Body Recomp: 7 Data Points to Track & Measure For Success

So, here’s the measurements I like to track. And, I have several years of data for these measurements. In the last 30 years, I’ve probably measured these things once or twice a year. For this 100 day recomp, I’m only going to measure it at the beginning and at the end. But, you can measure it weekly if you choose.

For the most part, I’ll use the “pants test”. When I’m at my highest weight, I HATE shopping for pants. But when I’m at my lowest weight, I LOVE IT. I can buy jeans ‘right off the rack’, and I love the way they fit. So, when I gain the weight back, either my pants are all too tight, or they don’t fit at all. haha. So, when my pants start hanging nicely, I’ll know I’m making progress.

My beginning numbers:

• Waist, (27 inches at the smallest part of my waist (My navel) and 31 in my lower abs- which is sad because before menopause, my navel always used to be smallest part of my waist! Where is this lower ab fat coming from. Grrrr)
• Hips, 36 inches currently, at the largest part. The smallest this gets is 33 inches (right before I am in the bikini shows. 3 inches does feel pretty significant!
• Thighs, 20.5 inches. This doesn’t ever fluctuate too much. I have (in my opinion) pretty thick quads.
• Shoulders I never measure this. It’s hard to do myself. And, I don’t carry a lot of body fat in my upper body, and never have. Even at my heaviest, you would not really see body fat in my shoulders. But if you want to measure it, go for it!

2. Progress Photos

Yikes! This is the most awkward part of course. I hate taking pictures in bathing suits, or not much clothes. BUT, taking them at the beginning and then at the end is important to visually see progress, even if you don’t get to see it on the scale or with a tape measure.

So, in all my awkwardness, here’s my “starting” pics! In all transparency., I don’t dislike the way I look. In fact, I am so much leaner than most of my adult life. But also, just 5 short months ago, I was “ripped!”, so it’s uncomfortable not to see that muscle definition!

For reference, this is why I’m currently happy with my physique, despite my desire to improve. Here’s my history of my highest weight, then what I spent all my child raising years at, and then post 45 years old.

3. Scale Weight

Honestly, a pivotal change for me when I really started losing weight for good, was taking all the drama OUT of the scale! And for me, that actually meant weighing daily, but tracking the average over a week. Every single day there are fluctuations while you’re losing weight. And the worse thing you can do is make rash decisions based on what the scale said and if that meant you were going to stay on track or not.

My brain is so good at taking the easy road, that when I see the scale go up, I can say to myself, “This plan isn’t working. It’s not worth it. Might as well have the food I really want to eat today.” And ALSO conversely, if the scale goes down, I ALSO justify indulgences, “I’m doing so good! One little slip up isn’t going to ruin that. Plus, by body needs a break from dieting”. Haha. Wow. It’s so easy to allow both things to be true to myself!

So, 1 week ago, at the beginning of this 100 day challenge, the scale was 121lbs. I’ll keep tracking! I have a Renpho scale, which has tracked my weight since 2018!! It’s ALL in there.

4. Body Fat Percentage

I LOVE measuring this for some reason. This is going to be the CRUX of tracking whether this recomp is successful.

What’s interesting here is that while the Dexa Scan I’ve had show my body fat percentage at 16%, the same day, my scale estimated my body fat at 27%. So, just good info to have. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. My lowest smart scale body fat, when I was 7% at Dexa, was 22% on my Renpho scale! Quite a difference!

But, for this challenge, I’ll assume my lean tissue (muscle is 97.4lbs, and my fat fat is 19lbs. So, any changes there will be noteworthy.

I am also measuring with calipers, although I just ordered a digital caliper and it will be here Monday. So, I’ll either update this post with that, or write a new one. This is the one I ordered. These are great to truly see fat mass!

So, the three measurements you might want to use for body fat is

• DEXA scan (here’s where I did it in Salt Lake City, Ut,
• InBody scan or smart scale (less precise, but useful for trends- here’s my smart scale.
• Skinfold calipers (if done properly) Why: Helps determine if you’re losing fat while maintaining or gaining lean mass. (here’s my soon to be calipers)
• Other option: Body pod testing is done at many universities. (here’s one at University of utah)

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5. Strength/Performance

Track lifts and reps (especially compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, overhead press).

Why? If you’re getting stronger over time, you’re likely gaining muscle—even without scale changes.

This is the part of this process I believe is going to be a game changer for me. Although I’ve been tracking my lifts for a few years, I never try to lift heavier. I basically have been lifting the same weight for 3-4 years now. And it’s obvious in that dexa scan above, I’m NOT improving.

So, I’m tracking the the Strong App. I love it for tracking my workouts. I do have the paid version now, but I used the free version for a long time too, and it seemed to have everything you need to keep track.

On progressive overload: whether you increase in reps or increase in weights, you should gain muscle just with the increase.

6. Food Intake & Macros

Knowing that your calories and macros are being tracked, helps me to eat healthier. I’ve used MyFitnesspal for probably 2 decades! Even when I wasn’t at my goal weight, for some reason, I loved to track. I don’t find it annoying, or hard, and it doesn’t get in my head. I just love having the data to look back at, even years later.

And when we finish this challenge with success, you’re going to WANT that data! You’ll want to look back when you start slipping up and say, “let me check what I was eating when I was making progress towards my goals, and get back to that!”

So, what I like to track is:

• Calories
• Protein (my target is 150 g per day, because it controls my appetite better than carbs, AND, will help build that lean muscle!!)
• Carbs and fats Without tracking these, it’s hard to know if you’re in a recomp zone (usually around maintenance or slight deficit with high protein).

7. Hormones!

And finally, I did another hormone test! I’ve also been doing this every year or so. I wrote a post about my hormone testing here, and mentioned that I decided to go with a self referring online lab because it was cheaper than my doctor ordered copay! We hadn’t hit our deductible for the year, so I ended up paying $900 on my labs through the doctor, and for testosterone only, was as low as $100 through the self referring sites. I used Enational Testing)

So, while I’ll write more about testosterone replacement therapy on another day, all my other hormone numbers have always been right in range. In fact, most of them are the MIDDLE of the range. I also feel better at 51 than I ever did when I was younger. So, testing for me hasnt’ really been about fixing anything. It’s purely been about seeing if more testosterone could help muscle gain and bone strengthening than anything.

So, I have been taking TRT on and off for the last 3 years. Just before this test, I had been on 3mg Testosterone suppository for 6 weeks. But now, I’m going to take it out. Just don’t feel like I need it. (and for the reference range, I’m pretty sure I’m post-menopausal.

• Testosterone was 48 ng/DL. (Not on TRT it is 9.6) Reference Range:
  • Reference range
  • Premenopausal 10 – 55
  • Postmenopausal 7 – 40
• Progesterone 0.2 ng/ml
  • Reference range
  • Postmenopausal 0.0-0.1
  • Follicular phase 0.1 – 0.9
  • Luteal phase 1.8 – 23.9
  • Ovulation phase 0.1 – 12.
• Estrogen 96 pg/ml
  • reference range
  • Female Cycle:
  • 1-10 Days 16 – 328
  • 11-20 Days 34 – 501
  • 21-30 Days 48 – 350
  • Post-Menopausal 40 – 244
• Estrodiol 37.9 pg/ml
  • Reference range
  • Follicular phase 12.5 – 166.0
  • Ovulation phase 85.8 – 498.0
  • Luteal phase 43.8 – 211.0
  • Postmenopausal <6.0 – 54.7
• Cortisol 8.4 ug/dL
  • reference range 6.2-19.4

Resources

• Body Fat Smart Scale
• Calipers
• Find Dexa scan near you! But also, check with your closest university! University of Utah did it for me once and it was only $15!
• MyFitnessPal
• Strength training App
• Enational hormone testing

You’re Turn!! If you want to check in with me each week, fill out this printable with your starting stats. Add any of the other measurable data points you find valuable. And send it to me each week for 100 days!! I want to see YOUR Success!!