Two months in, and my weekly averages just crossed the thirty-pound mark

Sep 30 3238 views 25 posts

I have kept a small spreadsheet since the beginning, mostly because I prefer patterns to single-day numbers. I weigh in every Sunday morning before coffee, then average the last four readings so one odd day does not send me spiraling.

Eight weeks in, my weekly average has moved from 241 to 209. That is 32 pounds, and it still feels strange to type. The first month went quickly, then weeks five and six barely budged. My average was down only 0.4 pounds across those two weeks, and I had to talk myself out of overthinking it. Week seven caught up.

The changes themselves are pretty ordinary: protein at breakfast, a twenty minute walk after dinner, and measuring my waist instead of trusting only the scale. I am down two jean sizes.

For those further along, did your weekly averages eventually smooth out, or did the stalls keep coming?

👍 4 ❤️ 1

Nice—the 4-week rolling average is the move. I do a 7-day median plus a monthly waist measurement at the navel, because scale weight gets noisy from sodium, glycogen, and gut contents. My first month dropped fast, then I flatlined for 10 days, then got a whoosh. In the trials the average loss is usually slower, and early water/glycogen can make the first stretch look wild, so I wouldn’t assume all 32 is fat yet. Have you added any non-scale metric? A waist tape or same pair of jeans has kept me sane when the average stalls.

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this is so satisfying to read. I'm a few months into my own empty-nester reset, and the thing that finally clicked was pairing my Sunday weigh-in with a one-line "what helped" note. Last week it was: walked the long loop twice and prepped a big pot of minestrone. The scale moved, but so did my energy. Your four-week average is smart. Do you track anything non-scale in that spreadsheet—clothes, stairs, how often you cook? I'm curious what patterns show up when the number stalls.

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This is such a thoughtful way to track. The four-week average is a lovely buffer for water shifts. One thing that helped me was adding a few non-scale columns to my own sheet: waist at the navel, how my clothes fit, and an energy score out of five. My weekly average sometimes stalls while my waist keeps moving, and seeing both helps me stay patient. Have you noticed any changes in how your clothes fit or in your energy yet? Sunday before coffee sounds like a calm, consistent ritual. Congratulations on eight weeks of steady effort.

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This is such a steady way to see the trend. One thing I’ve started adding to my own log is a quick 1–5 note on morning hunger and how long I stay comfortably full after lunch—mostly because the scale can move while those cues are still catching up. I also have a tiny column for “stairs felt easy/medium/hard.” It’s helped me spot weeks where the average stalls but my body feels different. Have you noticed any shifts in hunger, fullness, or energy yet, or are you keeping the spreadsheet focused on weight for now? No pressure—just curious.

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Hotel scale chaos is my nemesis, so I use my packed carry-on as a calibration weight: weigh it at home, then at the hotel gym. The difference tells me the scale's offset. Nerdy, but it stops me from panicking over a fake 3-lb jump after a salty airport day. Do you flag travel weeks differently in your spreadsheet, or just let the trend line absorb them? I’m on the road three weeks a month, so Sunday weigh-in is sometimes in a random hotel bathroom with terrible lighting and worse coffee.

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Congrats—241 to 209 in eight weeks is huge, and I get why it feels strange. I’m deep in a plateau myself: my weekly average has been prked at 184.6 for almost three weeks, even though the daily numbers bounce around like they’re bored. The only thing keeping me sane is a Sunday morning ritual: weigh, log, close the spreadsheet, go for a long walk without checking my phone. I’m not changing anything drastic yet, just holding the line. Did you have any early weeks where your average flattened for a bit before dropping again? I’m trying to figure out when a plateau is just noise versus when to tweak something.

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Congrats—32 lbs is wild. I regained a chunk after my first go-round, so I’m weirdly superstitious about the scale now. One thing that’s helped me this time: I take a photo in the same outfit on the first of the month, plus I note how stairs feel. The number and I argue; the photos don’t. Have you noticed any non-scale stuff shifting yet—rings, energy, how clothes sit? And when your average stalls, do you look at anything besides food/water to explain it?

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Congrats—32 lbs in eight weeks is a huge shift. I do a similar Sunday average, but I also add a one-line note about sleep and evening hunger. It’s been weirdly useful: when my average flattens, it’s usually a short-sleep week, not a food week. Have you noticed any non-scale pattern like that yet? I’m trying to be careful not to over-read the scale, so I’m curious whether your spreadsheet has a column that helps you stay kind to yourself on the

👍 6 ❤️ 2

I’m a bit behind you in my own empty-nester reset, and the thing that’s helped me most is a “kitchen bites” note. I taste while cooking way more than I realized—none of it feels like eating, but it shows up. Now I pre-portion a little bowl of whatever I’m making and sit down with it, which has made my weekly average less noisy. Curious: has anything non-scale started changing for you before the average does, like your after-dinner walk pace or how early you wake up?

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yo congrats, 32 down is wild. one thing i added to my own sheet: a column for “up past 2am y/n” and a lil soda-swap tally. i used to crush 2-3 regular sodas during late raids, now it’s sparkling water + zero-sugar flavor squirts. my weekly average almost always stalls after a string of 3am salty-snack nights, even when calories look similar. not magic, just a pattern i wish i’d tracked sooner. do you log sleep or late gaming sessions anywhere, or is your spreadsheet strictly weigh-ins? curious if your weird weeks line up with bad sleep too.

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This is so good to see. I run a cafe, and the pastry case is my boss battle. One thing that helped me: I keep a tiny dry-erase tally on the walk-in door for every “just a bite” I take while prepping. At close I tally it. No judgment, just data. Turns out I was eating a small meal in croissant shrapnel before lunch. Now I plate one thing at 3pm, sit down, and log it like a real menu item. Not perfect, but it stopped the invisible nibbles. What’s the one cafe item that still calls your name? Also congrats on the 32—your spreadsheet must look like a ski slope.

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Unpopular spreadsheet take: I’d care less about the total than the slope of the 4-week average. Mine looked like a cliff weeks 1–3, then the trendline settled into ~1.2 lb/wk, which felt like “stalling” until I graphed it. For yours, 32/

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Your spreadsheet discipline is impressive. One thing that helped me was adding a monthly waist measurement and a photo in the same outfit, because the scale and my clothes did not always move together. It made flat weeks feel less discouraging. At eight weeks, has anything non-scale changed yet—stairs, sleep, rings, or how a favorite shirt fits? I am curious which signal showed up first for you. Also, how do you keep tracking from becoming another thing to obsess over?

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For what it's worth, Crossing that thirty-pound mark with a trend line instead of a single Sunday number is so satisfying. One thing that helped me was adding a tiny habit column next to my weigh-ins: days I hit my step goal and days I actually sat down for meals. Color-coding that against my weekly average showed me my steadier weeks came from boring consistency, not perfect weeks. What’s one habit that’s been easier to keep than you expected? And is there one you’re still tweaking?

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I also track a 7-day rolling average, but the useful column is weekly rate of change, not the raw average. Mine went 2.1 lb/wk early, then 0.9, then flat for 10 days, then dropped again. That flat stretch was travel + restaurant sodium, not a real stall. Do you log context tags (sleep, alcohol, salt, steps) next to the Sunday number? That’s where the patterns show up for me.

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Night shift here. My Sunday weigh-in is after I wake, not before coffee, because my morning is everyone else’s evening. I also log waist and how my work pants fit. Scale average hides a lot when sleep flips. 32 lbs in 8 weeks is quick. What’s your plan for when the four-week average stalls? That’s where I always got sloppy.

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I’m in the empty-nester chapter too. The thing that surprised me was how much my walks changed my evening snacking — not because of calories, but because I wasn’t home staring into the pantry at 8 p.m. I also started keeping a running list

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fellow dorm dweller here. My spreadsheet has an extra column: "grams of protein per dollar." Canned chicken from the food bank plus a $1 bag of frozen broccoli is my current champion. Also, I weigh the dining hall's "one scoop" of pulled pork because it swings from 2 oz to 6 oz depending on who's serving. Did your cheap protein staples change as your weekly average dropped? I'm two months in and suddenly cottage cheese feels like a luxury.

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Congrats on the 32! I get the strange typing feeling. My spreadsheet has a “scale location” column because hotel scales are chaos. Last trip, a hotel scale had me up 4 lbs overnight, but my home scale two days later showed a loss. Now I only compare road-to-road averages and note whether I’m home or traveling. Do you track where you weigh in? That one tweak saved me from spiraling in a random gym.

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Congrats—32 lbs is huge! I love the Sunday pre-coffee ritual. Something that helped me was adding a second tiny column: energy 1–5 and “hit my water?” because my weight trend got noisy when sleep was bad, even if I was doing everything else right. Did you notice any habit shifts that preceded your biggest drops—steps, late-night snacking, meal prep? Also curious: do you track anything besides weight, like waist or how a specific pair of jeans fits? Those non-scale wins kept me going when my average plateaued.

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Curious if you track any non-scale inputs? I added a sleep column and it’s oddly predictive: weeks I average under 6.5 hrs, my Sunday weigh-in stalls or bounces 0.3–0.5 lb even when food looks identical. Late salty dinners = a 1.5–2 lb bounce that vanishes by Wednesday. My columns: date, weight, sleep hrs, and Y/N for “ate after 9.” What’s one variable that’s actually shown up in your data besides the weight itself?

Tbh nice work—trusting the 4-week average is the real win here. One thing I added later, and still use in maintenance, is a “same week last month” column instead of only week-to-week. Early on the drops are loud; later, a 2-pound monthly shift can feel invisible until you compare it to 30 days ago. I also take one monthly photo in the same t-shirt and shorts. The scale stalled for three weeks once while that shirt went from snug to normal, which kept me from overreacting. What non-scale sign have you noticed so far? For me, stairs at work stopped requiring a pep talk.

Add a monthly waist measurement. Same spot, after bathroom, before food. I work nights, so the scale is noise half the time. Tape and one pair of non-stretch jeans tell the truth. Mine went flat 18 days while waist dropped 1.5 inches. That kept me from messing with a routine that was working. Do you have a waist column yet? With 32 down, I'd bet it moved. Spreadsheet is fine. Just don't let the scale be the only witness.

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Nice work. One thing I wish I’d started earlier: a waist measure at the navel and a monthly progress photo in the same lighting. My scale slope looked great, but my waist barely moved one stretch because I was losing some lean mass too. Have you checked any non-scale trend, or is it all scale? I also add a tiny note column for sleep and stress, since my “whoosh” weeks usually follow a bad-sleep stretch, not a perfect-food one. Not trying to rain on the 32 lbs — that’s a steep, impressive drop — just curious whether your spreadsheet shows the same kind of lag.