My Weekly Weigh-and-Photo Tracker
Hi, I’m Azmi from Meknes! Lab notebook, entry one: the scale lives on the same tile, checked with a 1 kg sugar bag monthly. Entry two: Fridays 10:00, after tidy, before greens, same hour because mornings run lighter than evenings in my readings. Entry three: carrier on scale, tare to zero, rabbit in, read in 5 seconds, out with parsley. That is the entire method, and the method is the post. This is a record-keeping log, not health advice. I offer no commentary on the numbers, no ranges, no verdicts, just the record I can show if ever needed. For any weight worry I contact a vet with this sheet in hand.
Apparatus and calibration
Kitchen scale, 5 kg capacity, 1-gram steps, bowl removed, carrier weighed instead. Same tile by the door (I marked it with a pencil dot), same 10:00 hour, same carrier with the same folded blanket inside. Calibration: sugar bag reads 1000 g ± 2 every check for three months, logged, dated. Batteries changed once (readings jumped 15 g for a week before I noticed; that week’s row carries an asterisk and an apology). The top photo comes from the same height each time: I stand on the same floor mark, phone at chest, rabbit in the carrier, rug background. Same rug background every Friday so the monthly strip matches. Four weeks per page, then a new page. Consistent method beats fancy tools, the sugar bag outranks the scale in this lab.
Readings, eight Fridays
| Date | Reading | Photo | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 7 | 2.41 kg | top-01 | Baseline week, calm sit |
| Mar 14 | 2.43 kg | top-02 | Same, steady |
| Mar 21 | 2.40 kg | top-03 | Battery week*, re-weighed Sun 2.42 |
| Mar 28 | 2.44 kg | top-04 | Page full, new page started |
| Apr 4 | 2.45 kg | top-05 | Shedding week, eating well |
| Apr 11 | 2.43 kg | top-06 | Normal wiggle, no note |
Reading the line: flat within 50 g across six weeks, asterisk explained, no story invented. I plot a simple line to see the trend, pencil on graph paper, dots joined, the flattest satisfying line in my house. What the numbers do: sit in the sheet until needed. Used once: vet visit in April, sheet photographed, vet nodded, visit continued with real examination. That is the job, transportable history, not home diagnosis. What the numbers don’t do: anything else. No target, no judgment, no celebration or alarm at ±20 g. My sheet has date, weight, and photo file name, nothing more. If a reading ever jumps suddenly plus appetite changes, the protocol taped inside the notebook cover says: re-weigh Sunday same method, and call the vet regardless on Monday. The protocol has never been used; it stays taped anyway.
Carrier and scale photos taken by me on the marked tile Fridays. Not vet advice. Record-keeping method only.
Sources of error (the honest page)
Every lab lists errors; mine has its own page. Error one: batteries, the 15 g jump week, asterisked, re-weighed Sunday. Now checked monthly with the sugar bag, replaced at first drift. Error two: the blanket, washed it once mid-series and readings dropped 30 g until I realized the dry blanket weighed less; re-baselined with a tare each Friday since, blanket included in tare always. Error three: the hour, one 14:00 weighing (vet day) read 60 g over the Friday line; evening fullness, lesson learned, vet-day rows marked V and excluded from the trend. Error four: me, reading through carrier mesh at an angle once gave 2.38, straight-on re-read 2.43; eye level with the display now, rule underlined. Second page readings (Apr 18-May 9): 2.44, 2.42, 2.45, 2.43, the line stays flat and the errors stay labeled. Audit summary taped to the page: method unchanged 12 weeks, asterisks 2, re-weighs 2, vet uses 1. A boring ledger is a good ledger.
How the sheet travels: photographed to my phone monthly, paper original kept in the drawer. The vet-visit copy is a single photo of the current page, no app, no cloud, no account. Friends starting their own trackers get my one-page method card: same tile, same hour, tare always, sugar-bag check monthly, asterisk anything odd, never interpret alone. Three friends run Friday weigh-ins now; our numbers never compare (different rabbits, different scales) but our asterisks do, battery stories traded like war medals. The lab’s final rule, written largest: the scale answers how much, the vet answers so what. My notebook holds the first half faithfully; the second half belongs to professionals. Twelve weeks flat, two asterisks explained, one sugar bag reigning. Weigh on, calmly.
Next audit due with the battery check: sugar bag, tare discipline, asterisk honesty. The lab never closes, it just weighs in on Fridays, same tile, same hour, same pencil. Flat lines welcome.
Appendix: sugar-bag log, three months, 1000 g every time but once (999, forgiven). Blanket tare card updated after the wash incident. Vet-day V rows: two, excluded, explained.
Notebook open, pencil ready, sugar bag on standby.
Same tile Fridays; the dot marks the spot and the line stays flat.
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