Best daily weight tracking apps? Benefits to daily weighing?

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wendy0210
wendy0210 Posts: 86 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

Today marks the one year anniversary mark of tracking consistently! I'm very proud of that :)

Recently, however, I notice that the number on the scale can still bum me out, even when I "know" it's due to water, salt, etc.

Example: a few weeks back, I was up nearly 7 pounds in 5 days. I knew it was due to PMS, water, etc, but it took weeks to fall back off - ugh.

This week: I worked out hard last weekend and then was sick for a few days. I'm sure the craving for dry/salty foods, not enough fluid, a few high calorie days (which I'm sure was my body trying to get nutrients back), etc. led to another 6.2 pound gain since Sunday.

Now, I usually weigh a few times per week, but only record on weekends and I'm somewhat used to the trends, and I try not to panic too much, especially like this week. I know I didn't eat enough over (even with a few high calorie days that balanced out the few days of under) to equal pounds of actual weight. A normal trend for me is to be up around 3-4 throught the week and back down on weekends, with a higher weigh in around PMS/cycle. I wonder if it would benefit me to weigh daily and track to see how daily eating habits influence it.

Thoughts on this? Have you found that this helps or hurts you? Also, if anyone can recommend some good daily tracking apps, I'd appreciate it. Thanks all!

Replies

  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    Libra is a great Android app. I have used it for a long time.

    Daily weighing needs a certain frame of mind that not everyone can deal with. For me it's very motivating. A low number makes me want to continue being "good" and a high number makes be want to do better. The daily fluctuations don't bother me at all but drive some people crazy.

    When I am in a bad stretch (like I am right now) I can pull back and look at the long time trend and feel better about things.

    Not current data:

    libra3.jpg

    libra5.jpg
  • wendy0210
    wendy0210 Posts: 86 Member
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    Thank you. I think it may help me. I don't do well with weekly-only weighins because it reminds me of WW. When I had a "bad" day that happened to fall in on a weigh-in day, I resorted to a "what the hell" attitude. What if this morning had been a once per week or once per month day? I would be completely discouraged, because I may not have remembered being sick, dehydrated, extra carbs, salt, whatever. Peeking a few times a week helps a bit with that but now I want to see how the daily eating affects weight patterns, especially because I've noticed that when I do harder workouts, I'm generally not hungrier until a day or two later, but not always. Also, sleep (or lack thereof) and stress really affect my food cravings and, yes, weight. Interesting. It fascinates me, to be honest :)
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    I weigh everyday. My scale connects to my home wifi and sends my weighins to my Fitbit profile, which syncs w/ MFP. So they're automatically tracked. I do feel like I've learned something about myself by being able to see the trend over time. (My profile includes pics, one of a recent 30 day trend and another for 3 months - both ending at the same time.) It was very frustrating to not lose (or even gain) for 7-14 days every month, though it was nice to then see pounds almost seem to melt away. Eventually figured out its part of my body's cycle, probably hormone driven. And I can see the impact of high sodium. That + TOM is the the explanation for that big spike in the middle of the 30 day!

    I don't worry much overall about sodium, no heart/other health related issues. And I do make an effort to drink more water. Even so its good to understand how sodium, hormones and such can have a temporary effect. Keeps me sane - otherwise I'd be here and posting "But my weight has been 148.9 for the past 3 days in a row. Why haven't I lost a 1/2 pound when all my deficits are right on target?"
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    I used Libra for a long time, but I was wanting more details than it was giving me. I switched to Monitor Your Weight, but I'm not sure I like it. Every weigh-in affects the graph wildly. I was up a few lbs one day from too many carbs and that one weigh in wiped out all my previous progress on the graph. :huh: However, I've only been using a couple weeks so I'm going to give it a chance to gather more data and see how I like it then.

    Also, I think it helps me to weigh each day. I do much better seeing my trend line rather than having to guess whether the scale is actually moving down.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    I used Libra for a long time, but I was wanting more details than it was giving me. I switched to Monitor Your Weight, but I'm not sure I like it. Every weigh-in affects the graph wildly. I was up a few lbs one day from too many carbs and that one weigh in wiped out all my previous progress on the graph. :huh: However, I've only been using a couple weeks so I'm going to give it a chance to gather more data and see how I like it then.

    Also, I think it helps me to weigh each day. I do much better seeing my trend line rather than having to guess whether the scale is actually moving down.

    Look into your settings. In Libra at least you can control what is called "smoothing days" which increases the number of past days used to affect the chart. I like 10 days personally.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    Daily weighing needs to be done at a specific time of day to be accurate. Wake, pee, weigh is preferred.

    You can learn a lot from your fluctuations like a high sodium day or a change in workout. Sunday I went for my first bike ride of the year and bit off a bit too much, 20 miles. Monday I was up 5 pounds. It came back off in two days as expected. Other times there will be totally unexplained spikes which is natural. I love it but it doesn't work for everyone.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
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    I used Libra for a long time, but I was wanting more details than it was giving me. I switched to Monitor Your Weight, but I'm not sure I like it. Every weigh-in affects the graph wildly. I was up a few lbs one day from too many carbs and that one weigh in wiped out all my previous progress on the graph. :huh: However, I've only been using a couple weeks so I'm going to give it a chance to gather more data and see how I like it then.

    Also, I think it helps me to weigh each day. I do much better seeing my trend line rather than having to guess whether the scale is actually moving down.

    Look into your settings. In Libra at least you can control what is called "smoothing days" which increases the number of past days used to affect the chart. I like 10 days personally.

    Monitor your Weight doesn't have smoothing days...one of the things I miss from Libra.
  • rebalee8
    rebalee8 Posts: 161 Member
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    I weigh every day (with the Aria that connects to fitbit) and then use Trendweight.com (which can be synced to fitbit) to look at the overall trend. It doesn't have an app though.
  • wendy0210
    wendy0210 Posts: 86 Member
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    Thanks so much everyone! Please keep the responses and suggestions coming!
  • gobonas99
    gobonas99 Posts: 1,049 Member
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    I use trendweight.com - you have to have a fitbit account to use it (but it is free, and you do NOT need to have an actual fitbit product). If you have a scale that wirelessly uploads to fitbit (like withings and one other), then you don't need to do anything but log in to sync the accounts...otherwise, you can just manually log your daily weight on fitbit.com (what I do)..then log in to trendweight.com to see your weight trend. :smile:
  • Andie3112
    Andie3112 Posts: 1
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    I use trendweight+ on my Iphone
  • DianeinCA
    DianeinCA Posts: 307 Member
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    My scale (Withings) also has an app that shows trends (for weight, body fat, and BMI) and it connects to both MFP and Fitbit.
  • johnthomasmoore
    johnthomasmoore Posts: 59 Member
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    I weigh daily, using a wifi connected Aria Scale connected to my FitBit account synced to MFP and TrendWeight. I also use a script and API to pull all my data into Google Spreadsheets. I track everything: Weight, Food, Blood Pressure, Sleep, Steps, Biking, other exercise.

    See my blog post on how I use hardware and software to visualize what's happening: http://johntmoore.blogspot.com/2013/12/using-self-monitoring-and-data.html

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