Project Progress Overview

This is where we round up what’s been going on and see how project Handsome Husband is coming along. I’ll update this page regularly with images from my tracking tools, as quite frankly I don’t have the inter web expertise to create my own fancy graphs and such like unless I use excel which will likely look awful!

Body Measurements

In order to monitor my weight loss progress I’m measuring myself weekly in 3 key areas, Chest (although my app call it my bust which is just rude), Waist and Hips. I’m also measuring my thighs, calves and biceps although these don’t tend to move too much so ill likely only update that if and when there’s something to say.

Of course you can just use a bog standard tape measure but I found using this a bit of a faff with more variation in measuring. They do great little body tape measure on amazon for under £5 (middle image). these are good because they tighten to a set level giving you better consistency and reducing the urge to squeeze that extra bit of loss out! I use a renpho tape measure which cost about £30 from amazon (I just rechecked its £23 Today trust my luck). It’s just like the standard one in that it self tightens to a set level but has the additional benefit of uploading directly to an app so I don’t have to save it anywhere else.

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The Dreaded Scales

I measure my weight of course as well. I’ll do a separate post about this because monitoring your weight loss progress on a regular basis has its own pitfalls and traps and honestly in my view you should never have to weigh yourself, (or measure yourself for that matter). Over time you will see the difference and taking a weekly or even monthly comparison pic should be all you really need.

I would only encourage weighing and measuring if you are signed with a PT who requests this as its useful tool for your trainer to determine whats happening as looking images alone doesn’t tell the story quite so rapidly. A good trainer will understand these measurement and their fluctuations better than most of us. Of course as im trying to post my progress and let you guys analyse it with me, i’ll need to do all three. Weigh, measure and take pics.

For my weight I use digital scales I think I just bought them from Tesco they say they measure body fat and water but the measurements are awful and I’ve never used that feature. These scales were particularly poor for body fat, but i

Body Fat Monitoring

If you are keen to track body FAT you can get a handheld body fat monitor for under £20. Again most of them aren’t that accurate but do a decent job of tracking change over time. Don’t focus on the number focus on the change! For a more accurate measurement of body fat its probably better to use callipers again these are widely available on amazon and cost less than £5 and there’s loads of good guides online how to use them and how to analyse the results. Of course you can always get this done professionally as doing this by yourself is a little tricky and easier with a friend or partner to help. Again I don’t really recommend measuring body fat for the average person but it can be good guide in determining if your current state is unhealthy and needs action for health reasons.

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A cautionary note on monitoring your weightless

With all there above said I genuinely don’t encourage people who starting a new journey to measure themselves with anything but progress pics. I would only encourage weighing and measuring if you are signed with a PT who requests it, as its useful tool for your trainer to determine whats happening as looking images alone doesn’t tell the story quite so rapidly. A good trainer will understand these measurement and their fluctuations better than most of us.

I’ll drop a separate post about this and hopefully remember to link it back here, but check out the posts on background

Of course as im trying to post my progress and let you guys analyse it with me, so i’ll need to do all three. Weigh, measure and take pics.

Progress Pictures

For me despite being the most uncomfortable for some, the creme de la creme of monitoring your weight loss progress is to take progress pics. I will take 4 images, front, side and back and one with my t-shirt on. I do the last one mostly to show that you’ll unlikely see much of a change in that one throughout. I’m quite happy with how I look with my t-shirt on.

Remember MY personal version of the project is quite specific to body composition change as I’ve said, but as the process and logic is identical no matter what your motivations for weight loss are its worth posting that last pic.

If you do choose to use MyFitnessPal then there’s an option to add in a picture against the the day you weighed yourself at that weight, which is great for quickly being able see how far you’ve come. there’s also a neat little feature which allows you to put 2 pics next to each with a little message beneath such as I used on the home page.

The Food Diary

Last but not least ill share my food diary, well a summary of it. I’m not qualified to make meal plans for people but I am happy answering most question on how other people might consider building their own. Mostly I just want to show my calorie intake and the macro nutrient composition of this and ill talk a little bit weekly on what my views are on what it tells me. Remember this is very specific to me, so if you want to follow the same principle yourself dive into my post on the science bit and work out in 2 minutes whats right for you.

When I say food diary, I will track everything I eat and drink in MyFitnessPal. The summary of this I will post in this section. Apart from anything else I need this to ensure I’m following my own rules and sticking to a calculated and controlled calorie deficit. The only time I won’t track is a bigger night out. I’ll probably estimate those but again really only to understand if I’m seeing a blip or slowed progress.

You can read more about how to control your weight loss during a night from my posts in the challenges category.

Never eat more than you can lift

Miss Piggy

Weight

Pre Project Starting weight (13/07/21)	82
Week 0 (18/07/21)	79.4