You're watching what you eat and exercising intensely on a regular basis right? So how can you tell if all that effort is paying off?

Here are 6 great methods for measuring your success. They are not ranked in any particular order.

1.) The Scale

Weight yourself at the beginning of your journey or wherever you're at right now. Write it down in a journal or on a peice of paper and keep it handy. You should be weighting yourself often as you like, but keep in mind that your weight fluctuates constantly throughout the day and week. I think it's best to get weighted on the sameday at the same time every week or two.

Update your journal and review how far you have come. The key here is to be consistant and give your efforts some time to show on the scale.

2.) The Tape Measure

You want to get your measurements from a minimum of 3 places (Chest, Stomach and Waist) but no more than 7 places. I think 5 is ideal (Both arms, Chest, Waist, Hips and both left and right Thighs) and will give you a really good overall picture of where those pounds are coming off.

Using a non stretch tape measuring take your readings in inches from the widest part for each of your various body parts and write them down. Remember to keep the tape tight enough so that there are no spaces between it and your skin. But not so tight that it compresses your skin either.

I wouldn't recommend doing this more then once a month. You're going to lose the weight from all over your body and not just one specific area, so the numbers might not change as quickly as you want them to.

3.) Clothing

Normally when you start gaining weight you will notice that your pants or shirts start getting a little tight. You can also use this to check if you're losing weight as well. Pick a pair of pants or a shirt as your test outfit. Something that fits now but is slightly on the tight side.

You can judge by how tight they feel or you can do the finger test. How many fingers can you fit between your hip and the waistband? Every 4 weeks try the outfit on again and see if you can notice a difference. It's a good idea to write your results down and review them each time you do this test.

Your progress can be slow but your test outfit should be falling off you 3-6 months down the line.

4.) Fitness tests

As you lose the pounds your level of fitness should also be improving. You can choose any activity to test against, so long as you first set a beginning benchmark. Some common tests include:

- # of push ups completed in a minute

- # of crunches completed in a minute

- # of push-ups or crunches you can do total (no time limit)

- 1 mile/Kilometer Walk or run

- Total # of chin-ups

- Total # of step-ups or stair climbs

- # of reps or total weight for Bicep curls, bench press, squats etc...

There are dozens of different ways to test yourself. Most health clubs have a fitness assessment available to you when you first join. For a fee you can have one of the trainers run you through their program. They usually include a follow up test 3-6 months afterwards.

The key is really to allow enough time for your body to improve at the choosen activity. My favorite test is the 5K race. I enter 1 race every 2 months or so and try to beat my time from the previous race. If I don't it's a sign that I need to adjust my workouts a bit while preparing for the next race.

5.) Regular doctor visits

Weight is by no means the only indicator of an improvement to your health. Your family physician has a whole host of tests available to you. The 2 most common ones are the cholesterol and Blood pressure readings. Normal readings for adults are listed below:

Another important test especially for overweight people is the "fasting blood sugar test". A very valuable tool in testing for diabetes.

I highly recommend you get regular check-ups every 6 months or less. The earlier you can detect a problem the sooner you can have it treated.

6.) Before, During and After Pictures

There is nothing as inspiring as looking at an old picture of yourself at your "heaviest" and comparing it to a pictures after you've reached your target weight. When taking your pics make sure to wear the same outfit each time and take them in the same location.

I also like to take one by myself and one with me next to an object (TV, chair, fridge basically anything that doesn't change size or shape) It gives me a good comparison over time as to how my body shape is changing.