I use likwidtek’s epic weight loss spreadsheet at least daily. The routine of adding my weight in each morning helps keep me focused, and the graphs and data are awesome for a nerd like me.

Within a week of using it though, I started making changes and improvements that I still use to this day. I thought I’d document them for you, and if there’s any demand I’ll release my version for others to utilise. In fact, I’ve been tempted for some time to turn the principles of it into a website, with more graphs and whatnot, so if that’s something that interests you, badger me and I might just make it.

So, here are my additions…

Columns

Stones and Pounds

As a Britain, we use a combination of metric and imperial, and as a Britain, we do it properly, so Stones are used instead of jumping from Pounds to Tons. If nothing else it gives me extra areas where I can claim a win. So I added a Stones column and a Pounds column, the main weight column is then auto calculated based on these values.

Delta

I constantly had to do the mental arithmatic to calculate what I’d lost on a given day (I weigh myself daily), so I added a Delta column that calculates the difference from yesterday. This isn’t so useful for trends or anything, but it’s a time saver.

Total Loss

Just a running tally of starting weight minus today’s weight. It’s nice to watch this grow :).

Loss

I updated the existing Loss column so that in addition to the standard #faturday deltas, it also shows today’s. Ideally I’d like today’s to be a delta against last #faturday, but my spreadsheet skills are sorely lacking so it just compares with last week.

If anybody can point me in the right direction, please let me know in the comments. My current formula is below:

= IF ( OR ( B59 = "Sa" , C59 = TODAY ( ) ) , IF ( ISBLANK ( D59 ) , "" , D52 - D59 ) , "" )

BMI

BMI is widely accepted as being a really shitty measure of health and fatness. However it’s widely accepted as the standard, doctors use it, and insurance companies use it, so meh, let’s all jump on the bandwagon.

I added a BMI column, which requires your height to calculate. I found the various bands for Normal, Overweight, Moderately Obese, Severely Obese and Very Severely Obese, and I colour code based on those.

I’m really enjoying watching myself get ever closer to the Overweight bracket.

Other

Percentage to Target

Next to the “Pounds to go” cell, I added “% to target” and it’s corresponding “% to go”. Without these figures, I’d never imagine that I’m over 40% of my weigh to my target. Figures like these really put your progress into perspective.

Tape Measurements

I added a new sheet for tracking my body tape measurements, which I do each #faturday morning. The data can only really be used to watch for trends because it’s so difficult to be precise with where you’re measuring. Still, if the graphs all point down, we’re doing good!

Finally

If you have any suggestions, or you’ve made any changes you’d like to share, let me know in the comments. I’d love to track more metrics and find more things that I can use as a win!