

Show HN: HipStat – Track Inches, Not Pounds - tomeglenn
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.idh54sd31jrgppn131wo02

======
tomeglenn
Hey guys, I've been a lurker of HN for a while and thought I'd post up a Show
HN thread for my new Android/Web app geared towards tracking body measurements
rather than body weight.

This is a super early release so there are bound to be issues (see:
[http://genius.com/4126912/Genius-the-genius-isms/Take-the-
ro...](http://genius.com/4126912/Genius-the-genius-isms/Take-the-roast-out-of-
the-oven)).

Really interested in getting some early feedback, so your comments are very
much appreciated.

The plan is to focus on next implementing goal tracking and then to add some
simple social elements (a la Instagram).

Cheers!

PS: If you don't have an Android device, you can access it via the web at
[http://app.hipstat.com](http://app.hipstat.com)

~~~
bjcubsfan
I think the large picture of the woman in the bikini might be a little too
revealing. You might go with something tamer. I imagine it would make the
target audience more comfortable.

~~~
atrophying
Yeah, the picture is super off-putting; I liked the app concept but any
interest I had disappeared when I saw that login screen. It looks like
something more suited for Tinder than a health tracking app, and frankly, I'm
sick of seeing skimpily clad women as the metric for idealness. It's demeaning
and demotivating as hell if you can't fit into that mold. Not to mention that
some titillating picture of a woman's ass isn't in any way appropriate for a
general interest app in the first place.

------
nkozyra
I may be missing it, but the cool thing about self-quantification usually is
that you're not responsible for data acquisition. Things like Fitbit/Aria and
Mint give you some automation and make it easier and more fun to track data
(and ostensibly turn it into action).

Of course, there's no smart tape that I know of, but I think it would be CV-
trivial to rescale & superimpose silhouettes of progressive pictures on top of
each other to track progress. I know a lot of people would shy away from doing
something like that, but it would be pretty cool. As it is, measurement with a
tape is a pain and worse, subject to a good deal of human error.

~~~
amelius
Isn't it possible to do the measurements visually using Kinect?

~~~
nkozyra
Possibly? I don't know how accurate they'd be, but that's the general idea I'm
getting at. Most people have a hard time committing to long-term work for
self-quantification.

Measurement of progress autonomously means less work, more data and perhaps
more chance at success.

------
1wd
How about track cm, not inches?

~~~
tomeglenn
This will be an option soon.

------
onion2k
Before you sign up to try it - there's no way to remove your account or
indicate you don't want email from HipStat during the sign up process or after
you've joined.

~~~
nothrabannosir
The SPAM button in your e-mail client can take good care of that, should you
find yourself in that position.

~~~
onion2k
It's fine for me to throw eggs at your house because you own a mop.

~~~
Sumaso
Or its like me sending you a letter in the mail and you throwing it out...?

Pretty sure cleaning up after thrown eggs is significantly more work, and more
public than hitting the spam button

------
edem
Please add SI units. I would like to use this app but I'm accustomed to m/cm
and inches are meaningless to me.

~~~
tomeglenn
Rest assured I'll be adding this soon. Thank you for your feedback.

------
emilssolmanis
There's the very obvious UX problem though, that for weight, all you need to
do is step on a block of solid material, whereas this has a lot more friction
in the process.

Not sure that's solvable, but that's been my main reason for not tracking
these measurements for now.

~~~
tomeglenn
Thanks for your feedback. I agree that it's more involved and effort to track
measurements, but without developing a companion piece of hardware (smart
tape?) I see no solution for this.

You get a much more precise indication of the way your body is changing for
your help extra effort however. This app for example will be of far more use
to a body builder than a weight tracker would be.

------
jay-saint
Just a quick suggestion as the husband of a woman who does not like tracking
her fitness by pounds. She is always more concerned with which size dress she
can fit into. Maybe it would be good to have a conversion mechanism from
inches to dress size.

~~~
joshcrowder
That would be really difficult to do as no two dresses are the same size. Same
for male clothing to be honest!

~~~
pjc50
Yes, it's a disaster area. I'll just plug a small web app written by a friend
of mine that addresses this problem:
[http://sizes.darkgreener.com/](http://sizes.darkgreener.com/)

It uses least squares regression to work out, given your actual measurements,
what "size" label from which shops is likely to fit.

~~~
tomeglenn
This is great. Would your friend be interested in discussing a collaboration?
I'm looking to build similar functionality into HipStat.

------
ottonomy
"So you have to wonder, what's really the point in measuring weight? Why not
measure what really matters, the size of your body!"

I do have to wonder, why is it that the size of your body matters?

~~~
benwoodward
Well, it matters if you care about measuring your fat loss. Measuring fat loss
by tracking weight is less accurate, because muscle is heavier than fat, if
you are exercising to lose fat you may get heavier due to increased muscle
mass, even though you are thinner, i.e. carrying less fat. There are other
factors that affect your weight, such as water retention. As for why to
measure at the hip, well, there isn't much muscle around that area compared to
say your thigh, so the size of the muscle is not affecting the measurement
output so much, meaning you are measuring fat loss, rather than fat+muscle
loss/gain. (Muscle loss is generally not a good thing, it's very important to
our health).

Personally I think we need a way to measure our _health_ rather than tracking
metrics that can encourage unhealthy relationships with our bodies. Ideally we
would be able to quickly assess how close we are to a healthy level of body
fat, lean muscle mass, be it is too high or too low. Measuring how heavy / big
you are feeds into "weight status" and "thigh gap" fixation. In a less-
imperfect world we'd be competitive about how healthy we are, rather than
silly and often unhealthy things like thinness, and weight.

------
tomeglenn
UPDATE 21/07/2015:

Hi all. I wanted to post a quick update based on some of your fantastic
feedback.

As of today, I have released a new update (you should get it automatically
without needing to update the app). This update includes the following:

\- Ability to delete your account from the settings screen

\- Improvements to the way measurements are saved (server side)

\- Ability to save measurements in cm or inches (more to come on this,
including an account settings preference for metrics)

I am aiming to change the login screen background this week along with a
couple of other minor tweaks before I go away for a long weekend.

Thanks again Tom

------
thyselius
Isn't there a big difference in health/success between a fat arm and an arm
with muscles on it?

~~~
twic
There is. There isn't a lot of point measuring arms as an indicator of body
fat. But if you measure the right parts of the body, and you measure more than
one, you can get a surprisingly accurate measurement of body fat - the US Navy
Body Composition Assessment method gets to within 3% based on two or three
circumferences and your height:

[http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1660/how-
accurate...](http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/1660/how-accurate-is-
the-navy-body-fat-calculator)

------
smackfu
In theory, I like the idea of tracking measurements.

In reality, I can't take reliable measurements of myself. Even back-to-back
measurements vary quite a lot because the tape isn't in the exact same
position and orientation.

------
jblok
What about a smart belt that automatically tracks your waist size? Other
measurements may be harder to get automatically.

~~~
im3w1l
Or just use an ordinary belt and look at how the belt-hole-number changes.

~~~
jblok
That's so 2014!

------
seanmcelroy
I find the demo screenshot intriguing as I try to visualize someone with
either a 14" or 20" waistline.

~~~
bjcubsfan
That demo measurement is for the upper arm. A waist that size would be
disturbing, or an infant.

------
ohitsdom
I may not be the target market, but the "social networking coming soon!" bit
is a huge turn off for me.

~~~
tomeglenn
Thanks for the feedback. What specifically turns you off about this idea?

The goal would be to provide support and motivation. It would be an opt out
feature. You will be able to make your account private.

------
jcalonso
Any plans for iOS?

~~~
yoz-y
A way to add new categories to Health app would replace many of these kinds of
applications.

------
hathym
did you use semantic-ui?

~~~
tomeglenn
I did yeah :)

