Today during my weigh-in, we checked how many inches I've lost. In 8 weeks I've lost 27 inches! WOOHOO!


I came back to work and my boss said something silly. He said counting anything else other then waist inches was "stupid." And just a mind game. Thoughts?

I totally disagree. I also was pleased that I have lost 3 inches off my knees! That must be good for my knee health. Wouldn't you think?

Does anyone else track inches?

You are doing awesome and I love the variety of pictures you put in your posts!!! I don't know how you keep them sorted enough to post them, I'd be a mess!!

And your boss.....tell him every inch matters (in weightloss, so you don't get slapped with a harrassment claim of course...). But what a dope!

I couldn't get my new jeans on if I didn't lose inches in my thighs, regardless of what my waist does. MEN!!

I've been keeping up with my waist inches, but I think all inches count. I've just been too lazy to do more than one LOL.

I think 3 inches off your knees helps alot! Only the waist? Um, I completely disagree. Even though I've lost waist inches, I haven't lost many upper arm ones simply because my shirts aren't getting much looser in that area, hence able to go down pants size but not shirts, not yet.

So yes, it matters. What a weird thing to think it doesn't......

I track inches, heck ya! Neck, upper arm, mid arm, lower arm, bust, under bust, upper chest (right under the arm pits), natural waist, at belly button, hips, butt, upper thigh, mid thigh, right above knee, right below knee, and finally the calf. I've lost over 100 inches off my body, well over. If i was ONLY tracking waist it'd be like 10 inches (maybe more I can't remember off hand). 100+++ is WAY more motivating than like 10-12.

Why in the world would only waist inches count? Like losing everywhere else doesn't matter. Give me a break!

"Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid" - Mary Poppins

Actually your boss is right. In a scientific study done by no one, ever, 100 moron bosses were polled and a majority of them stupidly said that only waist inches matter.

Sorry to have to give you the bad news.

Your boss sounds like such a supportive (jealous much?) individual.

3 inches off your knees is fabulous and I bet they're thanking you. I just saw a health and weight loss news segment this morning that claimed every pound lost is nine pounds of pressure off your knees.

Keep up the good work and congrats on your 27 pounds!

And I can't believe he actually said it was stupid...I called him stupid. -_- Good thing we have a pretty decent relationship.

For the most part- he's super supportive of my weight loss.

I'm not sure how many inches I would track if it wasn't for my consultant. It's awesome that they do it once a month! And then they give you a ribbon for how many inches you've lost, which is fun.

ETA: John- That was hilarious. Thanks for the giggle.

The only thing about measuring is that there is no standard. So, a loss of 20 inches off the bust, waist and hips might be more actual losses than someone's 100 inches off 15 spots measured. It's just hard to know what "27 inches lost" means - what's the context? Anyone can figure out that this loss is great, but it's somewhat hard to visualize.

I know the first time I saw someone say they lost some unbelievably huge number of inches, I was like, "Whoa - they lost all that from their waist? or hips? or Chest?" I never thought to add up all the inches because it doesn't really convey anything to me. If I measure every inch of my body: neck, upper chest, mid chest, lower chest - above and under boobs, upper waist, mid waist, lower waist, upper hip, mid mid hip, lower hip, ... (you get the picture) is the sum of all of that mean more in my head than if I only measured my chest, waist and hips? For me, no.

I know for myself, I measure chest (and occasionally under breasts for band measurement and to check on back fat loss versus boob fat loss), waist, widest part of the hip, upper thigh and upper arm. Sometimes I wish I would have taken a few others, but these have given me a good idea of where my body is losing. And when I record them I don't sum them up. I will say, "I've lost X on chest, X on Waist and X..."

Maybe that's where your boss was coming from and it came out in a lame way.

Heck yeah I measure everything calves, hips, waist, neck, chest, under boobs, arms and thighs. Ideally I would like to lose more on my waist but every inch I lose there I lost on my hips and breast. I think I would be sad though if my thighs and arms didn't shrink. I wish I would have measured before I started, I was only interested in knowing when I actually noticed I had a waist and my bra was uncomfortably big. I guess your boss only notices the waist and being a 50-24-50 would be as acceptable to him as being a 36-24-36. Guess we all just have different perspectives.

I measure everything but for me the waist is the most important number. But I do an overall count each week and log.

That said, the boss should not be saying things like measuring anything but waist is stupid. Why is he allowed to be so rude?

I think what he probably meant to say, and didn't say very well, is that there is a lot of science out there that shows that there is a lot of correlation between waist measurement and the risk factors for various diseases. People who tend to carry their weight in their midsection, for instance, have a higher degree of heart disease than those who carry it in their hips. I tend to think that he may have meant that the waist measurement was the most important healthwise, not that losing weight in other places somehow didn't count.

Or maybe he's just a jackass, but if he's generally supportive then it seems more like he may have just enough information on this to be dangerous.

That's what I was thinking he meant. Most people don't know hardly anything about weight loss or just parrot what they heard from someone else/TV

While I would really like to say your boss is a "moron", I feel he's probably terribly uninformed.

So, a kind nod, and move on!

I think he meant from a matter of heart health. Women with a waist larger than 33 and men with 35 are at higher risk for heart disease because they are carrying too much internal fat in their torso.

I'm with you, I count every inch!

I track waist and hips and thighs. It all matters, your boss is a dum-dum.