TRACKING YOUR BODY

Persist Nutrition

Consistent tracking of your body is another powerful tool that can create awareness and keep you on track with your body composition goals. We encourage you through this process to use a couple different tracking methods. Diversifying how you track your body changes can be a good way to not get stuck on any one metric too much. Small daily changes may be easy to see with one metric, but hard to see with another metric.

 

While we encourage you to use multiple different body tracking methods, if one or two don’t work for you then please find one you can be consistent with.

Progress Photos

I encourage you to take weekly progress photos. For this it is best to wear the same outfit in every picture. This makes seeing changes easier and more consistent for you.

 

4 angles of photos – these should always be with relaxed posture and not flexing or sucking in our waist line:

  • Front 
  • Back 
  • Right Side
  • Left Side

* Some people find it easiest to set your phone to video mode and turn to each position, pausing a couple seconds in each one. Then you can go back and take screenshots of your videos. 

Body Weight

Stepping on the scale at the same time on the same day can be hard for people, but the goal is to make it part of the routine to a point where you don’t put too much emotional stock into the number.  Some people prefer to track weight daily and for others, once a week will suffice. We recommend tracking weight weekly during the challenge but feel free to do what works best for you.

  • First thing in the morning after you’ve peed is the best time to weigh yourself
  • Water weight, meal weight, sweat loss from training – each of these can dramatically change the number on the scale, and fluctuations around menstruation are completely normal
  • Don’t weigh yourself a second time during the day, as the number won’t reflect body changes but rather water and food changes during the day.

Body Composition

Tracking how your body composition is changing is a great tool to see changes that aren’t related to the scale. You’ve likely heard before that muscle weighs more than fat. If your body is building muscle and losing fat, the scale might be at a standstill. However, your body is looking and feeling better, and the body composition measurements will reflect this.

 

Option 1 – Circumference measures

  • Hip
  • Thigh
  • Waist
  • Bicep
  • Chest

Option 2 – Body Composition via Machine

  • Dexa Scan
  • InBody Scan
  • Hydrostatic Weighing 

If using a machine, read the guidelines carefully before taking measurements, as the scanners can be sensitive to physical activity, water intake, and other factors. Generally it is best to perform scans replicating the conditions of each as closely as possible (time of day, food/water intake, activity beforehand, etc.).