Numbers tutorial: How to make your own weight loss tracker

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Now Summer is upon us, it’s time to dust off that gym card you got back in January and get back on the New Year’s resolution wagon. To help with this, we’ve devised a simple way to use Apple’s Numbers app to keep track of your weight loss and fitness goals. The basic, single-page layout illustrated here monitors weight loss and subsequent changes in body mass index (BMI), but the worksheet can easily be adapted to show more advanced statistics such as resting heart rate and so forth, simply by adding further tables.

Step 1: Blank canvas

In a new doc, double-click Sheet 1 on the left and enter a name. Rename Table 1 ‘Personal Details’. Delete all but two columns and six rows. Select ‘Blue Headers’ from Styles and delete the Header Row.

Step 2: Enter personal details

Label the rows: Gender, Age, Height (in metres), Start Weight (in kg) and Target Weight. Drag the table to the right, resize it to around 8cm wide by 6cm high and enter your details.

Step 3: Create main table

Add a Basic table, named ‘Weight / BMI Tracker’ with about 25 rows and six columns labelled Date, Weight (in kg), Target Weight, Difference, Total Weight Lost and BMI. Select the Blue Headers again.

Step 4: On target

Drag the table out to 18cm wide by 23cm high, then click on cell C2 (the first in the Target Weight column) and type =IF(ISBLANK(B2), “”,Personal Details :: $Target Weight) into the formula window.

Step 5: Copy, paste, format

Drag the lower-right corner of the cell downwards to copy and paste this formula down the column. Hit the Command+A keyboard shortcut to select both tables, then centre the text within the cells.

Step 6: Difference engine

Enter start date and weight in cells A2 and B2. In the first row of the Difference column, enter the formula: =IF(ISBLANK(B2), “”, B2-C2). Tick, then drag down to copy and paste the formula to the cells below.

Step 7: Running total

In cell 1 of Total Weight Lost, enter the formula: =IF(ISBLANK(B2), “”,$’Start Weight (kg)’-B2) and tick. Click the orange triangle in the formula bar and select ($‘Start Weight (kg)’), then accept.

Step 8: Calculate BMI

In the BMI column, use formula: =IF(ISBLANK(B2), “”,B2/ ($’Height (m)’*$’Height (m)’)). This takes weight from the B column and divides it by the square of the height in Personal Details. Set to 1 decimal place.

Step 9: Weight loss chart

Shift+select Weight and Target Weight columns. Click the Charts button. Select Line Chart and name it Weight Loss. Click the Inspector’s Axis tab and enter 60 as the Min Y Axis value.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)