Most women tell men that penis size doesn’t matter but psychological tests tell a different story.
That’s not the size I’m talking about.
When dieting many of us are mainly concerned with one number: weight. I’m guilty of it myself. I weigh myself neurotically just about everyday whether I’m trying to lose weight through diet and or exercise or during periods of my life when my health wasn’t a concern in the least. While minding our weight is important what is more important is body composition.
Body comp is a difficult thing to measure to a high degree of accuracy even with access to sophisticated equipment. Just about everyone has access to a tape measure to track inches lost however and measuring inches lost is accurate enough for our purposes.
Our weights can fluctuate for many reasons such as how much water we ingest and how much we retain due to certain foods. You can also lose fat and gain some muscle if you’re exercising. Muscle is about 20% denser then fat so if you’re burning fat at the same rate you’re gaining muscle you will be significantly thinner and the tape will tell tale.
Measuring yourself is important for two main reasons:
- It can help give a better picture a diet / exercise plan is working.
- If you’re not losing weight but losing inches it can give you a needed ego boost.
Human’s are simple creatures and a reward circuitry is powerful. If weight loss has stopped or you have gained a lb or two while trying hard to diet and exercise its nice to see the fruits of effort in the form of losing inches. The more rewards we see the more likely we are to keep up the behavior no matter what it is so we try and set up ourselves for success.
Common Body Parts to Measure:
Chest / Bust- Measuring just under your armpit around the largest part of your chest. If you’re a man measure your chest. If you’re a man with a significant other measure her bust. As a matter of fact have fun with it – everyone should measure any else’s chest / bust so long as its consensual =)
Waist – Measuring just above your bellybutton.
Thigh – Measuring around the thickest part of each thigh.
Upper arm – Measuring around the largest part of your upper arm.
Neck – Measuring the largest part of your neck.
I’m going to continue to compulsively weigh myself once or twice a day. But I will also continue to monitor how many inches lost until I hit my target weight. I urge you to do the same. I also encourage you to keep up the diet and exercise routine even if you’re aren’t seeing the results you expect. You just need to stick with until a breakthrough is reached or a few things need to tweaked.
How many of you out there are measuring inches lost when dieting / exercising?
