The Weight Loss Feedback System: How to measure your progress, break through plateaus and keep going.

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Do you work with a weight loss feedback system?

Suppose you are traveling to an unfamiliar place. Then you lose your orientation.

We call it “getting lost.”

If you get lost, planning a route to your destination is impossible.

It rarely happens these days. We usually have our GPS within reach – in the form of a map app. Easy.

And what about your fitness goals? Do you know your current coordinates? Is the goal clearly defined?

What weight loss feedback system do you use to stay tuned?

Does what you are doing work?

If so, stay tuned. If not, you adjust.

It almost couldn’t be simpler. And then?

“Wow, you look good!” results from many small successes. You make things easy for yourself if you proceed systematically. My thesis is:

A weight-loss feedback system gives you the freedom to look good in a swimsuit.

It can be incredibly motivating when you see how you are progressing step by step. Therefore, I would like to put the topic “feedback” in the spotlight today and in the coming weeks.

This article is the kickoff and introduction to the topic. This involves the following questions:

Why do you need a feedback system?
What feedback systems help you look good naked?
Do you have to measure everything you can measure?

I’ll go into more detail in future articles. Let’s start with the basic question.

Why do you need a weight loss feedback system?

“No plan survives contact with reality.”

– after Helmuth von Moltke, Prussian general

Sooner or later, you will come to a point on your fitness journey where you should look closely to see if your plan and reality match up.

After all, this is the only way to determine whether training, nutrition, or dietary supplements bring the desired success.

A feedback system makes your progress visible.

And what’s the point of all this trouble if not for improvements?

We could also put it like this:

The goal of your training and your diet is your body’s feedback.

That’s why paying attention to your body’s signals is important. And on the right ones.

What weight loss feedback systems help you look good in a swimsuit?

“We should deal with big problems while they are still small.”

– Jadwiga Rutkowska, Polish columnist

When working with my clients, I observe some values weekly, others every 14 days, monthly, or less frequently.

Some people think tracking is a lot of work at first. But the truth is:

Measuring can save you a lot of time (and frustration).

Because only a smart feedback system ensures that you can correct your course in a well-dosed manner to continue to make optimal progress – and avoid detours.

Here are some examples from fitness coaching. The time intervals are not iron laws but recommendations that have proven themselves for my clients and me.

Where accessories are needed, I’ve mentioned them and linked the tools I use myself.

Every Day: Monitor regeneration

Let’s start with a key success factor many don’t see: recovery.

If you don’t charge your batteries, you won’t put your horsepower on the road when building muscle and losing weight.

For those who train heavily, it pays to have daily feedback based on a few simple metrics.

This includes, for example, the resting heart rate and a few subjective values, which I will discuss in detail in a subsequent article.

Accessories: paper and pen.

Time required: 1-2 minutes.

Once A Week: Track physique.

Regardless of your training goal, recording your physique once a week makes sense. For this, you measure:

body weight
skinfold thickness

You measure the thickness of the skin folds with calipers. It is the most precise practical measurement method with which you can determine whether your body fat is increasing or decreasing.

Accessories: scales, caliper pliers.

Time required: approx. 2 minutes.

Every 14 Days: Measure body circumference (optional)

Especially in the build-up phase, it helps if you measure circumferences on different body parts every 14 days.

This includes, for example, arm and leg circumferences, shoulder, chest, stomach, and waist circumference.

Anyone who aims for visible changes in their body should also take photos once a month.

Accessories: measuring tape.

Time required: approx. 3 minutes.

Note: Depending on the training goal and program, sport-specific tests can also be used as an option in this interval. This includes the one-repetition maximum in strength training or test runs in endurance sports.

Once A Year: A blood test.

Your blood values are a mirror of your current fitness. If your blood is healthy, you’re fine.

Ideally, it would be best if you had your blood tested once a year. This examination should include not only the typical health markers from the full blood count but also the most important minerals, proteins, vitamins, etc.

If you are healthy and eat healthily, this examination is unnecessary more than once a year.

Accessories: A good nutritionist and (optional) fantastic Visual Impact Fat Loss Boost Diet program from Rusty Moore.

Lose 6 Months of Flab in Only 14 Days… “Photoshoot Preparation Diet Plan”

Forces Your Body to Burn Body Fat as Quickly as Physically Possible

Here is a list of the most important metrics and how often you should check them.

Daily	Weekly	Monthly	Yearly
Subjective regeneration	Skin fold measurement	Photos	Blood test
Objective regeneration	Body cope (every 2 weeks)	Sports -specific values (power, endurance, etc.)
Body weight	Body weight

TABLE: HOW OFTEN YOU SHOULD RECORD WHICH MEASURED VALUES

While feedback rarely hurts, you may be wondering.

Do you really have to measure everything you can measure?

“If you’re doing something the way you’ve been doing it for ten years, chances are you’re doing it wrong.”

– Charles Kettering, American scientist

No, you don’t have to do anything.

Not everyone who stays tuned in needs the same readings at the same interval.

For those pursuing more modest goals, perhaps just looking in the mirror or realizing how much better they feel is enough.

Why would anyone measure their skinfold thickness when all they want is to start the day with more energy?

It’s different if you want to reduce body fat or build muscle: It makes sense to keep an eye on the thickness of the skin folds and body weight.

It depends on your goals and which feedback system you use.

Some people don’t want to get used to tracking.

If you’re at war with the scale, you might just want to skip the weight measurement.

Some people give a scale a meaning that it doesn’t have.

Body weight is not the same as body fat!

As a first step – and that would be my recommendation – you should reprogram these invisible scripts.

But you don’t have to break it over your knee either. My experience is the following:

90% of us do well with measuring because it gives us better control over our progress.

They see the metrics as something that gives them a good message in any case :

Positive feedback (values moving in the right direction) is valuable because it shows you that you are on track.
Negative feedback (values moving in the wrong direction) is just as valuable because it shows you where you can make adjustments.

After all, the measured values express only one thing:

You know what works for you – and what doesn’t.

This makes it easy for you to make changes. If you aim for change, that means.

How your weight loss feedback system gives you new freedom

In fitness coaching, I always follow the following principle:

Your results determine your strategy.

If 60% of your daily calories come from carbs and you’re still melting the fat, great.

Then why should you go on a low-carb diet just because some nutrition guru recommends it?

Suppose you get slim through a balanced diet and proper strength training without having to do great cardio training. Then you can whistle on cardio training.

You don’t have to fix anything that isn’t broken.

As long as you feel healthy and comfortable with what you are doing and getting the desired results, the end justifies the means.

It is like this:

Your weekly progress is the best measure of whether you’ve made the right decisions.

What counts are your results.

We are all unique. And since all four elements of the MBSC formula are flexible and adaptable, you should also use this leeway. Instead of allowing your freedom to be unnecessarily restricted by the restrictions, you find in many diets.

When you find a way that works for you, you can let outside criticism and comments just bounce off you. No matter which path you choose, people always have different opinions. Let her.

You only judge your success based on your progress.

The concept of a feedback system that measures the parameters relevant to your goal will help you with this.

Because the nice thing about it is that it will always be there for you as soon as you have found your path.

Weight loss feedback system – Conclusion

A feedback system is one of the most powerful tools you can use while transforming your mind and body with all four elements of the MBSC formula.

This article gave you an initial overview of the metrics that exist in the fitness context to record your progress as objectively as possible. In the next articles, I will detail the individual values.

But one thing is already clear: Changes are visible at different speeds depending on the measured variable. Therefore, not all values have to be recorded weekly or even daily.

Sometimes it makes sense to take a little more time at the beginning of your journey and measure certain values a little more often.

This will help you determine which metrics will best help you achieve your goals.

And just as your goals change over time, so will what you measure. The same applies to tracking as to everything in life: You quickly become efficient at it.

With practice, tracking is a matter of minutes.

The recommendations in the blog and the newsletter will help you measure and feel results soon.

Please expect deviations from the outset. It is completely normal that you first have to make adjustments to individualize your plan and tailor it perfectly to your circumstances.

The only way to determine what corrections are needed is to measure regularly. Let yourself be guided by the feedback you receive.