How to Track Sleep, Water and Weight on iPhone

Training is the loud part of getting in shape. Sleep, water and a look at the scale are the quiet part, and they are easy to skip because nobody sees them.

Sleep

If you wear an Apple Watch to bed, it records your sleep into Apple Health. Without one, a sleep schedule on your iPhone gives Health your time in bed, judged from when you put the phone down and pick it up.

Pick a number of hours you can actually reach on a work night. A goal you hit four nights a week teaches you more than one you never hit.

Water

Log it when you drink it, not from memory at night. A glass is small enough that you will forget it by dinner.

It also helps to spread it out. A litre at 22:00 to catch up is not the habit you were going for.

Weight

Weigh in at the same time of day, ideally in the morning, and look at the trend over weeks. One day's number moves with salt, water and dinner, and tells you very little.

Daily or weekly both work. What matters is that you keep looking.

If Apple Health is enough, use it

The Health app shows all three as charts, for free, and it is already on your iPhone. If you log there every day and it keeps you going, you do not need anything else.

Most people stop logging after a couple of weeks, because nothing happens when they do. That is the part a game can fix.

How CharacterSheet makes them pay

• Well Rested, 20%: sleep your goal's hours the night before.
• On Track, 5%: stay ahead of your daily water goal. Log water with one tap.
• Weighed In, 5%: log a weigh-in today.

Buffs add bonus XP to everything you earn that day, and they add up. Sleep well, drink your water and step on the scale, and a workout pays 30% more before any other buff.