How do you measure yourself? I never have officially, which is a shame because I think I lost a few inches. I bought a tape measure not to long ago and as soon as I got home I put it around my hips and got 48 and panicked and threw it down never to pick it up again. I seem to be stuck at 178 more or less some days but I feel skinny. I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and I DO see a difference in myself. I decided to measure again and the highest measurement I could get was 45! So I have lost at least 3 inches maybe more. Where exactly do you measure? I get different numbers as I move around and wonder if there are standard spots. I measured under my breasts, around my navel, around the love handles and around the thighs, then the thighs individual and then my arms. I also noticed a one inch difference in my arms! My right arm is actually an inch larger than the left?! Will those spots be okay or have I misses a spot. I want to know every inch lost now! If I can't see the scale move, then I want to see those inches go!

I include around the top of my knees simply because its one of my problem spots and I'm waiting to see a change there

I don't measure my arms because I weight train and don't expect any decrease there. But I know that I've lost fat from my arms because my muscles are more pronounced. Not hiding under the same amount of fat they used.

Remember that you may see changes in those inches when you don't see them on the scale. I've only lost 13lbs in 7 weeks but my body fat % has drop almost 10% in that time. And it's all about getting rid of that fat and keeping the muscle.

Good luck to you and make sure to write your measurements down and keep track. It can be quite amazing to think that you aren't losing weight and then see those results in inches and sizes.
Lori

This is an excellent site - I use it faithfully - Good luck to you!

MyBodyComp

There probably are some "official" spots to measure but I think you will do great measuring where you are and any other spot you'd like to monitor so long as you always use the same spots.
Congrats on the nice progress so far!!

I agree with Archie. As long as you're consistent. The "official spots" are a bit different though, chest-waist-hip, thigh, calf, upper arm.

Chest for women would be our breasts, which is where the fat loss is prominent. You use the same bra everytime you measure, so that it doesn't fluctuate due to different cuts of the lingerie. Measure the widest point of your buxomness.

Waist (or where there should be one) is above your navel. It is basically by the end of your ribs.

Hips - tricky one. But they say one should stand with feet separated 3-4" and then measure the widest part of the hips. (I see several widest parts there myself, so it always gives me a bit of trouble...

Thigh & calf & upper arm - where they are the widest.

I just wish there were a good way to measure face and double chin as well...

Oh, and about your right arm - that is true for most people (righthanded that is). Larger right foot, more muscle in right leg etc. Or so they say... I've never checked for myself though.

Thanks for all the replys and ideas! Thanks for the MyBodyComp link (I think). I found out my body fat is at 42% I cant imagine what it was a month ago!

To the bust, waist, hip and thigh measurements, I add neck, flab (the biggest part of my abdomen) and band (under my breasts). I have lost very little inches in my bust, but 5inches in my band size-or back flab! Adding a few more places really lets you know where the fat loss is coming from.

Just for some extra information. Here is a breakdown of the different BF% I got from three different sources this morning:

MyBodyComp: 22.85%
Zone Calculator: 24.1%
Digital fat calipers: 20.8%

It does show a rough guide, but it's hard to trust them too closely. Based on my body composition and measurements, I would suspect that my BF is just above 21% right now. I haveall the added muscle from weight lifting to thank for that, and despite my three month "break" from exercise (half of that non-LC), I only regained a couple of percent of fat--which is all gone now, and then some!

I got the digital calipers offered by Netrition. There's probably a link to it in Low Carb Shopping at the top of the page. Search for calipers, and the digital one is the one I got. Very happy with mine, actually. Not terribly expensive either.

You will need help measuring your triceps area, though.

With the Zone calculation, I always had to fudge a bit to get the numbers to go down (bad me), because even when my measurements were decreasing, it barely showed in the calculator.

We must have different body shapes, red. It certainly is weird that things would work out the opposite for us, though!

I would say to measure anything that you might want see as actually losing inches .I have never known, when you see someone mention having lost 10 inches, what that total was comprised of.