Rolling 7-Day Average and Motivation

Rose6300

Hi fellow travelers!

I just wanted to share something that has helped me immensely with my motivation. I'm the kind of person who stays motivated easily when things are going well and is easily demotivated when they're not. If this is you, maybe you'll find this helpful.

I've been at it since mid December and I have modest goals. Lose 1.5 pounds weekly with careful eating and moderate exercise. Nevertheless, it tears me up when I step on the scale (Wii fit balance board) and see an upspike, even when I've just had an unrealistic drop the day or days before. So I decided to start tracking my weight using a rolling 7-day average, and it has helped me immensely. Now when I spike up one day I don't worry as when I plug it into my spreadsheet the trend remains downward.

I know I could just weigh myself less frequently, but how would I know if I hit an unreasonably high weight-moment or an unreasonably low-weight moment? Also, I like knowing every day how I'm doing.

I hope someone may find this helpful.

DianeK145

Great idea! I have been weighing almost everyday for the same reasons. And who doesn't love a good spreadsheet! thanks!

bribrijean234

This is a great idea if you feel the need to weigh every day. I've actually been using the ap "happy scale" to track the fluctuations day to day and am very happy with the continual downward trend I've been seeing. Definitely helps getting past those days that your weight jumps up a pound or two plus allows you to look back at what you did/ate the day before that may have caused it (not drinking enough water, too much sodium, etc)

arrseegee

I also use an Apple app to track this - True Weight. it's free and also averages your weight so the spikes don't have as much significance.

Rose6300

This is a great idea if you feel the need to weigh every day. I've actually been using the ap "happy scale" to track the fluctuations day to day and am very happy with the continual downward trend I've been seeing. Definitely helps getting past those days that your weight jumps up a pound or two plus allows you to look back at what you did/ate the day before that may have caused it (not drinking enough water, too much sodium, etc)

Just looked up Happy Scale, sound like a great idea. I'm an Android gal though (and a nerd!) so for now, spreadsheet it is!

wanscot

I too use daily weightings with a trend calculation to smooth out the inevitable fluctuations. It is equivalent to a running average with a 10% exponential smoothing. I picked up the idea years ago from John Walkers "The Hacker's Diet" which provided the spreadsheets I use and I agree that it does help to motivate me to stay on plan. It is better than relying on my natural appetite to tell me to take smaller portions or to exercise more. Strongly recommended.

FIT_Goat

This is what I do as well, except I use a trend-line and a rolling 10-day average. I find it helps me keep on track and ignore the ups and downs of the scale.

darrensurrey

Certainly makes a lot of sense taking the average over the last X days and looking at the general trend. But should we use a simple moving average or exponential moving average? And what's the best number of days? )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average

Rose6300

Certainly makes a lot of sense taking the average over the last X days and looking at the general trend. But should we use a simple moving average or exponential moving average? And what's the best number of days? )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average

Well, I just picked 7 days to sort of emulate the "weigh yourself once a week" advice I've seen before. Feeling brave, I looked at the wikipedia page to find out what exponential moving averages were and after getting over my initial fright, I think I've figured out that the big picture is you never drop old numbers but just assign them less and less importance in ongoing averages. For me, I don't see a benefit now as I'm trying to lose weight and never get back to that old number. But it's probably more accurate for scientific studies of populations which will fluctuate up and down over time? That's all I can glean. And I'm far from certain I'm correct.

mrsjas2000

I don't like getting on the wii board and having it say OH, makes me want to through it through the window

Rose6300

I don't like getting on the wii board and having it say OH, makes me want to through it through the window

No kidding! I try to time it perfectly, hovering my foot above it till it says "step on". Then it says "great!" I only succeed once a week or so though. :ohwell:

shazbox1

Certainly makes a lot of sense taking the average over the last X days and looking at the general trend. But should we use a simple moving average or exponential moving average? And what's the best number of days? )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average

We could go crazy and use a Kalman filter.... :O

darrensurrey

Certainly makes a lot of sense taking the average over the last X days and looking at the general trend. But should we use a simple moving average or exponential moving average? And what's the best number of days? )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average

Well, I just picked 7 days to sort of emulate the "weigh yourself once a week" advice I've seen before. Feeling brave, I looked at the wikipedia page to find out what exponential moving averages were and after getting over my initial fright, I think I've figured out that the big picture is you never drop old numbers but just assign them less and less importance in ongoing averages. For me, I don't see a benefit now as I'm trying to lose weight and never get back to that old number. But it's probably more accurate for scientific studies of populations which will fluctuate up and down over time? That's all I can glean. And I'm far from certain I'm correct.

Indeed. I've used it for financial markets analyses to identify trends. MAs make a lot of sense.

darrensurrey

Certainly makes a lot of sense taking the average over the last X days and looking at the general trend. But should we use a simple moving average or exponential moving average? And what's the best number of days? )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average

We could go crazy and use a Kalman filter.... :O

Talk dirty to me, baby, yeah!