Log daily weight

If you keep the logsheet in a book near your scale, you won't forget to enter your weight every day.

Even if you're using the Excel worksheet as your permanent log, it makes sense to record your weight on paper. At the end of the month, you can spend 5 minutes entering the data into the spreadsheet from the paper log. You can, if you like, enter your weight into the computer every day but unless you're obsessed with tracking day-by-day results, it's much quicker to scribble the number on the paper sheet and enter a whole month's data in one swell foop. (Besides, people like me shouldn't consider touching a computer right after getting up--operating complicated machinery when possessed of the cognitive powers of a sea slug and the disposition of a polar bear with a toothache is most unwise.)

Keep the log for the current month on the first page of the ``Daily log'' section of your logbook. If you forget to weigh yourself or can't weigh in that day (for example, when you're traveling), make a note in the weight column of the log indicating what happened. Don't leave the column blank--that's likely to cause you to enter the next day's weight in the slot for the missing day and get the day and weight columns out of whack.

Here's a sample log filled out for the first two weeks of April 1989. This individual is using Excel, so he's left the ``Trend'' column blank; Excel will calculate it automatically when the log is copied to the worksheet.

 
                       April 1989

Date       Day      Weight    Trend   Rung
                               _____
 4/1/89   Saturday    145.5    _____    25
 4/2/89   Sunday      145.5    _____    25
 4/3/89   Monday      145.0    _____    25
 4/4/89   Tuesday     146.5    _____    26
 4/5/89   Wednesday   146.5    _____    26
 4/6/89   Thursday    145.0    _____    26
 4/7/89   Friday      146.0    _____    26
 4/8/89   Saturday    144.0    _____    26
 4/9/89   Sunday      145.5    _____    26
4/10/89   Monday      Travel   _____   ____
4/11/89   Tuesday     Travel   _____   ____
4/12/89   Wednesday   145.5    _____    25
4/13/89   Thursday    146.5    _____    25
4/14/89   Friday      145.0    _____    25
4/15/89   Saturday    140.5    _____    26
4/16/89   Sunday      _____    _____   ____
4/17/89   Monday      _____    _____   ____
4/18/89   Tuesday     _____    _____   ____
4/19/89   Wednesday   _____    _____   ____
4/20/89   Thursday    _____    _____   ____
4/21/89   Friday      _____    _____   ____
4/22/89   Saturday    _____    _____   ____
4/23/89   Sunday      _____    _____   ____
4/24/89   Monday      _____    _____   ____
4/25/89   Tuesday     _____    _____   ____
4/26/89   Wednesday   _____    _____   ____
4/27/89   Thursday    _____    _____   ____
4/28/89   Friday      _____    _____   ____
4/29/89   Saturday    _____    _____   ____
4/30/89   Sunday      _____    _____   ____

If you aren't using Excel, calculate the daily trend figure as described on page and enter it in the ``Trend'' column. You could calculate all the trend numbers at the end of the month, but it's better to spend a few seconds every day rather than look upon it as a page full of calculations to do each month. If you keep a cheap pocket calculator next to your logbook, you can calculate the trend in less time than it takes to write the number in the book.