track cover.jpg — Are You Tracking?

By: Corry Matthews, Healthy Lifestyle Expert

We’ve all heard that in order to make changes in any portion of our life, we need to track our results. First, we need to write down our SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound). Second, we need to track the progress towards these goals.

Since most of us have heard about SMART goals more times that we can count, I want to focus on the tracking aspect in this article.

When it comes to wellness – almost all of us are guilty of using the scale to determine our progress. If it goes down – we are doing something right, if it goes up – we are doing something wrong. However, this isn’t always the case when it comes to working out and getting in better shape. Our weight can go up, and we can be making great, positive progress, and here is how!

Getting in better shape is all about losing fat mass and building muscle. And the best way to determine if this is happening is by tracking your muscle mass, your fat loss and your weight

For muscle mass / fat mass – the gold standard is a body composition test, usually offered at any local gym. Don’t have access to a gym? No problem. There are many scales that can weigh these two numbers. When muscle goes up and fat goes down – you are getting leaner. Muscle also takes up less room in the body, so tape measurements also work. The key areas to track are your bust/chest, waist (at the belly button), hips, arm (mid-bicep) and thigh.

But, maybe your goals aren’t only related to size and losing weight isn’t your goal and strength gain is; track your weight amount and/or reps/sets. An easy example of tracking your strength with an exercise are the number of pushups and squats you can do. How many pushups can you do? Did you start on your knees and now you are on your toes? Were you able to do more than one set? Yes, then you are making progress. As for squats, weight used and reps – when they increase, you are getting stronger. And, just like for losing weight, you can track your tape measurements and see the muscle growth in all areas.

The last place to track – your nutrition. To begin seeing results you don’t need to track everything down to the last macro and carbohydrate calorie, but keeping a journal of what you eat and when you eat it, gives you an overall picture. If you consume sugar every day around 3pm, that may be hurting your success. What else can you have instead? Usually for most of my clients, when sugar cravings occur all the time, it’s time to cut back on the total amount of sugar. See how often its consumed and begin to slowly reduce the overall amount. Or, if you are avoiding carbohydrates all the time, the sugar cravings may be an indication that your body needs more carbohydrates earlier in the day. Carbs like – oatmeal, whole grain bread, rice, potatoes – not cookies, cakes and overly sweet coffee drinks. These small changes lead to lasting results.

The key – pull out a notebook or your smartphone and track your progress. Having a visual picture will go a long way towards reaching your goals. And, it also lets you know if you aren’t pushing yourself enough to reach your goals.