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Custom measurements

Beyond weight, the app tracks body circumferences and composition values. Built-in presets cover common measurements; you can add custom ones for anything else.

What's preloaded

The app ships with these measurement presets, organized by category:

Body circumferences (length):

  • Arm (left, right)
  • Forearm (left, right)
  • Thigh (left, right)
  • Calf (left, right)
  • Wrist
  • Neck
  • Shoulders
  • Chest
  • Waist
  • Hips

Body composition:

  • Body fat (%)
  • Lean mass (mass)

Each preset has a sensible default unit (inches or cm depending on your unit system).

How to enable

By default, all presets are disabled. Enable the ones you'll actually measure:

  1. Profile → Measurements.
  2. Toggle on the ones you want.
  3. They appear as rows on the Log page's Measurements section.

Disabling a preset hides it but does not delete history — re-enabling later restores the data.

Logging a measurement

  1. Log page → Measurements section → tap a row.
  2. Enter the value.
  3. Date defaults to today.
  4. Save.

Custom measurements

If a preset doesn't cover what you want to track, add your own:

  1. Profile → Measurements → + Add custom.
  2. Pick a name.
  3. Pick a dimension (length, mass, volume, duration, count).
  4. Pick a default display unit if you want to override the system default.
  5. Save.

Custom measurements work the same as presets — they appear on the Log page and the dashboard.

Examples of useful custom measurements:

  • Resting heart rate (count, bpm).
  • Blood pressure (custom dimension; see workaround below).
  • Sleep duration (duration, hours).
  • Step count (count).

Two-value measurements

The app stores one numeric value per measurement entry. For things like blood pressure (systolic + diastolic), create two custom measurements ("BP systolic" and "BP diastolic") and log them paired.

Frequency

There's no app-side requirement. Most users:

  • Daily: weight, body fat (if from a smart scale).
  • Weekly: waist, hip, neck.
  • Monthly: arms, thighs, chest.

Trends matter more than precision. Same time of day, same conditions (post-bathroom, fasted, no clothes or consistent clothes) makes the trend cleaner.

Why waist matters

Of all the circumferences, waist is the highest-signal measurement for body composition change. While weight bounces with water, glycogen, and digestion, waist tracks abdominal fat with much less noise.

If you're recomp-ing (gaining muscle while losing fat), weight may be flat or even rising while waist drops. That's the case where weight alone is misleading.

What the dashboard shows

Each enabled measurement is a series on the multi-series dashboard chart. You can:

  • Plot weight + waist together on a dual axis.
  • Overlay body fat % against weight to see recomp.
  • Compare an arm measurement against resistance training volume.

Pattern insights

Measurements participate in the pattern insights engine. With ≥14 days of overlap, the engine can find correlations like:

  • "Waist drops 2 days after dose escalation."
  • "Body fat % co-tracks weight at r=0.92" (definitional, but useful as a reality check).
  • "Neck stable, chest declining" — recomp signature.

Common questions

"Why aren't BMI / FFMI shown as measurements?" They're computed from other values (BMI from weight + height; FFMI from lean mass + height). The Weight section's stat grid surfaces BMI directly. FFMI we don't currently compute — feature request via support if you'd like it.

"Can I delete a preset?" No. Disable instead. Deleting presets would orphan history. Disabled presets don't appear in the UI.

"Can I delete a custom measurement?" Yes. Deletion cascade-deletes all logged values for that measurement. Make sure you actually want it gone.

"My smart scale gives me 12 numbers. Can I import all of them?" Not via direct integration. You can manually log the ones you care about. Body fat % and lean mass are the two most useful from smart scales.

Privacy

Measurement data is included in your export and removed on deletion.

Help docs for Protokol Lab.