Tracking weight - if you're sick

roadrunnernymph

I'm using a trendscale app for tracking weight loss. Which so far has been a great motivation. Now here's the problem: I've come down with a particularly bad stomach bug. Basically so bad that I'm seriously dehydrated. My weight of course has been completely messed up over the past 5 days or so. This morning it was about about 1.5kg underneath yesterday's weight. Of course this is not real but due to dehydration and complete lack of waste. My weight never fluctuates that much.

I'm a number girl, and I get motivation from numbers. Now I'm uncertain what to do. Log it? Then I rush past pretty much all 'accomplishments' and won't see new ones for weeks once I'm healthy again. Motivation shot (no, I won't give up of course). Not log? Data gaps are scary! Can't do that either. Make up numbers? Eeeeek! In case you're wondering, yeah: I'm an aspie and just want a simple solution.

Lillymoo01

It depends on you and how it makes you feel and react. If you are a numbers girl and are well aware that most of this loss is from lack of waste and water in your system and you will be fine seeing it going up once you recover then log it. It may be helpful to add a note to this if possible so looking back you know why the fluctuations were there. If you think seeing those numbers going up again will have a negative impact then don't log. In this situation there really is no right or wrong, just what will work best for you.

Psst I hope you start feeling better soon.

amusedmonkey

I hate data gaps too. You could log your trend weight or your expected weight loss weight. I remember getting one of the most horrible cases of food poisoning in my life (from restaurant lettuce) a couple of years ago and I remember having the same issue. I was losing at a pace of about 100 grams at the time, so I logged my trend weight at first, then -100 grams a day after that until I started feeling better. It wasn't on point because I couldn't keep much down and had lost more than expected by the time it subsided, but I felt better about the numbers than if I had logged the real weight.

Edited to add an example:
Say my trend weight was 100 kg when I got sick and my typical weight loss when not sick averaged 100 grams a day.
First day: log 100
Second day: log 99.9
Third day: log 99.8
and so on...

roadrunnernymph

Thanks a lot. My thought on this is: I don't want to deal with it as it kind of leaves me helpless

Logging this would mean that I'd rush past 4 or so goals, and then I won't be getting close to any new goal in ages. I've sent a mail to the developer to ask if implementing a 'sick' tag that excludes data such labeled from goals and averages would be an idea. But of course this is not something that will be implemented soon. If at all.

Lietchi

Well, what I do is:
- I continue to log my weight
- I continue to log my food (even if I throw up etc.)
- I indicate that I was ill, so when I look back I know my weight and calorie intake weren't representative of my weight loss journey

roadrunnernymph

amusedmonkey wrote: »

I hate data gaps too. You could log your trend weight or your expected weight loss weight. I remember getting one of the most horrible cases of food poisoning in my life (from restaurant lettuce) a couple of years ago and I remember having the same issue. I was losing at a pace of about 100 grams at the time, so I logged my trend weight at first, then -100 grams a day after that until I started feeling better. It wasn't on point because I couldn't keep much down and had lost more than expected by the time it subsided, but I felt better about the numbers than if I had logged the real weight.

Yeah, that would be a good solution. I'm not sure though what to log as my data has already been shot for several days, either holding onto all fluids until they decided to take the detour, or constantly sitting on the loo. I might just log -100 grams from here on until I'm better as this seems like a good number for me as well. Thanks a lot.