The FatWatch Weight Log

unabridgedmarvel: This appeared in Timely/Marvel comics circa...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:49:10 -0500

unabridgedmarvel:

This appeared in Timely/Marvel comics circa 1944-45. Apparently, butter used to be a food group.

Hey, how about a sync with a Withings scale? :-)

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:41:34 -0400

Planning on it, as soon as I have the time (busy with contract work right now).

Does fatwatch work on IOS5?

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:40:15 -0400

Yes!

I am within 500gms of my goal and the trend line agrees, but the app says I still have 1kg to go. A I doing something wrong?

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:37:53 -0400

You are not doing anything wrong!

A few people have emailed me lately with a similar problem, all of them using kilograms as their weight unit. I suspect there is a bug in code that converts the numbers to kilograms for display, but I haven’t had the time to track it down yet.

how do i edit icons

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:12:27 -0400

To choose different icons for the four mark annotations, switch to the More tab and tap Marks. Then select the mark you want to change (blue, red, green, and yellow), and pick an icon from the palette below.

Right now you can’t add custom icon images, but if there is an icon you think ought to be included in a future app update, send me an email and let me know.

Day 10: 279

Thu, 12 May 2011 12:38:43 -0400

benzado:

slowcarbcrazy:

So I ended up at McDonalds, eating french fries and chicken nuggets. I just wanted comfort food. I got “caught”. Charlie Todd and Ben Rodgers were walking by McDonalds and saw me. I guess they had been talking about my blog and this diet. It’s embarrassing to be caught.

Today I’m back on track. I’m calling yesterday this week’s cheat day, so I’ll still be on my diet on Sunday. This was a stumble, not a fall. I’m going to keep up with this diet and this blog. Accountability helps.

One of the challenges of living by an “never do this” or “always do this” rule is that, when you slip, the first instinct is to call the whole thing a failure and give up. I’m not sure why, but I think it comes from mixing up your rules and your goals.

For everyone trying to lose weight, your goal is not to follow the rules. Your goal is to eat less, eat better. That’s something you do over a span of time. You can’t fail in an instant. Sure, Pat, cheated on Day 9. But in 10 days he’s still eating better than when he started.

The same applies to something like NaSkeWriMo: if you write every day for eight days and then write nothing on day 9, you might want to give up, because your perfect streak is over. But your goal isn’t to have a perfect record, your goal is to write more. And the person who only writes every other day still has more work done by the end of the month than someone who stops after that “perfect” week.

This is up to you, Pat, but I would recommend letting Sunday remain your cheat day, even though you slipped this week. Or, if you want to reset, let next Tuesday be your next cheat day. It’s more important that you establish habits than it is to punish yourself for slipping this week.

Oh, and congratulations on the new scale. Here’s why I think you should weigh yourself every day. (That’s the blog for my app, FatWatch.)

What is the dashed line on the large chart that is several pounds higher than my set goal?

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:41:31 -0400

There are two dashed lines, actually — one 2.5 lb above, one 2.5 lb below. Together they define a 5 lb band around your selected goal weight. To describe the band’s purpose, we should step back and consider what it means to achieve you goal.

Most dieters worry only about meeting their weight goal: as soon as the magic number appears on the scale, they put on a party hat and celebrate. And while that is an accomplishment to be proud of, a serious dieter will recognize that her work is not over yet.

Simply meeting your goal is not enough. You want to maintain it. You know your weight is going to vary a lot from day-to-day. Tomorrow the number on the scale could be two pounds higher.

FatWatch considers you to be maintaining your goal weight if you can keep the trend line inside the band around the goal. Think of those dashed lines as upper and lower limits; if your trend line drifts outside those lines, you’re off track, and need to adjust your eating or exercise.

All you need to know will be displayed on the Trends screen. The first time your trend line crosses the goal line, FatWatch will display goal achieved. If the trend line wanders above or below those dashed lines, FatWatch will switch to reporting how many calories you need to cut to return to your goal line.

Unlike other weight tracker apps, FatWatch’s job doesn’t end once you reach your desired weight. Managing your weight is a lifelong endeavor, and FatWatch will be there to keep you on track.

Can we get goals which can be specified by fat percentage? Its often a much more reasonable thing to aim for than weight or BMI as it is invariant to lean mass & hydration.

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:50:20 -0400

I agree it’s probably a better thing to aim for, but I’m not sure about the mathematics. To achieve a lower body fat percentage you could either lower your body fat weight or increase your lean mass weight. Or a combination of both. This makes the prediction calculations a little trickier.

If you are viewing Trends by body fat weight (instead of total weight), FatWatch calculates your lean mass as of today, assumes it will stay constant, and figures calorie numbers based on how much body fat you have to lose.

I’ve never felt totally OK with how it works, since according to my bathroom scale my lean mass varies quite a bit from day to day. This is mostly measurement error, but the scale is all that FatWatch has to go on.

I suppose I could implement a body fat percentage goal with the same assumptions: all predictions are made assuming your lean mass will stay the same, and if the numbers vary a lot, so be it.

I guess my point is, adding a body fat percentage goal would mean big changes to how the Trends tab would work, and I haven’t figured out what that means yet. Your input is appreciated!

Hi - do you plan to support online integration with the Withings WI-FI scale - this would be very handy and simplify the process of data entry (and make things that much closer to the idea of the Hacker's Diet yes/no "watch")

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:24:57 -0400

Yes. I have a Withings scale myself and adding support is near the top of my to do list. It’s just a question of finding the time to work on FatWatch; I hope to in the next several weeks.

Thank you for FatWatch. I find it very helpful! I'm sure everyone else understands this, but could you explain how the "number of pounds" to lose, on the TRENDS screen, is calculated, as it is not a simple arithmetic problem (today's weight - goal weight = pounds to lose). Is the calculation made using the trend line? Or are you encouraging us to reach 1.9 pounds below our 'scale goal', to be in the safe "zone". Just curious. Mary

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:07:22 -0500

Weight to lose is simply the difference between your goal weight and the latest value of the trend line. You can see the exact value of the trend line on any given day by tapping the button on the top of the Log view (tap once to rotate through options, tap-and-hold for a menu).

FatWatch does use the concept of a “safe zone” after you have reached your goal. Once the trend line crosses the goal line, you are considered to have achieved your goal until it wanders more than 2.5 lbs above or below the goal line.

Even when “steady” your weight changes a bit from day to day, so if FatWatch didn’t use a zone the Trend screen would be alternating every day between congratulations and warnings.

Can you export your data from Hackers Diet Online?

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:59:00 -0500

If you use The Hacker’s Diet Online, you can export your data in several different formats. Any of the CSV (comma-separated values) formats can be imported by FatWatch, I recommend using the “The Hacker’s Diet Online CSV” option. Then use Wi-Fi Import/Export to send the file to your iPhone or iPod touch.

The only catch is that if you use non-ASCII characters in your comments, they will be exported in a format that FatWatch does not understand. This could be remedied by running the file through a utility script; contact me if you have this problem.

At some point I may add support for the HDO native XML format, but before this question nobody has asked about it.

Fig Newtons in Bed, and Other True Stories: How to lose five pounds in three days

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:23:04 -0500

Fig Newtons in Bed, and Other True Stories: How to lose five pounds in three days:

sebsational:

But (and I’ve done this before, so I know) giving up sugar is only really hard for the first few days. After that, it’s no big deal. Right now, though, I am walking past chocolate at Key Foods and telling it, out loud, to shut the hell up and get out of my face.

"This new science should also tell us, I think, that blaming overeating problems on lack of willpower..."

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:00:06 -0500

“This new science should also tell us, I think, that blaming overeating problems on lack of willpower or some personal character flaw is neither accurate nor helpful.”

- Dean Anderson, Can People Really Be Addicted to Food?

Whether or not you believe “addiction” is the right term, it’s clear that psychology plays a major role.

Photo

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 11:00:06 -0500

Reading List: The Paleo Diet

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:23:59 -0500

Reading List: The Paleo Diet:

John Walker, author of The Hacker’s Diet, reviews an interesting book by Loren Cordain.

The Hacker's Diet now available for iPad, iPhone, and other EPUB devices

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:22:37 -0500

The Hacker's Diet now available for iPad, iPhone, and other EPUB devices:

Required reading.

Can I change the height setting? I think I entered it incorrectly

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:37:06 -0500

Yes! Tap the “Compute BMI” switch to turn it off, then tap it again to turn it back on. You’ll be asked to confirm your height again, and if you made a mistake (or you’ve somehow become taller or shorter) you can change it.

Clever idea I just had: clean your water bottle with mouthwash

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:42:27 -0500

First day back at the gym, my water bottle smells a little funky. I want to clean it, but I also don’t want to be drinking soap. I notice the mouthwash dispenser next to the sink, and Eureka! A small pump into the bottle, rinsed out with water, and my bottle is minty fresh clean!

"This is why I tell my friends that dieting is more like balancing a checkbook than anything else. No..."

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:00:07 -0500

“This is why I tell my friends that dieting is more like balancing a checkbook than anything else. No magic food, no magic nutrients. No pills, shots, or surgery.”

- Math for Losers - Tarjema Translations

How do I get my weights to record in decimals? I'm only seeing whole integers in the scrolling list.

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:58:39 -0500

Go to the Settings app, scroll down to find FatWatch. From there you can change your Scale Precision:

1.0 means numbers like 100, 101, 102, 103, …
0.5 means numbers like 100.0, 100.5, 101.0, 101.5, …
0.1 means numbers like 100.0, 100.1, 100.2, 100.3, …

You can also select 0.2 and 0.05 if that’s what your scale displays. Selecting an increment to match your scale will make weight input quicker and easier.

Also note that changing the precision only changes how numbers are displayed, not stored. So if you change to whole numbers (1.0) and then change back to one-tenths (0.1) you won’t lose any data.