This is a quote I see in business circles all the time. Sometimes it is followed by "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."
Both quotes make good points and be applied to weight loss too. If you are trying to lose weight, you kinda need to know how much you weight to begin with right?
That one is pretty obvious, but what about the other things involved? You need to track how much you eat, drink, sleep, and exercise. Tape measuring your body to see how many inches you are losing is also a great way to track your progress.
You can get a quick guide on how to do the measurements here:
As a real life case study, one of my clients came up to me in September and asked if she could report into me each week what she weighs. This was not something she was super excited about, but she knew that added accountability would help. So far she has lost 20 pounds! Pretty awesome.
The main thing keeping up with your numbers does is keep weight creep from happening. Gaining one pound here, two pounds there, and next thing you know you've gained 20 pounds and it seems like it showed up over night.
When you see that scale start creeping up, you check in with your numbers. What changed in your nutrition, sleep, and exercise? Then you can start making course corrections.