I frequently hear clients and other keto enthusiasts complain that they are doing everything right, but the scale isn’t moving. When you are losing weight, it can be tempting to use the number on the scale as your only measurement. However, the scale can be misleading.
You could be losing fat and gaining muscle, especially if you are exercising. Even if you aren’t exercising you could be eating more protein on keto than you used to eat, and this alone can change your body composition by you losing fat and gaining muscle.
Often when this is happening, weight loss slows or even stops, but the size of your body continues to change. You can observe this by your clothes becoming looser and by your body measurements continuing to change for the better. Remember, while 5 pounds of muscle weighs the same as 5 pounds of fat, the muscle takes up less space.
I suggest taking body measurements about once a month and recording them in a journal or right in your macro-tracking app, such as Cronometer. You can measure with a soft tape measure or a body measurement tape.
I suggest making the following measurements about once a month to track your progress. For arms and legs, measure your dominant side (your right side if you are right-handed). It may seem like a lot of things to measure, but different people lose fat in different places. For instance, I had a client who felt like she wasn’t losing any fat because the scale wasn’t moving and her clothes still fit. Then she realized that she was losing inches in her calves and arms first. This gave her motivation to continue, and she eventually lost fat in the places that necessitate smaller clothes AND the scale started to move.
- Bicep: Measure around the largest part of your upper arm.
- Forearm: Measure around the largest part of your lower arm.
- Bust/chest: Measure around the largest part of your bust/pecs, at or near your nipples.
- Under bust/Under chest: Measure around your ribcage just below your bust/pecs.
- Waist: Measure around your natural waist. When you bend to the side, your natural waist is where a crease forms. This is usually also the smallest part of your waist.
- Abdomen: Measure around yourself at your belly button.
- Hips/Rear: Measure around the widest part of your hips/rear. This may be near the tops of your thighs, or it may be higher. Measure wherever it is widest.
- Thigh: Measure around the largest part of your upper leg.
- Calf: Measure around the widest part of your lower leg.
