Added benefit of having more data

donjtomasco

By weighing each morning and evening before bed I have discovered something else that has been helpful. I now know that with over 55+ days of data, my average change in weight from night to morning is 2.6 pounds. So I have a pretty good idea what I will weigh the next morning, then can see is I lost considerably yes, what foods might have caused it.

I have been able to look at my graphs from the last two weight loss journeys and discovered that the longest streak of days that I went before hitting a new low was 10 days in 2013, 10 days in 2015 and 11 days since December 26th. This helps me when I think that a dry spell is indicating I am in a long plateau and will never lose any more weight again (my brain can do this to me).

The other thing I have done, is start seeing how much I have gained or lost comparing each days morning weight to the morning weight of the previous 7 days, which gives me a new list of data which is a 'more fair' look at how my weight loss (or gain) is going. So I am not simply looking at how much I weigh say every Monday morning (which could give an aberrational reading since one Monday may be favorably low, and the next Monday just happens to be high only because I retained more water, leaving me ONE number for the week showing me that I "GAINED WEIGHT" which can be a real motivation choker. Now I can actually see if that was just 'one of those days' since I can see the previous days weight loss from the prior 7 days. If that makes sense.

I think the next data project will be adding is a new column showing 14 day loss or gain till I hit my weight loss goal. Maybe I will spread this out into 14 columns showing 'daily loss or gain', then a 2 day comparison, 3 day, 4 day, and so on, filling in days 2-6, and 8-13, giving me probably the most revealing way that my body worked during this 12 week (more or less) journey to lose 30 pounds.

This breaks up the sometimes mind wrecking monotony of counting calories and trying to burn calories daily, and making it through those days when the scale is not only not moving, but maybe moving up. As long as the trend is in my favor, then I can remain in a positive frame of mind.