long term.

Better Technique

Personally, one of the most obvious and really, most exciting, non-scale signs of progress is improved technique. I teach fitness class 4 times a week. Some of my clients have been coming to class for 3 years! I LOVE watching them nail movements that they used to struggle with. Deadlifts. Lunges. Kettlebell Swings.

Perfecting your form and techniques is far more important than how heavy you can squat or how many pushups you can do in 1 minute. Form is a result of dedicated consistency and attention. It comes with many reps and a growing understanding and intimacy with your body. And it is a surefire sign of progress.

You can measure progress by how much your technique has improved. Can you lunge pain free when stairs used to make your knees creak with pain? Do you perform kettlebell swings smoothly and without fear of hurting your back?

Progress.

You can measure progress in so many different ways. Progress pictures, girth measurements and smart scales are only the tip of the iceberg.