So silly newbie question here. I just started a goal to drink more water. Right now it is for 60 oz a day (with the plan to eventually get to 100 oz a day). Today I had 40 oz so when entering my data for the day do I put 40 or 2 (20, 40, 60)? I’m confused as to how this all works.
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Do more goals sum the total for the day, so if you want you can enter each glass (multiple entries a day) or the total for the day (40 oz).
Not sure why you would want to enter 2?
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It depends on what your rate is set at. If it’s set at 60/day (or 420/week, i.e., it’s set in oz) then you would enter 40. If it’s set at 3/day or 21/week (i.e., bottles or whatever unit 20 oz is) then you would enter 2.
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If another goal I have is to do 10 full push-ups by Dec. 31st (currently I do the modified version and can only do 3 full push-ups) how would I set things up for that? I have the goal date set to Dec. 31st and the goal total set to 10 but that puts the weekly rate at 1.52. I don’t have a weekly amount I want to reach at the moment, just that I want to practice so that I can do 10 by Dec. 31st. Just not quite sure how to set things up for this.
thanks 
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it might be more helpful to reframe the goal – rather than aiming for the specific outcome you want, set a goal to perform adequate inputs that will get you to the output. you can’t predict exactly what you need to do to get to 10 full push-ups by 12/31, but doing 100 modified push-ups per week would probably get you there – commit to that instead.
a few people have blogged about how they beemind and touched on this – google “beeminder inputs outcomes” for some more examples.
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I also recommend not beeminding the outcome, which you don’t have direct control over. You might want to concentrate on negative (eccentric) push ups (where you start at the top and only lower yourself, slowly and in control), and beemind those, because that will build muscle fastest (and you can probably also do full ones right away). Also be sure you have plenty of protein in your diet.
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Thanks so much @chelsea and @amesha for your suggestions! That is definitely a better way to think of it.
I’m very new to Beeminder but I’m looking forward to using it going forward
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Another thing you might consider, if you do plan to make a goal for being able to do 10 full push-ups in one set: make a weight gain goal, with a goal of 10 by Dec 31. Then, you can just input the maximum you managed that day, and as long as that is gradually improving, you will reach your goal!
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An odometer style goal would work well, if you decide to actually build up to the 10 pushups (or maybe do this as well as a do more goal of 100/week or something). That way, you’d have the output feedback with the input. For an odometer goal, the rate increases, but the data is not cumulative. Just like reading a book, for example, you’ll be recording the new high point you get to each time. So if today, you can do 2 and a few days later, you can do 3, a do more goal would let you know you’ve actually done 5 total, where as an odometer goal would let you know you’re up to doing 3 total in a row without stopping.
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