Track Two Things: Your Workouts and One Number

You want to know if your training is working. Steps, sleep, heart rate, calories, water: there's a number for everything, and logging all of them turns into a second job. I ask my clients to track two things. Here's how to track your workout progress with them.

Thing one: did you train?

Log each session: what you did, sets and reps, how it felt. At the end of the week, count them. Three planned, two done? That's the number. It's a yes or a no, so there's nothing to fudge.

This is the number I look at first. If the same session keeps getting skipped, the plan doesn't fit your week, and we change the plan. Here's what I do when you skip workouts.

Thing two: one clean number

Pick one number you'll log the same way each time. For weight, that's the same scale, in the morning, before breakfast. For your waist, the same tape at the same spot, level with your navel. Log it once a week. The number moves from day to day; the weeks show the direction.

Choose the one that fits your goal:

• Weight, if your goal is weight loss.
• Waist, if the scale makes you anxious, or you're building muscle.
• Sessions and nothing else, if a number on a scale isn't for you right now.
• Blood pressure or blood sugar, if your doctor asked you to watch it. Log it the way your doctor told you, and follow their advice on it.

If a number invites fudging, drop it

A number earns its place when you'll log it the same way each time. A session done is a session done. A scale reads what it reads. A tape at the navel gives the same spot each week. Those are the numbers I pick.

Calories get estimated, and steps depend on where your phone was that day. Meals still get logged, with a photo, so I can reply on them. That's how I coach food: how to lose weight without counting calories.

How we use the two numbers

Every couple of weeks, I look at both:

• Sessions done, number moving the way you want: we keep going.
• Sessions done, number flat for weeks: we change something in the plan or on the plate.
• Sessions skipped: we fix the plan around your week first. The number follows the training.

If you stop logging, I message you and ask what happened. No guilt, no starting over. We pick up where you are.

Common questions

How often should I weigh myself?

Once a week: same day, same time, same scale. If you like stepping on the scale each morning, go ahead. We read the week's number.

What about my watch or fitness tracker?

Wear it if you enjoy it. If one of its numbers would change what you do, make that your one number. If not, keep weight or your waist.

What if the scale stresses me out?

Use your waist, or count sessions and nothing else. Tell me, and we'll switch.

What to do this week

1. Log each workout, even a short one.
2. Pick your one number, and decide the day and time you'll log it.
3. Log it this week, then again next week: same day, same time, same way.

That's the system. Two numbers, logged the same way, read every couple of weeks.