how much do I weigh?
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Trish1c
Posts: 549 Member
No joke. I don't know.
I was 154 lbs.
Then I hurt my back & went on vacation. I ate & drank a lot. But I walked a lot more then normal so I was hoping that kind of balanced out.
Today I was finally back at the gym & the only scale I have been using. Got on & it said 155. OK, I was a little sad, but for what I ate it was only a small gain. Did my workout & got back on the scale afterwards. After my workout it said 154.
So how delusional do I have to be to think that maybe, just maybe, I didn't do too much damage?
I was 154 lbs.
Then I hurt my back & went on vacation. I ate & drank a lot. But I walked a lot more then normal so I was hoping that kind of balanced out.
Today I was finally back at the gym & the only scale I have been using. Got on & it said 155. OK, I was a little sad, but for what I ate it was only a small gain. Did my workout & got back on the scale afterwards. After my workout it said 154.
So how delusional do I have to be to think that maybe, just maybe, I didn't do too much damage?
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Replies
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Your body weight is always going to fluctuate. I can make myself weigh two pounds more just by eating breakfast. Don't worry about the daily fluctuations and look at the average. Is it going down? Then you're doing fine.2
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You weigh what the scale says you weigh. Your weight isn't just about fat, but everything else too and it will change a lot during the day. Like if I weigh myself last thing at night, I usually find I weigh a couple pounds less by the morning. I don't however believe I have burnt off two pounds of fat overnight.
You probably did no harm while on vacation - hope you had a great time!
When weighing yourself, try to do it in a consistent way - same scales, same time of day, same clothes or nekkid! That will help to rule out some of the factors that can cause weight to change on the scales ^^1 -
I feel it's important to understand that your weight will be a range, not a precise measurement. I'm in maintenance now, but even as I was losing my excess weight, I saw fluctuations on the scale from day to day. It's perfectly normal to bounce up and down a pound or two. What you want to look at is the trend of your weight. I use trendweight.com to track my weight every morning (although you can track at less frequent intervals, of course!).
There is no need to make yourself crazy by taking your weight multiple times a day. Once a day or Once a week, and look at the trend.0 -
If you always weigh before you work out, then you weigh 155.0
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kcn2bluesky wrote: »I feel it's important to understand that your weight will be a range, not a precise measurement. I'm in maintenance now, but even as I was losing my excess weight, I saw fluctuations on the scale from day to day. It's perfectly normal to bounce up and down a pound or two. What you want to look at is the trend of your weight. I use trendweight.com to track my weight every morning (although you can track at less frequent intervals, of course!).
There is no need to make yourself crazy by taking your weight multiple times a day. Once a day or Once a week, and look at the trend.
This always makes me wonder about people trying to lose that last 2-3 pounds....I can lose 3 pounds of water weight after a night of drinking! I don't understand how they can have their weight so stable that they can recognize needing to lose such a small amount.2 -
I don't trust any scales apart from the ones in my bathroom at home, in the morning when I'm naked. I once weighed myself at home, then 2 hours later at the gym and somehow put on 4lbs??? Wtf!!!??so then for days, everywhere j saw scales, I got on them and just got more more and more confused. Went to mums,sisters, friends and that all gave different readings! Then the next day I weighed at home and was the same as it always says. So later that day, at my doctor surgery, i jumped on the 'posh' scales they have in the waiting room. You know the ones that tell you everything-fat%/weight/heart rate/what you had for breakfast and it matched what my home scales say. Where did you weigh yourself last (before vacation)? Get on them same scales and listen to that weight.0
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kcn2bluesky wrote: »I feel it's important to understand that your weight will be a range, not a precise measurement. I'm in maintenance now, but even as I was losing my excess weight, I saw fluctuations on the scale from day to day. It's perfectly normal to bounce up and down a pound or two. What you want to look at is the trend of your weight. I use trendweight.com to track my weight every morning (although you can track at less frequent intervals, of course!).
There is no need to make yourself crazy by taking your weight multiple times a day. Once a day or Once a week, and look at the trend.
This always makes me wonder about people trying to lose that last 2-3 pounds....I can lose 3 pounds of water weight after a night of drinking! I don't understand how they can have their weight so stable that they can recognize needing to lose such a small amount.
Completely agree with you! Once I was in the neighborhood of my goal weight, I called it good and named it Maintenance! lol
I've been in maintenance since the first week of Jan 2016. What I've seen in the months since then is I will bounce up a few pounds, drop a few pounds. It's like a rhythm that I've come to recognize.
The only time I've become alarmed about an upswing in weight was when I hit my arbitrarily set limit of 150 (at 5'9", maintenance for me is 145 pounds). At that point, I took a closer look at what had changed in my eating habits, made some adjustments, and dropped back down within about 6 weeks to 143-145.3 -
kcn2bluesky wrote: »I feel it's important to understand that your weight will be a range, not a precise measurement. I'm in maintenance now, but even as I was losing my excess weight, I saw fluctuations on the scale from day to day. It's perfectly normal to bounce up and down a pound or two. What you want to look at is the trend of your weight. I use trendweight.com to track my weight every morning (although you can track at less frequent intervals, of course!).
There is no need to make yourself crazy by taking your weight multiple times a day. Once a day or Once a week, and look at the trend.
This always makes me wonder about people trying to lose that last 2-3 pounds....I can lose 3 pounds of water weight after a night of drinking! I don't understand how they can have their weight so stable that they can recognize needing to lose such a small amount.
Their weight may not be stable but over the course of time you can determine an average weight and whether you are staying within a couple pounds of that mark.0 -
As others have said you'll fluctuate in your weight. However, worrying over a pound difference is a little over the top. Just my opinion.1
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kcn2bluesky wrote: »I feel it's important to understand that your weight will be a range, not a precise measurement. I'm in maintenance now, but even as I was losing my excess weight, I saw fluctuations on the scale from day to day. It's perfectly normal to bounce up and down a pound or two. What you want to look at is the trend of your weight. I use trendweight.com to track my weight every morning (although you can track at less frequent intervals, of course!).
There is no need to make yourself crazy by taking your weight multiple times a day. Once a day or Once a week, and look at the trend.
This always makes me wonder about people trying to lose that last 2-3 pounds....I can lose 3 pounds of water weight after a night of drinking! I don't understand how they can have their weight so stable that they can recognize needing to lose such a small amount.
My weight does not generally fluctuate more than a pound, morning to morning, unless I eat something unusual.0 -
As others have said you'll fluctuate in your weight. However, worrying over a pound difference is a little over the top. Just my opinion.
I wasn't "worried" so much as I didn't understand. I had been worried that my cavalier habits on vacation undid all the progress I had been making.0 -
You're surprised your weight is lower after sweating at the gym?1
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singingflutelady wrote: »You're surprised your weight is lower after sweating at the gym?
Yes. I had absolutely NO IDEA that weight could fluctuate in 1 hour. Sorry, if I'm not as educated about fitness & the weight loss process as you are. I was seeking info not condescension.0 -
singingflutelady wrote: »You're surprised your weight is lower after sweating at the gym?
Yes. I had absolutely NO IDEA that weight could fluctuate in 1 hour. Sorry, if I'm not as educated about fitness & the weight loss process as you are. I was seeking info not condescension.
I agree. People can be condescending. Sweating will cause the scale to temporarily drop, which is why one of the posters said that your weight was your pre-workout weight.0 -
singingflutelady wrote: »You're surprised your weight is lower after sweating at the gym?
Yes. I had absolutely NO IDEA that weight could fluctuate in 1 hour. Sorry, if I'm not as educated about fitness & the weight loss process as you are. I was seeking info not condescension.
Sorry that it sounds condescending but sweating=losing water and losing water=weigh less.1 -
Yes, weight fluctuates all over the place. There are apps for tracking your weight trend (I use Libra for Android, but there's also Happy Scale for iOS, Trendweight, and more). But even one's weight trend will fluctuate a bit!
Truly, we have no specific "true weight". Some people like to look at their weight trend, some average their daily weights for a week, some compare this Wednesday (or whatever) to last Wednesday.
Many, many things affect your scale weight: Eat physically heavy food, or drink a bunch of liquid? You'll weigh more until it's eliminated. Eat more salt or carbs than usual (even if it's still a healthy amount)? Your body will probably hold on to some water weight for a while. Start a new workout that causes need for muscle repair? Your body will hold onto some water weight to use in the repair process. Many pre-menopausal women see some extra water weight sometime during the month - can be anytime from ovulation through menses.
Note that you can't avoid the carb/salt/workout/time-of-month water weight by drinking less water. Counter-intuitively, drinking plenty of water is more likely to flush it out sooner.
When you're trying to lose weight, as long as you have an overall downward trend over a longer period (multi-week), you're doing fine. Even in maintenance, my weight can vary as much as 5 pounds from one morning weigh-in to the next (that's approaching 5% of my bodyweight, BTW).
To me, this is a reason to weigh daily (first thing in the morning, naked, after the bathroom) - one gets accustomed to one's weight fluctuations, and what causes them, so it's less stressful. Other people, however, sometimes find it less stressful to weigh once a week, or even once a month. Find what works for you!0 -
As others have said you'll fluctuate in your weight. However, worrying over a pound difference is a little over the top. Just my opinion.
I wasn't "worried" so much as I didn't understand. I had been worried that my cavalier habits on vacation undid all the progress I had been making.As others have said you'll fluctuate in your weight. However, worrying over a pound difference is a little over the top. Just my opinion.
I wasn't "worried" so much as I didn't understand. I had been worried that my cavalier habits on vacation undid all the progress I had been making.
Understandable. You've gotten some pretty sound insight here. In any case, keep up the good work!0 -
I went up 12 pounds during 11 days of vacation. (Maybe I ate and drank just a pinch more than you did! LOL)1
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singingflutelady wrote: »You're surprised your weight is lower after sweating at the gym?
Yes. I had absolutely NO IDEA that weight could fluctuate in 1 hour. Sorry, if I'm not as educated about fitness & the weight loss process as you are. I was seeking info not condescension.
Here's a great video about the crazy fluctuations we can get throughout the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMNPP2ZR1U 1 -
as long as you weigh yourself the same time every day (preferably first thing in the morning, wearing nothing but a smile), you'll get consistent readings0
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