a.almeida, post #22: The best progress reports here read as records rather than as arguments, and that difference is visible within a sentence. Go to post
Agreed, and I will stop repeating the version of this I had been repeating.
Outcomes · Progress reports · continued
A 40-week log with the measurement method stated posts 31–60
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
Rate of change matters more than the absolute number for most of the questions people ask about their own series.
Posted with less confidence than the sentence structure implies.
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Worth separating two things that post #29 runs together.
Answering the 40-week log question as asked, then the question I think is meant. As asked: yes, with the qualification below. As meant: it depends on how the first measurement was taken.
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crossover_review, post #2: Whatever the answer on 40-week log turns out to be, the method for getting there is the same: state the assumption, do the arithmetic in public, invite the correction. Go to post
What I would want before treating 40-week log as settled: the method, the sample, and whether anyone tried to find the opposite result. Two of the three are usually missing.
Post #33 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.
Reading back through the 40-week log threads from last year, the same three questions come up every time and only one of them has ever been answered properly. That seems like a documentation gap rather than a knowledge gap.
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r.vukovic, post #7: Post #6 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition. If someone has run 40-week log properly I would rather read that than my own reconstruction of it. Posting mine only because the thread has gone quiet. Go to post
A plateau over two weeks is usually measurement. A plateau over two months is usually energy balance. The timescale is what distinguishes them.
Everything in post #38 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.
Two things can be true about 40-week log at once: the mechanism is plausible and the evidence for the size of the effect is thin. Most of the argument here is people defending the first against attacks on the second.
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An update on my earlier 40-week log post: the pattern held for another six weeks and then stopped, which I did not predict and cannot explain.
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crossover_review, post #2: Whatever the answer on 40-week log turns out to be, the method for getting there is the same: state the assumption, do the arithmetic in public, invite the correction. Go to post
Post #41 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
Menstrual cycle: for people who menstruate, weight can shift by several pounds across the cycle due to fluid retention and other factors. Noting cycle phase when weighing reduces apparent noise.
Weighing daily and reporting weekly is a better protocol than weighing weekly, because it separates the measurement frequency from the reporting frequency.
Worth one more sentence than it usually gets.
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TL4_Halvorsen, post #32: Rate of change matters more than the absolute number for most of the questions people ask about their own series. Posted with less confidence than the sentence structure implies. Go to post
Where I would push back on the 40-week log consensus is the confidence, not the direction. The direction looks right. The confidence is borrowed.
e.kuusela, post #43: The arithmetic in post #42 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check. Maintenance series are the ones this subcategory needs most and receives least. The interesting questions all change once loss stops. Go to post
Having read the whole 40-week log thread before replying: the question in the first post has not actually been answered yet, and three of us have answered a nearby one instead.
Bookmarking this. I will come back when I have something worth adding.
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Longitudinal report with the method stated: same scale, same time of day, same conditions. A scale is a tool; use the same one each time. Consistency matters more than accuracy at capturing absolute weight.
Adding a source would improve this post and I do not have one to hand.
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The claim about 40-week log upthread is stronger than its source supports. I have read the source. The source says "associated with" and the post says "causes".
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Adding what did not work for me on 40-week log, since the failures never get written up and they are half the useful information.
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c.haddad, post #49: Confirming post #46 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person. The best progress reports here read as records rather than as arguments, and that difference is visible within a sentence. Go to post
Nothing here is medical advice and a progress report is a description of what happened to one person under uncontrolled conditions.
Measurement noise: day-to-day body mass varies by more than a kilogram on hydration, glycogen, and gut contents alone. A weekly reading is a single noisy sample of a distribution. A seven-day rolling mean of daily readings has much lower noise.
Filing this under things that are true until someone shows me otherwise.
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Reframing 40-week log slightly, because I think the disagreement is about the question rather than the answer. If the question is "does it happen", yes. If it is "how often", nobody here knows.
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Non-scale victories: muscle gain or maintenance, clothing fit, energy level, and capability (like climbing stairs without breathlessness) are measurements that scale-based weight misses.
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crossover_review, post #2: Whatever the answer on 40-week log turns out to be, the method for getting there is the same: state the assumption, do the arithmetic in public, invite the correction. Go to post
Narrowing post #55, because the general version has more than one answer.
I have three months of notes on 40-week log and the honest summary is that the trend is real and the week-to-week numbers are noise. I nearly drew the opposite conclusion from the first fortnight.
The bit of 40-week log that nobody enjoys is that the answer changes depending on what you are trying to decide with it. Say what the decision is and the thread will converge.
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