Tapeline
Where to measure
Fat vs. muscle
Weight
Dots are single weigh-ins; the line is the 5-reading average. Hollow dots were noisy readings.
Fat mass vs. lean mass — change since first entry
From the U.S. Navy tape formula (or your scale if you choose that in Profile). Lean mass holding flat while fat falls is the goal.
Blood pressure & pulse
Each weigh-in's reading. Weight loss — especially visceral fat — usually brings both down.
Redistribution by site
Change from your first to latest measurement at each site.
Visceral fat indicators
Tape-based stand-ins for fat around the organs. See Learn for what they can and can't tell you.
History
Food
Log a meal
Meals
Last 7 days
Lab results by organ
Import from your health portal
In your portal (My Health Online / MyChart and most others), open Test Results, pick a result and download or print it as a PDF. A screenshot works too, or copy and paste the text. Claude reads it and pulls out every value, range and date for you to check before saving.
Add a result by hand
One value at a time
Health summary
Organ scorecard
Latest value of each test against its reference range, plus age-adjusted scores.
Recommended labs
Claude looks at every result on file — what was tested, when, and what came back — plus your age, medications and body data, and lists what to ask for next and when.
Claude's read on your health
Combines your labs, age, body measurements, trends and medications into a plain-English, organ-by-organ read. It uses your own Claude usage and is saved here when done.
Tapeline is a tracking tool, not medical advice. Bring this page to your appointment and let your doctor interpret results in context.
Subcutaneous vs. visceral fat
Subcutaneous fat sits under the skin — it's what you can pinch on your belly, hips, thighs and arms. Visceral fat sits deep inside the abdomen, packed around the liver, intestines, stomach and kidneys and inside the omentum (an apron of fat that hangs over the gut). Some also collects inside organs — the liver especially (fatty liver) — and around the heart.
Visceral fat is the one that matters most for health. It is metabolically active: it releases fatty acids and inflammatory signals straight into the portal vein that feeds the liver, which drives insulin resistance, high triglycerides, fatty liver, high blood pressure and heart disease risk. A person can have a normal weight and still carry a lot of it.
The good news: visceral fat usually comes off faster, proportionally, than subcutaneous fat when you lose weight and exercise. That's why your navel waist number often drops before your hips or thighs do.
What a tape measure can and can't tell you
No tape, scale or formula can see visceral fat directly. A waist measurement includes both layers. But waist-to-height ratio tracks visceral fat surprisingly well in studies and is the best free at-home proxy. If the waist is shrinking faster than the hips and thighs, you're very likely losing visceral fat.
| Method | Sees visceral fat? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tape (waist, WHtR) | Indirectly | Free, repeatable, good for trends |
| Bathroom BIA scale | Estimates | Swings a lot with hydration; only compare same-condition readings |
| DEXA scan | Yes (estimate) | Gives fat, lean and visceral fat mass by region; roughly $40–$150 |
| MRI / CT | Yes (gold standard) | Usually research or medical only |
| Blood work | Clues | High triglycerides, low HDL, high fasting glucose/A1c and high ALT often travel with visceral and liver fat |
A DEXA scan every 3–6 months is the best way to check the tape math, and it tells muscle apart from fat by region.
How the numbers here are calculated
- Body fat % — U.S. Navy circumference method. Men: neck + navel waist + height. Women: neck + natural waist + hips + height. Typical error is ±3–4%, but it's consistent, so trends are reliable.
- Fat mass = weight × body fat %. Lean mass = weight − fat mass (muscle, organs, bone and water).
- Waist-to-height ratio = navel waist ÷ height. Under 0.5 is the common "keep your waist under half your height" target.
- Waist-to-hip ratio — WHO flags above 0.90 (men) or 0.85 (women) as raised abdominal-fat risk.
- Relative Fat Mass (RFM) — a second body-fat estimate from height and waist only: 64 (men) or 76 (women) − 20 × height ÷ waist.
- Reading quality scores each weigh-in on the conditions you log. Fluctuations of 1–4 lb from food, water, salt and glycogen are normal; only clean readings are truly comparable.
How to get clean, comparable readings
- Weigh first thing in the morning, after the bathroom, before food or drink, in the same (or no) clothes.
- Measure with a flexible, non-stretch tape. Snug on the skin but not denting it. Take each site twice and log the average.
- Measure the waist at the end of a normal breath out, standing relaxed — don't suck in.
- Tape measurements weekly is plenty; weight can be daily because the average matters more than any single day.
Why the extra factors are tracked
- Food & liquid in the last 6 hours — can add 1–3 lb that isn't tissue.
- Salty or high-carb day — each gram of stored carbohydrate holds about 3 g of water; salt pulls water in too.
- Sleep — short or poor sleep raises cortisol and hunger hormones, increases water retention and makes muscle loss more likely when dieting.
- Heavy lifting & soreness — muscle repair holds water for 2–4 days, so the scale can rise after a hard session.
- Alcohol, heat, illness — shift hydration and inflammation.
- New medication or creatine — creatine adds 2–4 lb of water in muscle; GLP-1 drugs, steroids and diuretics all move weight in ways that aren't fat.
- Menstrual cycle — the week before a period often adds 1–5 lb of water.
Other things worth monitoring
- Strength on a few key lifts — the best at-home sign that you're keeping muscle. If strength holds while weight drops, the loss is mostly fat.
- Protein intake — around 0.7–1 g per lb of goal body weight daily is the usual target for keeping muscle while losing fat.
- Resting heart rate and blood pressure — both usually fall as visceral fat comes off.
- Daily steps — the biggest non-exercise driver of energy use.
- Progress photos — same light, same poses, every 2–4 weeks. They catch redistribution the tape misses.
- Labs every 3–6 months — fasting glucose or A1c, triglycerides, HDL, ALT/AST (liver), and optionally fasting insulin.
- How clothes fit — belt notch and shirt fit are honest, low-effort signals.
This is a tracking tool, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before big diet changes, and about any readings that concern you.
Profile
Height and sex are needed for the body-fat and visceral calculations.
Share or export
Send your data to your doctor, a coach or yourself. Spreadsheets open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets; the full backup restores everything into another copy of Tapeline.