The FatWatch Weight Log

FatWatch is a tool for your iPhone or iPod touch to help you track and analyze your body weight. It uses methods described in The Hacker's Diet by John Walker.

Take a tour and then buy it on the App Store.
Dec 4 '10
The Hacker’s Diet includes an optional exercise program. It’s organized around a metaphorical ladder: you start on the first rung, where you do a series of exercises (3 sit ups, 2 push ups, etc.). The second rung is a little bit harder (4 sits ups, 3 push ups), and so on. As your fitness improves, you move up the ladder, until you find a level appropriate for you. When I first read the book and started using Eat Watch, I ignored the Exercise Ladder; my apartment building had a gym (a room with a treadmill) so I made up my own exercise plan. As a result, rung tracking was not a priority for me, and I left it out of the initial version of FatWatch. Even though FatWatch provides plenty of room in the Note field to track your rung, a lot of people requested a dedicated field. So I added one! Unfortunately, a lot of people still request this feature, which means I’ve done a poor job of making it discoverable. To enable Exercise Ladder tracking: Switch to the More tab. Select Marks. Select the fourth (gold) mark. Tap the “Use for Exercise Ladder” button. From now on, that gold mark will behave a little bit differently. On the Log view, instead of a filled-in or empty box, a number (your rung) will be displayed. If you haven’t exercised that day, a small diamond appears. On the weigh-in screen, tapping the gold mark will summon the Exercise Ladder screen, pictured above. If you’re ready to move up (or down) the ladder, use the arrow buttons on the top left. When you’ve performed your exercises for the day, tap Save to record the rung into the log and return to the weigh-in screen. If you’ve recorded a rung by mistake (you didn’t exercise that day), the Clear button will remove the rung entry from the log. If you just want to dismiss the screen without making any changes, tap Cancel. The Exercise Ladder screen also tells you the number of repetitions to do for each exercise. Be sure to read the descriptions of the exercises in The Hacker’s Diet to ensure you are doing them correctly.

The Hacker’s Diet includes an optional exercise program. It’s organized around a metaphorical ladder: you start on the first rung, where you do a series of exercises (3 sit ups, 2 push ups, etc.). The second rung is a little bit harder (4 sits ups, 3 push ups), and so on. As your fitness improves, you move up the ladder, until you find a level appropriate for you.

When I first read the book and started using Eat Watch, I ignored the Exercise Ladder; my apartment building had a gym (a room with a treadmill) so I made up my own exercise plan. As a result, rung tracking was not a priority for me, and I left it out of the initial version of FatWatch.

Even though FatWatch provides plenty of room in the Note field to track your rung, a lot of people requested a dedicated field. So I added one!

Unfortunately, a lot of people still request this feature, which means I’ve done a poor job of making it discoverable.

To enable Exercise Ladder tracking:

  1. Switch to the More tab.
  2. Select Marks.
  3. Select the fourth (gold) mark.
  4. Tap the “Use for Exercise Ladder” button.

From now on, that gold mark will behave a little bit differently. On the Log view, instead of a filled-in or empty box, a number (your rung) will be displayed. If you haven’t exercised that day, a small diamond appears.

On the weigh-in screen, tapping the gold mark will summon the Exercise Ladder screen, pictured above.

  • If you’re ready to move up (or down) the ladder, use the arrow buttons on the top left.
  • When you’ve performed your exercises for the day, tap Save to record the rung into the log and return to the weigh-in screen.
  • If you’ve recorded a rung by mistake (you didn’t exercise that day), the Clear button will remove the rung entry from the log.
  • If you just want to dismiss the screen without making any changes, tap Cancel.

The Exercise Ladder screen also tells you the number of repetitions to do for each exercise. Be sure to read the descriptions of the exercises in The Hacker’s Diet to ensure you are doing them correctly.