Non Scale Victories or NSVs are exactly what they sound like!
They’re wins or positive side effects achieved through regular exercise that are not related to a change in weight.
Most of us have embarked in a fitness journey of some kind at least once and in a vast majority of cases, there is a weight loss goal that comes with our new fitness fad. There are often many other goals like increasing general fitness, building strength or improving body composition as well as weight loss but that weight loss goal tends to be the one we focus on.
Weight loss is a completely valid and often necessary goal but we should ensure that we don’t forget about those NSVs as well. Weight loss is one of the easiest and most tangible goals we can measure ourselves so we tend to go straight for that as a measure of our success in the gym but it’s not the be all and end all as far as achieving progress goals go.
Improving our health and fitness is not a one size fits all kind of affair and it’s going to look different for different people depending on a range of factors, including but not limited to, age, sex, current physical and mental health and the goal or goals they are looking to achieve.
NSVs can be crucial in helping to maintain motivation if we are not seeing a lot of movement on the scales.
Some examples of NSVs that we should be aware of and celebrate are:
- Your clothes fit better than they used to or you’ve gone down a size.
- You have more energy and just feel better. This is a great side effect of eating well and exercising regularly.
- You’ve lost cms on your body measurements. This is positive and means that your muscles are toning and your body composition is changing in a positive way.
- Your mood has improved. The benefits of exercise in regard to our mental health cannot be overstated!
- You’re meeting other fitness goals. Perhaps you’re lifting more weight than you were, or feeling less fatigued in workouts and able to maintain a better pace.
These are all positive improvements to celebrate too. Ensuring that we don’t lose sight of these other great milestones in favour of just chasing a reduction in weight is important to the longevity of our fitness journey. Sometimes a weight loss journey can be a long one so we need to look for other goals to celebrate along the way. See you at the gym 
Author: Sarah Paterson
Oceanic Martial Arts Academy