[rachel1985]

My best friend and I decided to "compete" in our weight loss. We both want to lose fat and build muscle, get healthy, and try to change our lives.
It's not so much a competition as much as it is motivation to get out to the gym and try. We hadn't decided exactly how we were going to measure our losses (we started out thinking "Biggest Loser" counting percentage of weight).
I had lost 35 lbs from Aug '11 to Oct '11. She had done about the same, but got sick and gained it back. We started competing about a month ago. Well, she has lost roughly 10 lbs....I've lost 3-4. I go to the gym nearly every day, where she goes maybe twice a week. I obsessively count calories, she really doesn't. We do about the same amount of activity daily (cleaning, chasing kids, shopping, etc) and when we started, she was only 15 lbs lighter.

So after thinking about it, I decided I wanted to try and track my inches lost along with/rather than pounds (because I do a circuit/weight training program twice a week) and I know that I'm losing girth (for lack of a better word) because I can see it in my calves, around my ribs, and my thighs.

Where do I need to measure and how often do you measure???

[NateC]

Congrats on your weight loss so far!

In regards to girth measurements, this should cover it all:

-Neck
-Shoulder
-Chest
-Upper-arm
-Waist
-Hip
-Thigh
-Calf

Try every 2 weeks.

[rachel1985]

Thanks!

[PixelatedTimeMachine]

I'm only planning on regularly tracking my hips, waist, and chest as those are the "big three" for me, but I did take starting measurements of my calves and upper arms. I think the big thing is just being consistent in taking your measurements at the same time of day and of the month.

Also, for what it's worth, I noticed that I lose inches before the scale moves, too, so, for me, watching inches fall away is a good indicator that the pounds will do the same, soon.