Let's talk about progress; particularly how we measure progress. When it comes to health and fitness, I think the default definition of progress is losing weight, burning fat or perhaps getting stronger. These are definitely great measures of progress. However, there are other progress measures. I think people miss a lot of these.
- No change=progress: there are times when not seeing any change is a measure of progress. For instance as people age they tend to gain weight. So if you're 65 and you're the still the same weight as when you were 55 you've made progress (in relation to most others). You've taken the steps to manage a slowing metabolism and prevent lowering your activity levels.
- More today than yesterday: people often don't remember where they started. Especially as they get into the groove and they begin developing healthy habits, people keep looking ahead. They get upset they haven't reached the next step. However if they took a second to remember the point where they started, they would probably get the motivation they need to reach the next step.
- My clothes fit better, but I gained weight: this is always one of my favorite conversations with clients (sarcasm voice). The problem here is that you're using one metric to judge another. You have to decide which is more important and then basically forget about the other one.
These are just a few different types or measures of progress that I quickly came up with. There are tons of other ways to measure progress. What every progress measure boils down to though is your health/fitness goals. What I mean is if you want to break a powerlifting world record you probably shouldn't be worried about how fast you can run a mile.
That's a very extreme example but hopefully it gets the point across. Figure out what you want to accomplish and then track the things that tell you if you're getting closer.
