Happy Scale: Weight Loss Made Motivated

Well, it’s about that time again. That time of year when everyone resolves that THIS will be their year! In the spirit of those of us who are feeling especially gung ho about losing weight in 2020, I wanted to review this app, that I think will help you, because it helps me to not freak out when I see a higher number on the scale- even though I’ve been “good” this past week.

Author’s note: I am not sponsored by, nor am I affiliated with Happy Scale- I just love this freakin app so much the article ends up sounding way too positive- I just want you to know, I’m not getting paid to say any of this, and I don’t make money from anyone who downloads it- I don’t even have a custom link for tracking. I just love the app. With that said, on to the article…

Say Hello to Happy

A few years back, I paid for the MyFitnessPal Premium subscription. It’s expensive- but I couldn’t find any other actual consumer reviews. Sure there were some affiliated people and some people explaining the features, but no one actually compared the basic version with the premium experience from the perspective of someone about to pay like $80/ year (or $10/ month!) for the service. If you’re interested in reading about that, find my article here.

That said, MyFitnessPal is one of my favorite and most used apps for weight loss. If you didn’t know, I recently had a baby, and am currently on a postpartum weight loss journey that you can read about on my personal blog here. Apart from MFP, another app I open daily is called “Happy Scale.”

I love Happy Scale because it takes all the distortion out of weight loss and lets you see how you’re really performing- good or bad. The holidays recently behind us, I know that you, like myself, have enjoyed many a large and hearty meal- just knowing we’d pay for it the very next day on the scale. Lo & behold, I’ve gained 4 pounds overnight. Except that’s not true, and we both know that’s not true. That’s when Happy Scale comes to the rescue!

Every morning, after I weigh myself, rather than paying attention to the number on the scale, I open my Happy Scale app. There I’ll find my progress, personal best 10-day weight and, most importantly, my trendlines. I also see the app’s best estimate as to when I’ll reach my goal weight based on one of three different rates of weight loss, but that’s easier to show than to tell! Look for pics below!

Before writing this article, I wanted to reach out to Happy Scale for comment- because I was feeling all journalisty and that’s what they would do. I was completely shocked to get any type of response- and the creator of Happy Scale, an indie developer, Russ, told me a few interesting things, including about a new feature currently being worked on! More about that later though.

Happy Scale’s First User

Russ, the developer of Happy Scale, used this app to lose over 100 pounds! He made the app, to help him lose weight, and it has helped many others to date! To learn more about Russ, and his weight loss journey, take a look at this inspiring Twitter thread, where he updated his weight loss monthly, as it happened! It will also show you some screen shots of Happy Scale, which will help you see how it can be motivating- and how it can work to help you in your weight loss journey too!

What’s IN the App?

Every morning, after I get off the scale, I open my Happy Scale app. This is what I see:

As you can see, this app shows my “moving average,” which is probably the most accurate weight for me because it’s based on a weighted average calculated from the last 14 days with more “weight” put on more recent weigh-ins. If you don’t like that- you can use the “Simple 7-day moving average” option, available in the settings tab.

Here, you’ll also see a “10-Day Best” weight-in. Personally, I find it encouraging to see my “10-Day Best” weigh-in. That way, I am encouraged, even though, most of the time, my 10-day best is not the current day.

Finally, at the very top, is your most recent weigh-in. Also, generally speaking, useful information, if for nothing else than to know that the app is syncing properly. I have mine linked to my “Health” app on my iPhone, which syncs to my MyFitnessPal, which syncs to my Nokia health app, which collects its data from my Withings wireless scale, as I weigh in each morning. (Well, almost every morning, I forget or am staying with family every so often, so I don’t always weigh in.) Note: Auto-sync is a Premium feature.

Happy Scale Breaks Your BIG Goal into Manageable Milestones

Beneath those top numbers is your current milestone progress. Happy Scale divides your weight loss into 10 milestones. This is working really well for me, and I feel like having these short-term goals is a healthy way to look at my weight loss, and keep it feeling achievable. As you can see, I’m currently 56% of the way through milestone 5. Basically, it takes your best weigh-in and applies that progress to the milestone. I can also see that I only have 1.6 pounds to go til I complete it! That keeps me excited and motivated!

See What’s Trending

Scrolling down, you’ll then come to your trends. This is also calculated by comparing moving averages, but you get to choose which ones! You can compare, 7, 30, 90 or all-time moving averages by hitting the settings icon and changing it up. I recently changed mine to 7-day. Having the “Lost All-Time” there is useful, just as a data point, but I find the milestones more motivating. For me, sometimes, when I see “Lost All-Time,” I end up just thinking about how much further I need to go, and the Milestones help me quiet those thoughts, and I get to think: “just another pound and a half!”

Predicting Your Achievements

Beneath the trends, are predictions. I find these useful for thinking that my goals really aren’t as far away as I think they are and that they are achievable. These predictions are fairly accurate, in my experience, and I’m very much looking forward to March. Something fun you can do in the settings is also ask for “What will I weigh by *day of week*” or “What will I weight by *calendar date*” or “When will I reach *specific weight amount*” Here’s what mine looks like with those added:

Charting Your Progress

Below the Predictions, you’ll find an adjustable chart.

As you can see, I have mine set to 1 year, but I toggle between the options and it gives me yet another way to view my progress, and celebrate it.

If you take a look at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a “reports” tab. Here’s what my weekly report looks like:

Of course, you have the option of toggling between weekly, monthly and annual reports. Moving further to the right, is a Logbook, this is just where your weigh-ins are stored and you can enter them manually, or if you have the Health App that syncs to this one, they will just show up here.

Premium Version Inclusions

If you’re not a premium user, and you check out the “settings” area, you’ll see a tab that says “What’s In The Deluxe Edition?” If you click there, this is what comes up:

Here is the full list of available features in the deluxe version:

Current pricing for the deluxe version is shown at the bottom. $1.99/ month, $11.99 for a year, or a $29.99 one-time payment for lifetime access to premium.

So, what you get is extras like being able to have the algorithm predict when you’ll weight “x” or what you’ll weigh on “x” date. So, if, for example, you have a party or special occasion coming up- you’ll be able to know approximately what you’ll weight by then. Another thing that comes with Happy Scale Deluxe that I like is the auto-sync feature with the Apple Health app. I also find those weekly reports useful to see week over week, how much I’m losing. The deluxe version also comes with annual reports, that I probably won’t use, and I’m unlikely to ever download a CSV file of my weights, but if you’re a data junkie, you might be into that. Of course there’s a lot to be said for supporting a small business, but in my opinion, the app is helpful and the deluxe features really add to the usefulness and motivational ability of the app and therefore, it’s worth the coin. If I didn’t already have the deluxe lifetime version, I’d buy it again.

The Future of Happy Scale

Right now, the developer is working on a new feature allowing users to pinch & zoom in on their charts, and it’s almost ready for publishing! It was published in late December and is now available! Here’s a video that shows you how it works! For now, the Happy Scale app is available only on IOS. Hopefully, there will be availability for Android in the future. If I hear about an Android version, I’ll update this post!

Final Thoughts

Personally, I love Happy Scale. I especially love the Milestones and seeing my Trends improve. It looks like a slot machine when you tap it, and that’s admittedly kind of fun 🙂 Happy Scale helps me lose weight by keeping me motivated and helping me to see the big picture, while also helping me understand that I’ll achieve my goal one step, or milestone, at a time. I hope that you check out the app, and that it helps you reach your weight loss goals. If you do download the app- let me know what you think in the comments or find me on Twitter, @lululemonexpert