Demystifying Cronometer's Trends
Have you ever wondered what all the data in Cronometer could be useful for? Some people have been logging foods into their account for years and have hundreds of days of entries. If you’re thinking the past is in the past then think again. Head to the Trends tab.
On the web version you can find your Trends tab on the sidebar from any page. On mobile head to the Discover Page and use the navigation bar along to top to switch between your Dashboard, Charts, Reports and Snapshots.
One important thing to note about Trends is that if you’re a Cronometer Basic user (on the free plan) you’ll only have access to Trends from the past seven days. Upgrade to Cronometer Gold for access to Trends across any date range.
Below, we go over all of the valuable pieces of information you can find here.
Charts
The Charts section will show you a visual representation of a few metrics over time:
- Energy Consumed will show you a breakdown of what you’ve been eating over a given time period.
- Weight will show you your logged weight biometric over a given time frame.
- Single Nutrient will show you your intake of any given nutrient (like Potassium) over a given time frame.
- Single Nutrition Score will show you your performance on any given Nutrition Score (like All Targets) over a given time frame.
For inspiration for how to use and leverage Cronometer’s Charts, click here.
Nutrition Report
The second option under your Trends is Nutrition Report. This will give you the average of your nutrition information over a given time frame.
There’s lots of useful information to be garnered here such as which vitamins and minerals you might be under consuming.
For inspiration for how to use and leverage Cronometer’s Nutrition Report, click here.
Print Report
The Print Report section is available to Cronometer Gold subscribers and will allow you to print or save your Nutrition Report as a PDF.
Snapshots
This is where you can add photos of your progress over time.
What Do Our Trends Tell Us?
Okay, now that we’ve found the data in the Trends tab, what can we learn from it?
First and foremost, our trends can indicate how seriously we’re using Cronometer. Skipping days, lying or omitting information from your accounts will mean that your Trends will not accurately reflect your health.
In order to make sure you’re not looking at empty days, make sure to toggle down and select ‘Non-Empty Days’ on the Chart or Report.
If A Relationship Exists
Cronometer’s Trends can help you easily identify if a relationship exists between two variables.
For example, if you start to slow down on your exercise, does your weight increase? Or do you start to eat less?
Does your appetite fluctuate with your menstrual cycle?
Does your caffeine intake affect your sleep?
From Personal Experience
Here’s a personal note from our Community Manager, Eliisa Tennant about how she’s learned more about herself by tracking in Cronometer and checking her Trends.
I am fanatical about recording my weight. I weigh myself under the same conditions every morning and record it first thing. So my weight trends are very accurate. I’m also very good at recording my exercise. Thanks to the beautiful place where I live, my main exercise is “hiking or walking at a normal pace through fields and hillsides”.
Once the weather started to turn cooler and I started working day shifts – both of which cut into my hiking time – I noticed my weight slowly inching up. Instead of trying to determine what the cause for this steady increase might be I consulted my favourite app. Sure enough, the evidence was there; the Trends tab helped me identify the relationship between my exercise and my weight.
Where I fail to use Trends to its fullest is when I neglect to record my calories and nutrition accurately. My calorie counts can seem absurdly low if I forget a day, a meal or a snack, and my nutrition data will be way off over time if I don’t record everything I eat.
Rather than view this as a reason to beat myself up, I find it helpful to look at the inaccuracies in my calorie and nutrition reports as indicators of what was going on in my life that made me less likely to diary accurately. Was I having PMS induced sugar cravings and overindulging on sweets? Was I travelling and eating a lot of unfamiliar, unmeasured foods, so not recording instead of estimating? Or was I going through a stressful time and loosening my grip on the routines that keep me physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy?
For me, diet and exercise are just as important for my mental well-being as meditation, spiritual practices or relationships with friends and family.
Personally, if I skip logging my meals in Cronometer, my whole day is a little off. It usually means that something is off balance in my life: maybe work, relationship stress or just the change of seasons has me out of my routine. Sometimes what isn’t recorded can tell me just as much as what is: when I skip a food, a day or a few days, what’s wrong?
I look at my Trends the way I might look at a personal journal. Trends show me life patterns and can help me determine what throws me off, so I can watch out for obstacles in the future.
Did my diary suddenly get sparse when I started a new job or left a relationship?
Does my weight go up or down with natural rhythms like seasons or for women, monthly cycles?
Do I feel better and sleep better when I get more exercise, or am I overdoing it?
Do too many carbs make me more likely to binge, and less likely to report my true calorie intake while my (faithfully reported!) weight climbs up?
When looking at Trends, I can garner information that can help me become the happiest, healthiest self I can be and that can be a powerful tool for positive change!
With that in mind, go forth and check your Trends. You just might learn something new about yourself!
