Article from Employee Assistance Center
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Measure Your Weight Loss Progress
Harry Mills, Ph.D.
Make plans to measure your weight loss progress. Regular measurement of weight is the only
way to know when you have completed milestone goals, and also helps to motivate by providing
a way to visualize your progress.

Weight Scales. Most people's weight actually varies across the day by as much as several
pounds based on what they eat and eliminate. Just drinking a couple glasses of water can make
the numbers on the scale go up. To minimize time of day problems, pick a particular time of day
when you will weigh yourself and stick to it. Early morning, before breakfast, is usually the best
time of day to weigh. Weigh yourself frequently during your preparation phase to understand
your average baseline weight. After the assessment period weigh only about once a week at the
same time as your baseline measure.

Food Diaries. Keeping a food diary is also a good idea. A food diary is a notebook in which you
record absolutely everything you eat or drink over a period of time. Start your diary during the
preparation phase and make sure it covers at least three weekdays and a weekend before you
launch into your diet (many people eat differently over the weekend than during the week). The
important thing is to be ABSOLUTELY honest about what you are eating. No one else needs to
see this notebook but you, but you need to keep track of the truth. In addition to the items and
their quantities, be sure and record where you ate the food and how you felt. Records of what
you are eating while dieting will help you to become aware of hidden calories you might
otherwise miss. Using the diary makes it possible to spot eating behaviors that would otherwise
go unnoticed, such as eating the untouched half of sandwich your child left behind while you are
loading the dishwasher, or realizing that that wonderful bag of trail mix you ate and thought was
150 calories for the bag actually contained eight servings?at 150 calories each!
If you really want to get technical about your weight loss, you can pursue additional
measurements and statistics as well.

Body Mass Index. The current "gold standard" for determining healthy weight is the body mass
index (BMI). Your body mass index is determined by dividing weight in kg by height in meters,
squared (or by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches, squared) and then multiplying the
result by the number 703. In general BMIs above 30 indicate obesity, and BMIs between 25 and
29 indicate that someone is overweight. A BMI table and accompanying comments are available
as part of the Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on The Dietary Guidelines
for Americans (2000). These guidelines may be read on line, printed out in PDF format or
ordered at http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/. The same table is alternatively available
here.

Circumference Measures. The waist to hip ratio (WTH) compares the narrowest point on the
waistline with the broadest point at the hip. Higher WTH ratios (which occur when fat is stored
on the belly or stomach) are associated with greater health risks than lower WTH ratios which
occur when fat is stored elsewhere. A waist circumference of 40 inches in men and 35 inches in
women is cause for concern.
In addition to your waist and hips, it is also helpful to measure thighs, upper arms, chest,
neck and anywhere else you are concerned about reducing. Since muscle weighs more
than fat the scales may not be completely reliable witnesses to the changes going on
during a weight loss/exercise program. A periodic check of circumference measurements
may well show a decrease in size even if the scales do not indicate much change. Muscle
takes up less space than fat and will often result in your dimensions decreasing even if the
scales are not so cooperative.

Body Fat. A baseline estimate of your body composition (body fat mass vs. lean body mass) also
provides informative health information. Body fat proportionality can be determined using skin
fold caliper measurements (which should be made by medical or fitness professionals) or by
weighting one's self on a bio-electric impedance scale. Bio-electric impedance analysis is a
painless process in which a safe electric current is based through the body. The body's fatty
tissues are poor conductors of the signal, while muscles conduct it well. The bio-electric scale is
able to come up with an estimate of body fat content based on how much resistance it
encountered. Both home and commercial models are available.
Another helpful measurement is wrist circumference or a measurement of the width of
the elbow, the space between the opposing bony protrusions on either side of the bent
elbow. The elbow measurement is most accurately taken with calipers. These
measurements provide ways of estimating the size of your body frame which is part of
the calculation in determining just how much you should weigh. A small boned person
should weigh less than a big boned person?and likewise it is not realistic for a person
with big bones to achieve the weight goals of a smaller boned person of the same height.
Picking a partner
If you are someone who responds well to social reinforcement, use your preparation period to
build yourself a support system of people who care about you and will encourage you in your
weight loss efforts. Having told one or more people about your weight loss plan, you will have
additional motivation to honor your commitment, or face their teasing you! As an added bonus,
one or more of the people you approach may decide to lose weight with you, furthering your
motivation and reinforcement. Often, the best partners to recruit for weight loss support are other
family members. This is especially true if family members are willing to help you by working
with you to remove temptation foods from the house. Lifestyle changes will be much easier to
achieve and maintain if the entire household becomes involved in working them.
Setting Goals
Once you have picked out a reducing diet to follow, you can begin the work of formulating a
plan, setting milestone goals and writing these plans and goals into a weight loss contract. For
example you may decide to eat at least one piece of fresh fruit a day in place of your usual
handful of cookies. You also may decide to switch from a sugar sweetened breakfast cereal to
one of the newer high fiber cereals which are tasty and also a rich sources of soluble and
insoluble fiber. Writing these decisions in specific detail into your weight loss contract makes
them more likely to happen. When you're done thinking about dietary changes, start thinking
about exercise changes. Plan an exercise program and write into your contract what and how
much exercise you will accomplish. Walking is a simple option, and even 20 minutes of it a day
will help.
Your contract should have a defined start date, and should end no more than one or two weeks
later. They should also specify non-food rewards that you will grant yourself if you meet the
terms of the contract. You don't have to specify perfect performance. Allow yourself to be
rewarded if you have met the terms of your contract more often than not (say, 10 days out of 14).
Evaluate your progress after each two week contract is completed. Have your goals pr oven to be
realistic? Are you feeling more energetic from the increased exercise? Is the substitute you
picked for your sugar sweetened soda a good one or would something else be better? Are you
ready to be more aggressive with changes? Then make a new plan based on what you have
learned and write a new contract based on that plan. If you find yourself sneaking too many
sweet foods, for instance, then figure out why you are having the need to sneak those sweets,
generate alternative behaviors you can substitute, and write them into your next contract. Perhaps
you are sneaking ice cream because you are stressed out. If so, you might consider planing to
consciously prepare a healthy snack (some cut-up fresh fruit perhaps) in place of the ice cream,
or, alternatively, join a yoga class. While yoga does not burn huge numbers of calories it does
help relieve stress. If you practice a few yoga poses when you are upset (perhaps while listening
to soothing music) you might find you don't need that ice cream after all.