Best weight trend app

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CattOfTheGarage
CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I'm wondering if those of you who plug daily weigh-in data into a trend app could tell me which one you use?

I've been using Libra, and I like all its features, but I'm becoming increasingly unhappy with the actual trendline, which seems like nonsense to me. Of 20 data points, only 1 is above the line - the rest are below, by a couple of pounds on average. I kept thinking it would correct itself, but any time I enter a point that would be above the line, it hikes the line up to try and get it above the point! That's not a proper trendline.

So does anyone have recommendations for an app which gives a proper trendline which falls between the highest and lowest points?

Replies

  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    monitor my weight or try trendweight or weightgrapher, though these two are sites rather than apps
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I use Trendweight, but I'm on a PC.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I don't have any apps, I have Trendweight, but I've noticed almost the same as you, it doesn't really predict anything - I'm in maintenance and it tells me I'm losing/gaining a lot all the time. Now I just look at the weekly average and decide on what action I should take, from that.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I use trendweight cos fitbit
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    I don't have a fitbit or a WiFi scale, so it seems like trendweight is not an option - unless I've misunderstood that? But anyway, I would prefer an app
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    I don't have a fitbit or a WiFi scale, so it seems like trendweight is not an option - unless I've misunderstood that? But anyway, I would prefer an app

    I'm happy to tell you you've misunderstood :D
    You can plug your daily readings into fitbit manually, and signing up with fitbit is free.
  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
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    I guess I am old school, I use a notebook.
  • wolfgirl78
    wolfgirl78 Posts: 56 Member
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    I use happy scale.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    edited July 2016
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    Hi all, thanks for the responses.

    I crunched some numbers today and wanted to show you what I mean. Here's the trendline Libra is producing for me:

    gm28vcrsl718.png

    And here are the exact same data points entered into Excel, with a trendline applied to it (a 3rd order polynomial with some forecasting, for you regression geeks out there):

    j52lwivvgoe0.png

    No matter what type of trendline I chose in Excel, or what I did to the settings, I could not get anything remotely like Libra's trendline, and I'm not surprised - no trendline should ever have 19 data points below it and only 1 above. You can also see that Libra gives my "trend weight" as 13 stone 13.8lb (195.8lb) today, whereas according to Excel's regression, it's more like 13 stone 11.2lb (193.2lb). Libra is also showing my weight loss trend as 0.7lb per week, whereas the Excel trendline shows a steady 1lb per week.

    I know there's no need to obsess over numbers, but this irks me quite a lot. I love the idea of having a handy app that can calculate a trendline for me, but it's no use if it's not actually doing that in a sensible way. Does anyone know if all weight trend apps use the same crazy maths, or do others do a better job?
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    See if there are settings you can adjust in the app.
  • st476
    st476 Posts: 357 Member
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    Happy scale :smile:
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    I've tried everything with the settings, I can make it smoother or bumpier but not any less daft :/
  • subakwa
    subakwa Posts: 347 Member
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    It looks like it is doing some really strange 2 or 3 point averaging by the way it responds to new data. Bin it!

    Happy scale works on a rolling 10 day. It gives a smooth line and let's me see patterns . A much happier trend line

    1ca34vd45g84.png
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Right, I'm going to give Happy Scale a try, that looks like a far more sensible trend! What does the green area signify, though?
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    You can't get Happy Scale on Android :(
  • subakwa
    subakwa Posts: 347 Member
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    CattOfTheGarage wrote: »
    You can't get Happy Scale on Android :(

    Oh no!! Sorry. That's a shame. For defence I think that the green area is the 20 (?) days ago weight.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Trying to read up what the problem might be, and it seems Libra uses a "simple moving average" to create its trendline, and these are known to trail significantly behind the actual data. Stock brokers and so on use various methods to correct for the trailing, but Libra... Well, it just trails. Which means the trend weight it gives is not your actual trend weight today at all, it's where the trend was at like a week ago.

    At least I know why the problem is occurring now, but if anything is annoying me even more :( unfortunately I'm not sure there is a better option, short of installing Excel on my phone and just doing it myself.

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