HOW TO TAKE YOUR BODY MEASUREMENTS

Measuring goals is something that’s talked about often. How do we know if we are reaching our goals if we aren’t measuring them? As far as fitness goes, most of us focus on our “weight” as the unit of measurement. But can I let you in on a little secret? Weight is not the ONLY measurement of progress as far as your health goes! The “other” factors are what I call “non-scale victories”, and they include: sleeping better, more energy, more focus, more consistency, increase in strength, and a change in your measurements. In this post, we are going to talk about the latter of the six. How do we know how and what to measure? The areas of my body that I choose to focus on are: chest, waist, hips, and thigh.

Chest

Measuring your chest SEEMS simple, but honestly for a lot of us, we get it wrong. The part of your chest that you want to measure is the LARGEST part. This is true for both ladies and men. Across the nipples is usually the largest part of your chest. Be sure to stand normal and don’t “puff” out your chest. You want a REAL measurement to track REAL progress. With this and all measurements, be sure the measuring tape is snug, but not too tight. If it is pressing into your skin, it is too tight and if it is able to slide up and down, it is too loose.

Waist

The smallest part of your waist is what you want to measure for progress. This is usually right under the rib cage and above the belly. This is one of my favorite measurements to take because this is the area of the body that my clients are most focused on, and I love to see their smiles at the end of their transformations.

Hips

The largest part of your hips and across your buttocks is where you want to focus. I usually wrap it around the back side of me and hold the two ends of the measuring tape in the front to see my size. This is a very helpful measurement for when you’re ordering pants online to determine your pants size. 

Thigh

Now, you can pick either thigh to measure, but do not assume both thighs are the same size. Most of the time, they’re not. Because we are human and imperfect, it’s unlikely that our thighs will be identical in size, and that’s ok! So pick one thigh, and whichever one you pick, be sure to measure that same thigh along your health journey to track progress. You will want to measure about 6″ above your knee, which may or may not be the thickest part of your thigh. 

Those are the four main parts of the body I focus on when taking measurements. That does not mean that you cannot take measurements anywhere else, but usually in transformations, I find these are the most helpful. If you’re looking for a good measuring tape, I love this one from Amazon.

Comment below with your measurements and see how you change a year from now!