It’s time to toss your scale in the garbage! If this progress tracking tool has brought you nothing but feelings of stress, guilt, shame, and anxiety, then say sayonara. This doesn’t mean you have to give up on your goals, though. You can absolutely still focus on weight loss and changing your body — but the scale isn’t always your best option. Especially if it’s causing you stress!
What’s more, is that a scale isn’t always the best judge of your progress. While you start to work out and change the composition of your body (losing fat but gaining muscle mass), you actually may not lose weight, per se. This is because muscle tissue is dense and compact, and a pound of muscle takes up way less room than a pound of fat. So while you are slimming down in appearance, the numbers on the scale might not budge — and that’s OK!
We have a way for you to keep up with your goals without getting hung up on decimal points and numbers: Take progress photos. While it’s daunting in the beginning, we promise it’ll be well worth it. Here’s why.
Why Using Progress Photos is an Amazing Progress Tracking Tool
#1 It Keeps You On Track
Measuring progress with photos is a great method for people who process things more visually. It’ll also give you a benchmark — if you know you’re going to take your progress photo every Friday or the last day of the month, you might be more inclined to stick to your fitness schedule because you know you have a check-in.
#2 You’ll Focus on Your Physical Body, Not the Numbers Tied to It
Numbers can feel like a ridiculous label. The decimal points on the scale, the number on the inside of your jeans. What matters is how you feel about your body. You’re not defined by a number!
What’s more is that your weight can fluctuate daily thanks to a number of things — hormones, water weight, what you ate the night before, even how you slept. Instead of weighing in every morning, just check in on your transformation every so often with a photo.
#3 They’ll Motivate You
If you hit a plateau or feel like you’re not making progress, a quick review of how far you’ve come might be the catalyst you need to get back in the game.
The Simple Progress Tracking Tool That May Be a Total Gamechanger
Be sure to look back on your progress photos or take a new one. You might be surprised to see that you’ve made incremental but noticeable changes to your body, making it a much better way to track your results than by just stepping on the scale.
