Do you weigh yourself after a pretty hard workout?

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  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
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    I have a sneaky look on Saturday morning (naked, after the toilet) and an “official” weigh in the same way on Sunday morning. It’s never even occurred to me to weigh after exercise. Too many variables to consider.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    no. i weigh myself once a week.
  • tess5036
    tess5036 Posts: 942 Member
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    I haven't, but out of curiosity Imay try now
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    No, I found I weigh more after my intense workouts so now I weigh after I have had a few rest days.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,177 Member
    edited October 2017
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Do I weigh myself after a hard workout?
    Yes, sometimes. I've done it out of curiosity, but also to try to figure out how much fluid I lose through sweat during a workout (important for endurance athletes).

    Do I consider it weight loss?
    Hell no.

    Yep ... me too. :)

    Rode a century yesterday (100 miles), checked, and it looks like I was spot on with my drinking. I made an effort to drink a bit more than I usually do.

  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    I do it just to see. Only log my morning weight.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,837 Member
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    Sometimes I weigh after serious exercise, especially in summer when it's hot. If I weigh less after exercising than before, I know I haven't drunk enough water during the workout. Other than that, any weight change under those circumstances is completely meaningless.

    Otherwise I just weigh myself first thing every morning, record it in Libra, and see whether my weight trend over longer time spans is going in a direction - up, down or even - that's consistent with my goals.

    Day to day fluctuations are meaningless, and intra-day ones are ridiculously arbitrary IMO. Drink a quart of water, I'll weigh about 2 pounds more, sweat a quart of water, I'll weigh about 2 pounds less. Eat a whole head of cabbage (I can ;) ), and I'll gain a pound or so, some of that sticking around until up to a couple of days later when the fiber finishes transiting my digestive tract. Big whoop-ti-do.
  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
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    I'll weigh in after a hike. If my weight is lower than usual at that time of day, I assume I am dehydrated and grab some water. I don't log my weight, tho. Just do that first thing each morning.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    Ok, Im done logging it . It seems stupid.
  • haviegirl
    haviegirl Posts: 230 Member
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    Sure, why not? It's kind of fun to see how the things I do affect my weight. If I'm home right after the workout, and taking off clothing before showering anyway, why not jump on the scale?
  • BurgerLovinBulker
    BurgerLovinBulker Posts: 38 Member
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    I do, but don't track it. The measurement has no real emperical value, but I do it out of curiosity.
  • maggibailey
    maggibailey Posts: 289 Member
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    I weigh all the time because it is interesting to me. I weigh first thing in the morning naked after I pee. Then I go downstairs and help my 14 year old out the door to school, sip a hot tea, go back upstairs and weigh naked and almost everyday I’m .5 to a pound lighter. Which makes no sense at all but holds true daily. I like knowing that after a day of carbs I weigh more or after a particular strength focused yoga I weigh more the next day. None of it means anything except the downward trend, but it is very interesting anyway.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    Ok...after my OP I adjusted my weight again. I added back 2 pounds and that was a good thing because I have been sitting at that weight now for a while. Like 3 weeks. This morning I weigh myself again this morning and after 16 oz of coffee, and I lost 1 pound, finally. I forgot to weigh myself before the coffee.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
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    I weigh myself once a month, in the beginning of the month, same time of day because your weigh can change 2ish lbs day to day
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,837 Member
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    Relser wrote: »
    I weigh myself once a month, in the beginning of the month, same time of day because your weigh can change 2ish lbs day to day

    I think your experience is common, but, in the interest of avoiding freak-outs by new MFP-ers who don't have enough experience to know their own bodies' routine fluctuation range, I want to add this:

    There's a wide range of daily fluctuations that are normal (in the sense that no unusual medical condition is involved). It's very individual.

    As a li'l ol' lady in her 60s, 5'5", weight in the 120s, I sometimes see fluctuations from one morning to the next of 5 pounds. That's 4% of my body weight! Variations within one day can be even wider. I've seen people here report 10 pound fluctuations.

    Depending on your own personal body's idiosyncrasies, stacking several water weight causes in one day can have a big impact: Consider a premenopausal woman who does an unusually heavy workout, uses the calories to get a delicious meal at a Chinese restaurant (sodium, carbs), is right at the time of month when her body adds the very common menstrual cycle water weight, and who's unknowingly developing a minor infection.

    All of those things (and others) can cause some water retention as part of healthy functioning. But it could look pretty scary on the scale! (And it will all be gone in a few days, too, without any special intervention.)

    Even with monthly-only body weight checks, that kind if thing can make a big loss look like a small one, or a small/moderate loss look like a gain.

    Different things work for different people, and I'm glad a monthly schedule has worked well for you.

    Personally, I prefer daily AM weighing so that over time I get to understand my fluctuations, what causes therm, and how long each type is likely to hang around . . . and my temperament lets me see a big scale jump, and not stress about it, when I know I haven't eaten enough calories for the gain to be fat. Others reasonably differ.
  • brittneyalley
    brittneyalley Posts: 274 Member
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    I sometimes weight myself after working out. I always gain weight though
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    If you want to weigh yourself while dehydrated after a hard workout, that's fine - if you understand that you need to be comparing that weight to the next time you are dehydrated after you finish a hard workout. That sounds like a pain in the rear to do long term.

    As a diabetic I have to check my blood glucose several times a day, usually standing right next to my scale, so I often weigh several times a day (without logging) since it's no more effort. I think it can be an eye opening experience - instead of causing me to be obsessed with scale weight, it has helped me to be more relaxed about normal variations.

    For example, recently I had a week where my morning weigh in after using the bathroom was up about three pounds. However, I knew that my evening weigh in was not heavier. In fact it was gradually getting lighter. I also knew that due to schedule I was getting less sleep than usual, which means my kidneys weren't flushing as much water during the night. Sure enough, the first night I got a chance to sleep in, I saw a drop in my morning number, revealing that I had indeed been slowly losing weight during the week.

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