How many times have you instantly lost your motivation after stepping onto the scale and seeing the needle sit firmly at or above your last measurement? It can be really demoralizing to stay at the same weight despite watching calories and avoiding junk foods. Thankfully, you can still lose inches and clothing sizes without dropping a pound.

Water quickly fills fat cells back up after you burn away their inner storage. The water weight can stubbornly stick around for days or weeks, especially if you eat a diet moderately full of carbohydrates. If you only measure your progress with a scale, you may start to think your plan is not working.

Instead, vow to put the scale away for thirty days (at least!) and take your measurements instead. Wrap that measuring tape around your waistline, arms, thighs and rear end to find a baseline. Measure each week to watch your efforts whittle your body into shape. Taking weekly photographs can have the same effect. You will see progress in the photographs or measurements that your scale would never tell you about. At the end of the thirty days, you can return to your daily or weekly weigh-ins, though I bet you won’t want to bother.