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When you’re working hard to improve your health and wellness, it’s crucial to track your progress. Why? Because it’s tough to see changes in yourself objectively. We’re our own worst critics, and those day-to-day shifts can be so subtle they’re almost undetectable.
I see this all the time with my clients who are focused on changing their body composition. They’re putting in the work, but often don’t see much happening. Then, BAM! A few months down the line, I get a message like this:
“Hey Ryan, I ran into a friend I haven’t seen in ages, and they said I look AMAZING! They said I look totally different!”
Before that, if I’d asked them if they noticed any changes, the answer would likely have been no. We get too caught up in the daily grind to see the bigger picture.
Of course, the scale and the mirror are the obvious go-to’s for tracking progress. And I do use them with my clients. However, we don’t rely on them solely. The scale gives you one number – your weight – and that doesn’t always tell the whole story. And the mirror? Well, it can be tricky. As I mentioned, those day-to-day changes are hard to spot, and we tend to focus on our perceived “problem areas” instead of celebrating the positive shifts.
So, what else can you use? I’m going to share 4 alternative methods to track body composition changes that aren’t the scale or the mirror. These will give you real-time feedback that shows you’re heading in the right direction!
Improvements In Strength And Performance
It surprises me how many clients come to me with body composition goals and haven’t even considered their strength and performance. When I suggest we assess their current levels to set benchmarks, I often get a puzzled look. I know they’re thinking, “Ryan, I want to lose weight! I don’t care how strong or fast I am!”
But here’s the thing: unless you’re already an elite athlete, your strength and performance will almost always move in the same direction as your body composition goals. And the best part? The numbers don’t lie.
- Could you only do 3 push-ups on day one, but now you can bang out 10? You’re stronger!
- Were you jogging a mile in 15 minutes, but now you’re crushing it in 12? You’re faster!
That’s concrete progress you can’t fake. Sustainable body composition changes require cardiovascular and resistance training. A natural side effect of that is improved performance and strength. So, if those are improving and you’re eating the right diet, chances are your body is changing in the way you want it to.
You Have Enough Energy To Power Through Your Day
One of the best benefits of changing your diet to improve body composition is increased energy. But you have to do it right!
Here’s the formula:
- First: Ditch the processed junk and load up on whole, nutrient-dense foods. We’re talking fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, lean proteins… the good stuff! Swapping donuts, fries and sodas for wholesome foods slashes calories and dramatically increases your nutrient intake. Plus, you might be eliminating food sensitivities that cause inflammation and zap your energy.
- Second: Don’t undereat! I see so many people drastically cut calories, leaving them feeling drained. You need enough fuel to support your activity levels and body composition goals.
- Third: Find the right balance with exercise. Too much, and you’ll be exhausted. Too little, and you’ll feel sluggish.
Find the right balance with exercise. Too much, and you’ll be exhausted. Too little, and you’ll feel sluggish. Aim for whole, minimally processed foods and around 1g of protein per pound of ideal body weight. Strive for 7-10,000 steps a day and incorporate 2-3 strength training sessions per week. Nail that, and you’ll optimize your body composition and have the energy to enjoy your life!
You Are Getting Enough High Quality Sleep
Sleep is a major player in body composition. Many people struggle to get enough quality sleep, and diet is often a culprit. Late-night meals of processed foods can wreak havoc on your sleep cycle.
Lack of exercise (combined with excess calories) can also leave you with pent-up energy, making it hard to fall asleep. Cleaning up your diet and adding the right amount of movement sets you up for restful nights.
On the flip side, overdoing the exercise or restricting calories too much can also disrupt sleep. It’s tempting to go to extremes for faster results, but trust me, it backfires.
When your sleep is optimized then body composition changes will follow! Studies have shown the following related to sleep and body composition:
- Getting an additional 1.2 hours of sleep a night reduced caloric intake by 162 claories a day in people who slept 6.5 hours a night (Effect of Sleep Extension on Objectively Assessed Energy Intake Among Adults With Overweight in Real-Life Settings: A Randomized Clinical Trial, 2022)!
- Poor sleep can disrupt our hormones making it harder to build and retain muscle (The Potential Role of Sleep in Promoting a Healthy Body Composition: Underlying Mechanisms Determining Muscle, Fat, and Bone Mass and Their Association With Sleep, n.d.).
- Improving sleep quality can drastically improve metabolic health making you more metabolically flexible (Shechter, 2016)
If you need help improving your sleep I have a lot of blog posts you can reference to help you out:
- The Twelve Hours Before Bed Can Make or Break Your Sleep
- Optomize Your Sleep Environment
- Sleep: The Cornerstone of Your Health Foundation
- Diets Impact On Sleep
Libido: Let’s Get It On!
Okay, I bet you weren’t expecting that one! But it’s true: when you’re taking an optimal approach to body composition changes, your libido will reflect that.
As you know our sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, play a key role in your libido. What you may not know is that these hormones are also impacted by your body composition.
In men, excess body fat often leads to lower testosterone and higher estrogen, which as you might guess, leads to a lower libido. As men shed body fat and add muscle improving their body composition it is very common for them to see an improvement in libido at the same time (Ciardullo, 2023).
The story is similar for women. Losing excess body fat results in optimal estrogen levels and optimal estrogen levels are associated with better improvement in lean mass (Ciardullo, 2023).
Lets not also overlook the fact that when you improve your body composition and look better you are more likely to want to be more sexually active 😉
A word of caution though, just like with sleep there is a Goldilocks zone when it comes to sex hormones. If you become too lean you will see a decrease in libido do to a lowering in your sex hormones. When your body becomes concnerned that you are not eating enough it will try to conserve energy by reducing your sex hormones. This is a survival fail safe mechanism and it makes sense that if you body senses there is not a lot of food around that now is not the right time to bring a baby into the world which would require you and your baby to consume even more food!
The Bottom Line
While the scale and mirror can be useful tools, they have their limitations. For many, they might not be the best metrics to use.
Instead, track your strength and performance, pay attention to your energy and sleep, and monitor your libido. If any of those areas are off, it’s a good indicator that your body composition goals might not be progressing as you’d like. But if you’re seeing improvements in strength, have plenty of energy, are sleeping soundly, and feeling good in the bedroom, chances are you’re doing everything right to achieve the body composition changes you’re after.
This blog post can make changing your body composition sound simple. However it is common to struggle finding out how to make body composition changes in a way that works for your unique situation. In that case it is best to work closely with someone like a coach to help deep dive into the ins and outs of your lifestyle to find an approach that works for you. If you would like customized help to reach your own body composition goals, I do have a couple one on one coaching spots open. Leave a comment below or better yet, fill out this form and we can chat more about how I can help you achieve the body composition you are after!
References
ciardullo, s. (2023, July 19). Differential Association of Sex Hormones with Metabolic Parameters and Body Composition in Men and Women from the United States. PubMed Central. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10381414/
Effect of Sleep Extension on Objectively Assessed Energy Intake Among Adults With Overweight in Real-life Settings: A Randomized Clinical Trial. (2022, April 1). PubMed. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35129580/
The Potential Role of Sleep in Promoting a Healthy Body Composition: Underlying Mechanisms Determining Muscle, Fat, and Bone Mass and Their Association with Sleep. (n.d.). PubMed. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34348331/
Shechter, A. (2016, October 20). Effects of continuous positive airway pressure on energy balance regulation: a systematic review. Effects of continuous positive airway pressure on energy balance regulation: a systematic review. https://publications.ersnet.org/content/erj/48/6/1640