I thought I was the only one with this question!
I use markers like a freckle or a stretch mark. Guess they're good for something after all.
And I always measure first thing in the morning when I'm skinny
. I measure pretty much daily (but never after cheat day!), not to monitor change but rather to encourage the consistency thing.
I don't know if it's typical but my numbers around the mid section occasionally go up and down from week to week - sometimes by large amounts - and it doesn't seem to be related to my cycle - but who knows, it's not exactly regular these days. Two weeks ago my hip and waist measurements were back to almost where they were in January. They've since dropped back down.
Hips are an issue for me as well. What I'm finding is that as I lose weight the widest area has changed. What was once widest, isn't anymore. So now I'm not really sure which location to use for bf% calculations. The smaller measurement gives me a bf% that really seems lower than what I actually am. Oh well. Sooner or later it will all be gone anyway.