Gaining

Measuring

Helpmegain:
Does anyone measure belly/waist/chest, legs?

Just wondering if I'm the only one who is measurement conscious as to set goals or mark progress.


Not at all. I do that too! I'll even explain in depth what I like to do.

I maintain a spreadsheet where row titles are the type of measurement, and column titles are dates.

For all measurements, I hold the tape measure as loose as I possibly can before it almost falls off.

What I mean by "type of measurement" is the following:

Weight - This one is mostly obvious. However, I typically like to do this in the morning, almost naked or just very light underwear, before I eat anything but after #2 (sorry if TMI, but that can throw off the number slightly so it's worth noting this distinction).

Bicep - The circumference of the thickest part of the bicep, while mostly relaxed. For ease of measurement, I hold the left arm horizontal.

Bicep Flex - The same as "bicep" except I flex as hard as I can, which adds a good bit of extra circumference.

Tricep - The circumference of the thickest part of the forearm.

Neck - This is almost exactly like the shirt measurement. Measure around the neck. It doesn't seem to make much difference whether I measure over the Adam's apple or just below it.

Chest - The circumference around the thickest part around chest area, where the tape measure covers the nipples and the tape measure is completely horizontal, level to the floor. Women would likely also wish to measure the "band" measurement as well, which is the circumference just below the breast.

Waist - This is fairly obvious. The circumference around the belly button. Slightly different from the clothing measurement as most trousers and other bottoms sit below the belly button.

Waist High - Similar, but about two inches above the belly button. This number will always be smaller than the waist number.

Thigh - This is the circumference of the thickest part of the thigh. For ease of measurement, I move the left buttock as close to the front edge of the seat as I can, them measure.

Calf - The circumference of the thickest part of the calf, or lower leg. So far I measure by pulling the knee close to my chest, then measure. As I understand this may be a challenge for some folks, an alternative would be to rest your foot on the desk or table in front of you, or have your foot flat on the ground, then measure.

As I'm an American, my preferred measurements are pounds and inches. I typically round to the nearest 1/8th or .1 inches. But Excel (and other spreadsheet programs) have formulas where you can have another row with a conversion, in kilograms and centimeters. This helps if you are talking to someone who lives in a country where that's the prevailing measurements used.

I wish more folks would do this. You can even use the spreadsheet software to create graphs of gains and fattening up over time. I will admit that I don't always conduct these measurement sessions in consistent intervals.

It's also honestly very thrilling to realize that for example, my thighs have expanded past a certain circumference. My near term goal, which doesn't sound like much (but you know, little by little) is 22" thighs. This thrill actually makes gaining even more fun, as there's more ways than just with 10 lb range of weight you fall into.

Now I wonder how much more I'd have to gain to achieve 24" thighs and 12" biceps.
4 years

Measuring

Bigfatbellyfan:
I have been periodically measuring my partner to see where her size fluctuates. Mostly for the sake of knowing what sizes of clothes to buy when shopping online. It gives me such a thrill to see the numbers go up (though they don't always). However they tend to trend upwards when I'm making sure she is properly fed.


Is that really accurate though?

There's vanity sizing. Even in men's, for some brands I've noticed that advertised waist size +2" = real waist size.

So I'm leery unless I visit a store for that brand first, and I bring a tape measure.
4 years

Measuring

To maintain the gains of my feedee I've put the scales away, even though I love knowing those stats.

I measure her once every 6-12 months now as a proxy for her progress.

I love the numbers with feeding almost as much as I love the result itself
4 years