Daily Weight Measurements - Last 4 weeks
The last time we spoke, I said I was going to start an experiment of daily weight measurements. The chart to the right show the results of that experiment. I wish I could attach a comment of my thoughts at the moment my blurry morning eyes register the blue glow of each mornings revelation. I’m fairly certain that it would reflect a rollercoaster of emotions followed by some exhortations like: stick with the plan, weight fluctuates, stupid scale, shouldn’t have had that Halloween candy – jerk, etc. Still you can see the regression the whole counting calories while exercising thing actually works.
Not that I ever intellectually doubted the calculus of calories in – calories out = change in weight. Emotionally though, I think I’ve been in the SKEPTIC category for many of the past years. But that roller-coaster curve is hard to deal with day in and day out. Especially the day after Halloween uptick, followed by the only two-day plateau (actually, I was unable to weigh-in that day as I was out of town, it could’ve been worse!)
Still I want a little more feedback, a better understanding of the trends. I know it’s an up and down thing, and as much as I’d like weight loss journey to be a steady slide to the bottom, ending with a asymptotic slope continually approaching my ideal weight, I know that won’t be the case. So how can I find motivation in my daily journey of weighing in, counting calories, and compiling daily mile posts. Back to Excel and the numbers that make up that curve.
| duration | lbs per day | lbs per week |
| last 4 wks | 0.20 | 1.45 |
| last 3 mos | 0.13 | 0.93 |
| last 6 mos | 0.12 | 0.85 |
| from start | 0.16 | 1.15 |
LoseIt.com has a great little feature that lets you download the data that goes into displaying that chart. So let’s do a little linear regression or rough averaging, or what not. So what I did was take the most current weight, and subtract it from the least current for each time period. I then averaged that for the number of days in the time period to get lbs per day. I simply multiplied that number by seven to get lbs per week.
So while my numbers aren’t exactly in The Biggest Loser territory, they are at least consistent, and I’m encouraged that since I’ve started my daily weigh-in experiment, I’ve beaten my historical average by a comfortable margin (even WITH Halloween! ha! take that spiritual realm!). I’m also glad to see that from the beginning of my journey, I’ve averaged a little over a pound per week in shedding the pounds. I’m hoping to meet my initial goal of 299 by the end of the month, then put a stake in the ground for the next goal. Hitting the goal before Thanksgiving is my prime directive at the moment, don’t want to delay that goal into the Christmas season, or heaven’s forbid the new year!
Putting the best chart… after the fold