Anyone else like numbers?

heartsherps
heartsherps Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I created a Google spreadsheet for my personal use that gives you an estimated date of reaching your goal weight, a graph with a moving average, among other useful information.

How to use:
Just download it to your own computer to edit it, and edit the stuff in the red to match your own goals and history.

To add lines:
Highlight the last two rows.
Click the blue square in the bottom right corner of the highlighted area and drag it down to the current date.
Be sure to edit the red in the new row(s).

Note: You must be a daily weigher for this to work. If you miss a day, there will be a gap in the graph and it'll throw off the formulas.

If anyone has suggestions for improvement, I'd be happy to hear them.

Heres the link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlMxU97ujgALdE1IRUhhOVQ4ZUUtMlBpeTF6Ul9kYXc&usp=sharing

Replies

  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    Also, there's weightgrapher.com
  • heartsherps
    heartsherps Posts: 57 Member
    Also, there's weightgrapher.com

    Lol, thanks. I'd been looking for something like that.
  • walleymama
    walleymama Posts: 174 Member
    Ah, a fellow spreadsheet geek! I was just thinking today about whether there was anybody else on MFP who does this. I was wanting to see how everyone's data is trending. I'm using Excel to record and chart my data.

    I'm using moving 7 day averages to calculate weight, total calories and net calories. I also calculate exercise calories.

    The curves for moving average weight and moving average calories move beautifully together. I have found that this is a much better correlation (and I'm not using that word in the true statistical sense) than plotting daily values for weight, net and total calories. My thinking is that your body doesn't adjust weight based on a single day's intake but rather considers the last few days of intake. This is why I can have one big eating day and not see a gain in weight. But if I overeat for 3 - 5 days in a row the weight starts to go up.

    It's very exciting to see the downward trend in weight, but the other great thing is I'm getting a good feel for just how much I can eat in a day. Currently I set a total goal of between 1500 and 1600 calories, regardless of exercise. The TDEE-20% method said I could eat 1730 but I felt that was a bit too high. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to do maintenance I'll have a lot of personal data from which to determine exactly what my maintenance caloric goal should be.
  • heartsherps
    heartsherps Posts: 57 Member
    Ah, a fellow spreadsheet geek! I was just thinking today about whether there was anybody else on MFP who does this. I was wanting to see how everyone's data is trending. I'm using Excel to record and chart my data.

    I'm using moving 7 day averages to calculate weight, total calories and net calories. I also calculate exercise calories.

    The curves for moving average weight and moving average calories move beautifully together. I have found that this is a much better correlation (and I'm not using that word in the true statistical sense) than plotting daily values for weight, net and total calories. My thinking is that your body doesn't adjust weight based on a single day's intake but rather considers the last few days of intake. This is why I can have one big eating day and not see a gain in weight. But if I overeat for 3 - 5 days in a row the weight starts to go up.

    It's very exciting to see the downward trend in weight, but the other great thing is I'm getting a good feel for just how much I can eat in a day. Currently I set a total goal of between 1500 and 1600 calories, regardless of exercise. The TDEE-20% method said I could eat 1730 but I felt that was a bit too high. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to do maintenance I'll have a lot of personal data from which to determine exactly what my maintenance caloric goal should be.

    Would it be possible for me to get a copy of this spreadsheet?
  • walleymama
    walleymama Posts: 174 Member
    heartsherps (cute name, btw, are you a herpetologist?), I will message you...
  • scottwblack
    scottwblack Posts: 26 Member
    Thanks for this. There are plenty of apps and sites that do the same thing, but I like the idea of having it all on my own spreadsheet. The only thing I'd add is a column showing the moving average's daily change rate. But, I have no idea how to do that! :)

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