Daily weight tracking apps: trend or actual values?

Options
ana3067
ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Using Libra to track daily weigh-ins. Been using it for a few months, although I wasn't weighing daily that whole time (and I've also added in all my old weigh-ins from MFP).

JW if it would be more helpful/useful to use the trend weight or actual weight values? In the settings one option is "use trend values instead of weight for calculations" but I don't know which would be better for tailoring caloric intake up/down or for monitoring average weight lost.

FWIW if I use the trend setting my average weight loss for 2015 is 4.3lbs, 4.8lbs for actual weight values.

Replies

  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    I use Trendweight, don't know Libra but I suspect that they use some kind of smoothing for the trend. If that is the case and you want to use them for tailoring caloric intake, bear in mind that the trend will lag (short term) behind your actual weight. Trendweight will tell me to cut calories from my intake for days after a stall has ended, and will tell me to eat more for days after I've stopped losing fast.

    If you mean more long-term changes to your intake, then I suspect trend would be more accurate? Not sure.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Wiseandcurious wrote: »
    I use Trendweight, don't know Libra but I suspect that they use some kind of smoothing for the trend. If that is the case and you want to use them for tailoring caloric intake, bear in mind that the trend will lag (short term) behind your actual weight. Trendweight will tell me to cut calories from my intake for days after a stall has ended, and will tell me to eat more for days after I've stopped losing fast.

    If you mean more long-term changes to your intake, then I suspect trend would be more accurate? Not sure.

    I'm not sure.. the app doesn't really go into much detail on the difference or purpose of either setting. Maybe I'll just stick to the actual weight loss instead!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories