I decided to take body measurements as well as weigh myself on the scale so I did my stomach, thigh, neck, upper arm and lower arm this morning. My question is when should I measure again? Should I do it once a month? Once every 2 weeks?
the trainer at my gym suggested about every 3 months. If you do it too often, you may not see significant results. 3 months seems like a good amt of time to see some change. although, you can choose to do it whenever you want, it just depends on how much of a change you want to see good luck
I measure every 2 weeks as time goes on I will make it once a month but I am seeing .5 inch off every 2 weeks. I am also only 5' so this makes a difference.
I was doing it weekly when I was really losing. It didn't always change. Actually, it sometimes went up - there were variations just like there are with the scale, plus it can be hard to measure consistently. So I like having more numbers so I didn't freak out over some anomalous number due to variations in my measuring technique. Weekly measurements are really too often now that I'm losing really slowly, but it's habit.
I do it weekly myself--Sunday mornings. It actually helps me to stay on plan on the weekends because if I didn't have to measure myself on Sunday morning, I would be more likely to go off plan on Saturdays.
Having said that, I dont' really get concerned or make any changes to my diet or exercise unless I see a bad trend for several weeks in a row.
When I first started counting calories I took a few measurement and honed in on the largest number. I was the biggest around my lower waist, (stomach at belly button) at a whopping 54 inches. That is the only measurement I ever take. I measure it every Thursday morning. At first it decreased weekly, today was the 3rd week in a row with the same measurement of 33".
I work at a gym and we take the measurements of all the members...Most people like to have their measurements taken between one and three months. The people who get it done most frequently are (I think) looking to see if there is a difference in measurements when the scale doesn't move as much. The people who wait longer periods I think are hoping for more dramatic results because it's a great motivation to keep on goin'.
Personally, I think measurements can be a lot more motivating than weight loss because sometimes when the scale has hardly budged people are down a couple inches in their waist or things like that. I've also read that the measurements of your waist and abdomen (usually measured around the belly button where I work) are also good indicators of your heart's health because it is the fat around the stomach that is more dangerous.
Measuring Your Body - How Often?
good luck
