Weight trend app and flying

Amerek412

I weight daily and use a weight trend app. I'm flying to San Diego today, and will be returning Wednesday. I know flying can cause you to retain water for a few days due to the pressure change, so I know my weight will be off for a little bit after I get back. My question is whether I should skip logging my weight all together for this week, since I'm worried if I do, it'll cause my trend line to be inaccurate. I've only been logging for 2 months, so I do feel like a week of "incorrect" weight is significant enough to skew the data. I also don't exactly like the idea of just not logging for a week because, well I don't know...habit, OCD about there being a gap, or maybe that could skew the data as well?

For those of you who use a weight trending app, do you log everyday (or as frequently as what's normal for you) no matter what, or do you skip days you know your weight is off for a specific reason?

karahm78

I still log them.... the trend line levels out after around 14 days (I use Happy Scale). I know that it is fluid retention but it is still reality just like when I eat sodium heavy meals I still log.

allyphoe

I don't weigh on vacation, but go back to my normal every morning weigh-in as soon as I get back.

Meelisv

Most important thing - don't worry about it or overthink it.

For example:
I just started weighing daily and using trend app bit over a month ago just out of interest. Surprisingly, i find it helps to keep me better accountable.

However, i will fly abroad for a week next month for a work thing. And while there, everything will be total mess.
First - there will be no scale there, so no weighing.
Second - i know that while there i will probably move more than at home, but i will very likely also eat lot more, and i will eat mostly stuff i can only eyeball and guess the caloric content. Still, i won't worry about it, since it is only a week.
When i'm back i will weigh daily again, trend will smooth over after some time.

jemhh

I'd log every day.

I don't view the trend line on the app I use to be anything other than casually informational. I don't even pay attention to any future prediction lines. I just like to see the overall trend from past weights.

Cheesy567

Go ahead and log it-- it won't skew the trend that much. Look at it with curiosity... "hmm, I wonder what flying does to my weight trend" rather than worry of "this is going to ruin the trend"

eyer0ll

Cheesy567 wrote: »

Go ahead and log it-- it won't skew the trend that much. Look at it with curiosity... "hmm, I wonder what flying does to my weight trend" rather than worry of "this is going to ruin the trend"

This. That's why it's a trend.
I log my weight every day. It's just a data point.

DebLaBounty

I think the thing that will skew your results is weighing on a different scale while you're away from home.

AnnPT77

I'd log it. It's just data, and you know what's going on.

It sounds like you're thinking if the trend line as somehow your true weight. It's not. It's a statistical artifact. I suspect that what you really care about is fat vs. lean. The water weight is neither. And all of them fluctuate constantly, anyway. Literally, constantly. IMO, we don't even have a "true weight", just a general current range, and a longer-term trend.

Don't give data or statistical artifacts any more importance than they deserve. Log it, learn from it, go on with life.

(I use Libra. I weigh every day, if I have access to a scale. I log it. Before Libra, for many years, even before trying to lose weight, I weighed myself daily and made a dot on graph paper for that date/weight. At this point, I have years (10? 15?) of data, an extremely thorough understanding of how my weight fluctuates and why, and no particular stress about any of that. )

lorrpb

It will be fun to see how fast the line goes back down to normal. Some apps allow you to change the #days reflected in the trend line.

calliefleece

Ugh. Please don't be disrespectful to people who actually have OCD by saying "OCD about there being a gap"...that's not OCD and you're on a health/wellness website. That's a doubt, anal retentiveness, peculiarly, etc.