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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

MyFitnessPal Premium Review

Hello everyone!

I just want to start by saying that finding a critical or substantive review of MyFitnessPal Premium online was basically impossible, I found several positive reviews and a lot of posts tagged “review,” but that didn’t have any opinion attached- only descriptions of the new services available in the “Premium” content. I figured that this was somewhere I could add something meaningful to the great sea of information on the Internet.

I have been using MyFitnessPal for about 2 and a half, maybe 3 years, and I use it to manage my weight and keep track of how much I’m eating of what. I’m not as good about logging my exercise, but on days when I’m using the app, I’m pretty good about tracking my food.

Anyways, I have always been curious about the “premium” option, and finally decided to give it a try. However, $10 a month (or $50 a year), for something I’m already getting the majority of the features of for free seemed a tad steep. So, I did what any self-respecting bargain hunter would do and checked for a free trial code online. However, much to the detriment of the company, with many people like myself clamoring for a free trial, there was none proposed or available. I would have been very happy with even just a weeks’ worth to get a general feel for whether or not I was willing to pay! Given that the reviews online that I could find, for the premium options were neither substantive nor critical, I decided to write one of my own. Also: By critical, I don’t necessarily mean “bad,” I just mean offering a critique of pluses and minuses of the service.

Just before signing up, I checked to make sure it would be simple to ‘unsubscribe,’ because you don’t want to sign up for something just to find out that it’s super annoying to unsubscribe or that you can only unsubscribe at a certain time or before xyz date or by calling a 1-800-number… I’ve seen it all. Here are instructions from Apple on how to unsubscribe from a subscription on your iPhone. Super easy. Thanks, Apple!

Signing up was easy, of course, and there it was, the premium content. I immediately went ahead and unchecked the “automatic renewal” button so I wouldn’t forget and accidentally get re-billed for something I am not interested in keeping.

There were several new features available to me within the premium content platform. Each purporting to add their own unique value to the service.

Ad-Free Experience

Let’s start with the most simple concept: premium users receive an ad-free experience. Personally, I rarely- if ever- click on ads. And they really don’t interrupt my enjoyment or function of the app. This feature does not particularly affect me, but it does result in a slightly cleaner looking home page.

Priority Customer Support

“Premium support requests are given top priority, 7 days a week.” Fair enough. I’ve never needed customer support. I doubt I ever will, but if I did, I suppose I can see the value in being served before freemium users.

Macronutrients by Gram

If you upgrade to MFP Premium, you can set your macro-nutrient goal to the exact gram. This feature could be useful if you’re on an If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) diet, but I don’t really use it.

If you ARE on an IIFYM diet, I can see how being able to set exact gram values would be helpful, since you are able to set it by percentage in the freemium version- but only by increments of 5%, and as I understand it, IIFYM diets are more specific and usually to the exact percentage. Although, I must admit that my understanding of IIFYM diets is limited.

It’s interesting to see what percentages of what I’m eating, but beyond that- it doesn’t really do anything for me. If you’re primarily a calorie counter (like myself), then this feature won’t woo you into paying for Premium.

Home Screen Dashboard

Logically, if you can change those Macros goals, and you’re following an IIFYM diet, you might want to choose to display your macros on your homepage, rather than your calories. Premium users can choose to do this. Again, not particularly applicable to myself.

Food Analysis

This is actually really interesting if you’re a data nerd like me. Sometimes the information you receive is very obvious, like “Oh! That oatmeal has lots of carbohydrates in it! Well, I’ll be!” Other times though, the amount of fat in some of my favorite foods astonishes me! That’s when I realize that my lunch time meal of Spicy Chicken Quesadilla soup & a Fresh Stack of crackers has a combined 23 grams of fat. It’s my understanding that freemium users can see the macro nutrients in foods, but that they’re not placed in order of highest to lowest in list form. Premium users can see lists like “Highest in Carbohydrates,” “Highest in Fat,” “Highest in Protein,” and “Highest in Calories.” Following the titles of these lists are a list of your logged foods in order from “highest” to “lowest” of the selected metric.

This is what you see if you’re a “freemium” user

This is what you see if you’re a “Premium” user.

Also: This was a “test page” with a fabricated diet, and not what I actually ate. I was hoping that I could create a very generic example of what someone average might eat in a day if they were on a diet.

Different Goals By Day

If you are interested in changing your calorie goals based on some type of metric (like planned activity) or are experimenting with intermittent fasting, perhaps MyFitnessPal premium is for you. This feature allows you to change your macro and calorie goals by day. I don’t use or plan to use this feature either.

Exercise Calories

If, for example, you have an app synced into MFP, such as FitBit, MFP automatically adjusts your calorie goal to match the number of calories burned through exercise. With MFP premium, not only can you turn this off- if you’d like to keep it engaged, you can select the macros to which to apply your gains. I don’t plan to use this feature. I synced up my FitBit device so that the calories would be logged and if I didn’t want that to happen, I would just un-sync it. Again, if you do IIFYM diets- this feature might be useful to you.

Exclusive Content

This section boasts premium content for premium members. The content changes periodically, and currently there are two posts, dated December 1st. You can’t scroll backwards to see older content.

This section, to me was the most disappointing and poorly executed. The reason that it is poorly executed is because I thought it would be more “pro-tips,” and less “Here’s something you could have Google’d online.” I would LOVE the exclusive content if it were actually exclusive. And I mean this in two distinct ways. First, Instead of doing something unique, like teaming up with a trainer and offering a workout plan, or an eating plan, MyFitnessPal’s Premium content is either a recipe or just instructions on how to achieve the most benefits from the Premium platform. For example, currently, there is a post in “Premium Content” entitled “The Beginner’s Guide to MyFitnessPal Premium.” And it just explains all the features to you.

The second post this month was regarding intermittent fasting, which may or may not be safe, and explained how you can use MyFitnessPal’s Premium feature of daily calorie goal setting to help you fast.

The second way in which the content is not exclusive is that I can find it online.

Just an aside, and feel free to skip this if you like, but I thought maybe I was signed into MFP while on my computer, or something, so I used Chrome’s “Incognito” to search for “MyFitnessPal Premium Intermittent Fasting” and the blog post I linked above popped up in the search results. I even changed computers and checked that way, and I was still able to see the “exclusive” post.

I suppose that the biggest reason the “Exclusive Content” section is so disappointing is because even though MyFitnessPal’s description under the “Exclusive Content” section proclaims “Articles and tips available only to our Premium subscribers,” the articles are available without a subscription- which makes this statement false, and therefore not worth paying for.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, if I were on an If It Fits Your Macros diet, I might actually find this premium service useful. The adjustable macro settings for both food and exercise sound useful.

The only feature I find moderately entertaining and useful is the one photographed that shows me lists of the foods that are highest in calories, fat, carbohydrates and protein. However, if I desperately wanted to know which foods I consumed had the most calories, fat, protein or carbohydrates, I could probably compile the data myself. But I don’t. So, this feature, as redeeming as it is, is just not relevant enough for me to spend $10 a month on an app.

The features that, to me, do not add much value if any are the ad-free, since it did not disturb me before, the different goals by day and home screen dashboard since I have no intention of changing my daily goals or dashboard settings and the priority customer support since I have never (over the course of 3 years) used it and do not anticipate ever needing it.

The only feature that I sincerely dislike is the “exclusive content.” If you say something is premium and “only” for premium users, and you’re making people pay you for it and it turns out to not be so “exclusive” and available with a Google search… Well, what does that mean? It means it’s not exclusive.

At the end of the day, it will be the consumer who decides whether MFP Premium options are right for them. This is only one voice on the Internet, of many.

Finally, if you liked this article, please share it. I had an extremely difficult time finding any critical or substantive reviews of the MFP Premium app when I was looking before trying it. I hope this helps you- And I hope it can help others as well before they spend money on something they may not end up enjoying.

Thank you so much for reading.

Update:

The Reddit community has been so helpful to me with this post, I really can’t thank them enough. So, in light of all the new information I’ve received over the past few days, I’d like to update this post.

First: I am not affiliated with MFP, My Fitness Pal Premium or Under Armour (who recently acquired MFP). I’m just a college student who loves to write and help people (hopefully) with her posts.

Second: I paid for the MFP Premium membership myself. And I was not asked to do this review. I wrote it because I was shocked that there wasn’t a good one online when I googled.

Third: The Reddit community helped me learn how to get some of the “Macro-Tracking” features for free with Android plug-ins available for free online. I must admit to not having tried this, but the Redditor who posted the link said that it worked for him (or her):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/myfitnesspal-macro-settin/glpkdgpldbbdpjbpimehpkpgdicibgpi

Thanks to Redditor abeworldforever for posting this link in the Reddit feed.

Redditor Atlastoned suggests ‘Setting your calories to zero and tracking your macros this way. MFP will show you the totals (although in red) of your consumption. If you want to see green numbers and how much you have left in your day the premium might help.’ (edited for clarity)

Redditor LoChif suggests using the following “macro-focused tool:”

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.jpro.macros&hl=en

Thank you again to the Reddit Community for helping me out!

January 22, 2016 Update

First, I want to say thanks again to the Reddit community and for the people who have commented here. I am always looking for feedback on my blog to know how I can make a more thorough, accurate and helpful post. Thanks.

Second: It has been about two and a half months since I subscribed to MyFitnessPal Premium. I actually paid for the year upfront because I knew I wanted to make this post a thorough one and I figured I would need at least a few months to become familiar with the MFP Premium features- also: $50 a year is less than $5 a month, while the monthly subscription is $10 a month, so I also considered the economics of the “deal.” In retrospect, I suppose I could have tried it for a month at the $10 rate and subscribed at $50, if I liked it- but hindsight is 20/20.

Third: The reason for this update. So, above I’m sure I mentioned that one of the main reasons I subscribed was for the “premium content,” which I later discovered was not exclusive as advertised. I also want to mention that is has not been updated since December 1st, 2015. So? The exclusive content that I was looking forward to- in addition to not being exclusive- has also not been updated. I will update this post if/ when it is.

February 16, 2016 Update

Hello again, everyone! I just wanted to give a quick/ short update to say that I wrote to MyFitnessPal Premium customer service to receive an update about when/ where I could find the Premium content that I’m paying for, and they said:

“Thank you for contacting our Premium Support…
…We are definitely working on more content for our Premium users and hope to have this released soon! We will share your feedback with our team and we appreciate your help and patience as we work to improve our program!”

Just wanted to share this! Thanks for reading!

December 26th, 2017 Update:

Just wanted to update to reiterate what is in the comments section of this post: After cancelling, and being without the premium version for a while, I decided to re-sign up to get rid of ads, which were becoming invasive and also to experiment with varying daily calorie goals.

My First 5K!

No, really. I did one. It was hokey and gimmicky and kind of tacky, but I did it anyway. And even though I’m fighting off a cold, I had a lot of fun. I ran it in a time of… oh, wait- I’m super not skilled & also: I’m pretty slow, so, don’t laugh when I say 50 minutes. I know that’s not a good time, but I don’t really care- I had a great time with my friends. Except the part where nobody (including the organizers) told me that there would be “off path” parts and I was wearing my Vibrams and they were new, and they got all muddy 🙁 If I would have known I would have worn my trail runners. I actually probably shouldn’t have gone due to my cold, but the race organizers had a “take no prisoners!” and “give no refunds!” attitude. And I’m not about to waste $50, so I went and tried my best and I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that my lungs are still securely in place in my chest. Well, I guess you figured out that I survived, since I’m writing this right now!

I definitely see more 5Ks in my future, it really wasn’t too hard, and 50 minutes gives me a lot to work towards. I hope to shave off at least 15 minutes in the future. I think 35 is a good time for someone who isn’t super competitive… or fit. At least, that’s what I, who knows almost nothing about running thinks. What do you think is a good time? What should I work towards?

My Overall Impression of Barre, as a Newbie

I’ve decided to get back into fitness and in order to achieve some of my goals, I signed up for Barre Method classes. I think Barre will help me tone my body, while the yoga I currently do helps lengthen my muscles. I also consider yoga to be a spiritual activity more-so than a physical one. Not that yoga doesn’t challenge me, it does. It’s just not nearly as intense as the overall conditioning Barre entails.

I also said that I would give a review & provide my impression of what happens during Barre after I had taken a few classes. I have been to Barre 6 times since my last post and have gotten a pretty clear picture of what to expect every class.

Every time I walk in the door, the instructor signs me in. This is important because they do try to learn your name. If you’re performing an exercise correctly during class they’ll say “Good job, *InsertYourNameHere*” It gives the class a more personal feel. And everybody seems happy to be there.

First we started with a small warm up without weights, lifting our arms and legs. Then we grabbed our weights. I have been using the lightest weights, since I’m a newb. We did exercises that worked every muscle in our arms. Then we sat down and did a few stretches. Then we approached the bar and worked on our legs, standing, doing various exercises that mostly involved double loop resistance tubes that look like this:

We would wrap one side around one leg, and the other side around the foot of the other leg and pull with that foot. Standing on one leg for that long was probably the most difficult part. I have been trying to keep the weight on the inside part of the standing foot, it helps… a little. Then, between switching legs we sat down and did some stretches. All the while energetic dance music is playing in the background. It was almost entertaining. If I hadn’t had been in so much pain already, I may have been genuinely amused. After evening it out, and completing the other side, we sat down beside the bar, holding it for stability, and used our “seat” muscles to lift ourselves slightly off the ground, one side at a time. Then it was time for ab work, but not before doing a few more stretches. There were quite a few different abdominal exercises with and without the use of the bar. One such exercise involved squeezing a ball between my thighs while doing sit-ups.

Finally, a 2-minute Superman back workout & a few final stretches to round out the final part of the class before everyone gets up to clean their mat & put away their instruments of cruelty (weights & resistance tube).

I found the instructor to be very attentive and understanding of my newbie status. They even came over to correct my form! Everyone else was really friendly too. And there is so much Lulu Love in those classes. About 75% of the girls in these classes were wearing Lululemon including the instructors.

My main critique is that on the website of one of the more popular Barre Method studios they say that it’s OK if you aren’t tiny. I’m not tiny, but I’m not plus-sized either. However, I AM really out of shape and I could have used some suggestions on how to perform easier versions of many of the exercises we did. I didn’t receive any suggestions for alterations for the first five classes I went to. Then, one day a girl who was plus-sized DID come to Barre. First, I want to say: Good for her. I find it rather intimidating, so I was really impressed by her courage. But the only time I ever heard any instructor offer suggestions for alternative ways to perform exercises was when she came. I used MANY of these suggestions.

Side note: If I ever wake up one day & decide I’d like to be intimidated by the beauty of other women I’ll go to barre, first thing!

One other thing that bothered me was that the instructors are constantly saying “you’re almost done, push through” or “finish strong” or “this is your last chance to work *insert muscle group here,* give it your all!” None of these statements are true. The classes are very challenging, the whole entire time. There is no reason to give me false hope about the workout being almost over, especially with no clocks nearby to tell me the truth.

That said, I do enjoy a good challenge- so I’ll keep up the classes for now! I have 14 left on my pass!

UPDATE: October 11, 2015

I was re-reading this post, and just want to say that I did end up completing that 20 class pass, and purchasing another. I completed that pass (so, 40 classes in all), but did not purchase another. I actually like, but don’t love, Barre. I just never got good at it. While I do enjoy a challenge, I think it’s safe to say that I need to feel results as well. I just don’t think I ever got better at Barre, and I think I’m going to wait until I’m in better general condition before I get into Barre again, but I’ll keep you in the loop!