Can you gain weight without ingesting anything or is my scale busted? lol
Replies
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rheddmobile wrote: »All home digital scales are inaccurate within a couple of percent, even ones that claim to be accurate to within .2 lbs. It's a function of the way they are made and new batteries or a new scale will not help. Most scales have a memory which conceals the inaccuracy by making the weight the same as the most recent weight if it's within a certain amount and time. You can get around this and see how accurate the scale really is by weighing yourself while holding something that weighs a couple of pounds, then weighing again.
That's an awesome sounding experiment. I might try that and also see if it works well when I do that because it really is fluctuating way more than it did in the past and just seems off. It was great when I first though it though. It's a very good brand/quality scale in general. I've just had it for years.0 -
Step away from the scale. Do not weigh yourself repeatedly.
Seriously.
Once a day, morning, after your potty chores, naked or in the same pajamas each day, will give you the most consistent reading possible. When them it can vary by several pounds based on digestive rate and water retention. This is why experienced folks look at the trend over time and ignore the small jumps up and down every day.
Weighing once a week wont tell me if its broken though. I was purposely testing it because it seems really off lately and seems to vary a lot more than before. Not sure if my body is acting weird or if the scale is.1 -
Test your scale with a weight - then step away. This much obsession with the scale isn't healthy. If the natural weight fluctuations cause you this much distress then a break from the scale may be in order.2
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Your just overthinking it. This is about overall long term changes. You know the funny thing is when gaining weight to get where we are currently we walked past the same scale and didnt care to know. Now that we are trying to lose weight we scrutinize every .1 of a pound
Well I wheeled past because I gained most of my weight due to being bedridden lol TBH I didnt care at the time because I had bigger problems haha. Once I could walk though and knew my weight yeah I was really bothered. And again Imnot scrutinizing - I want to know if I need a new scale!1 -
Verity1111 wrote: »So Ive been wondering about my scale for a while but I tested out of curiosity today. Took my weight twice before I left twice when I came back from somewhere. All I ingested was a sip from a water fountain and one chip between leaving and coming home. Same clothes, same spot on the floor where I weighed - I gained 1 lb. lol. Also, any scale recommendations? I was considering just rebuying the one I have but maybe not. I have a Bowflex Caloric and BMI Scale. Someone said water retention and not my scale...that's why I asked in the title. But retention within a few hrs without drinking much of anything? o_o
If you don't eat, or drink anything, or use the bathroom then no your weight really shouldn't change too much. You can lose water from sweating, and breathing, but that shouldn't be too much in a short period of time unless you are working out or an excessive sweater. The problem with people and scales is that they don't understand that most scale can change each time you step on it, just because it's a stupid scale and has a margin of error.
Well it's always been incredibly accurate and I have OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder) so if its breaking I want a new one lol0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Put a known weight on it. Like a dumbbell. It's how I check mine.
But yeah, you need to not think about this stuff so much.
Good idea! and I need to because if its inaccurate it wont work?0 -
I dont take the small amounts that seriously. I can fluctuate 5lbs in a day if I dont drink enough fluids. If you are like me and have the habit of stepping on the scale every time you pass it, you might want to slow down. I keep telling myself I will stop it, but so far NOPE. I just dont take it seriously.
Pick a time of day to weigh and stick with that. I swear I am going to not weigh myself the whole month of December.
I usually weigh once every 2 weeks but it has been acting really weird so Im weighing more often trying to see if its my scale. Thats why Im weighing when I dont have time to eat yet because I figure if my weight goes up its broken. But then someone told me that doesnt mean anything it could be water, and thats how this post was made.0 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »tiffaninghs wrote: »water weight!! drink more water!! consume less sodium
She didn't drink any water between weighing...
That's what I'm saying! I was trying to test my scale but someone told me it wont matter it could be water so Im asking "how???" like are they wrong or could I really somehow magically gain weight without taking anything in... The temperature changing in the room explanation makes more sense though.0 -
Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol0 -
Something as simple as standing in a slightly different position on the scale can cause that. I've stepped off the scale and then right back on and gotten different readings.
Not with the one I have. Usually I can step on step off in multiple spots of the room and have the same reading. I can pick up my kid step on get a new reading, step off. Step on, on my own, and get the same original reading. It was very accurate - before. Seems less so now. I didnt even consider the battery though. I probably havent changed it in over a year... lol0 -
Verity1111 wrote: »Step away from the scale. Do not weigh yourself repeatedly.
Seriously.
Once a day, morning, after your potty chores, naked or in the same pajamas each day, will give you the most consistent reading possible. When them it can vary by several pounds based on digestive rate and water retention. This is why experienced folks look at the trend over time and ignore the small jumps up and down every day.
Weighing once a week wont tell me if its broken though. I was purposely testing it because it seems really off lately and seems to vary a lot more than before. Not sure if my body is acting weird or if the scale is.
It doesn't actually matter if it is broken, what matters is your weight overtime. If the scale is off by 2 pounds randomly but you continue to weigh yourself consistently over time that error will average out over time and it won't matter.
You don't need a super accurate scale to accurately track your weight loss.
Picture it this way. You actually weigh 140 pounds exactly every day but your scale can be off as much as 2 pounds.
Day 1: 141
Day 2: 139
Day 3: 142
Day 4: 141
Day 5: 138
Day 6: 140
etc etc. The more days you track the closer the average will be to your actual weight, 140 pounds. If you are losing weight then that moving average will trend downward. The +/- 2 pound error of the scale will just cancel out within the average.
You are paying attention to something that does not matter.
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Your weight is always in flux regardless of whether you ate something or not...body weight isn't static. I've gotten on the scale before my shower and after my shower and there's been differences4
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Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.3 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.
Yeah exactly. I mean I'll take it even further and say someone who has a $500 scale that is super accurate and someone that has a $6 scale from target that is off by like +/- 4 pounds randomly will end up measuring the exact same amount of weight lost over a 6 month period if they lose like 20 pounds providing they are using the scale correctly and looking at the trend of the moving average over time. Getting a super accurate scale isn't actually a useful thing to do, buy a cheap scale, use a scale that is "broken" in that it is inaccurate...it won't matter.0 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.
You ever lift heavy without drinking anything then weigh yourself after? I haven't stayed the same weight after performing hypertrophy sets. I could be an amphibian though. I've been called a greasy stain of life ¯\(°_o)/¯1 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.
You ever lift heavy without drinking anything then weigh yourself after? I haven't stayed the same weight after performing hypertrophy sets. I could be an amphibian though. I've been called a greasy stain of life ¯\(°_o)/¯
You can lose weight from exhaling carbon dioxide plus water vapour and from perspiring fluid but you shouldn't be gaining any weight. If you do gain weight according to a scale then the scale is just being inaccurate. I mean mass has to come from somewhere and the poster here is correct, you don't just absorb water from your enviornment and if you didn't drink or eat anything then no mass was added to you. Things can redistribute, mass can be lost through the mechanisms I mentioned...but no mass can be added.5 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Step away from the scale. Do not weigh yourself repeatedly.
Seriously.
Once a day, morning, after your potty chores, naked or in the same pajamas each day, will give you the most consistent reading possible. When them it can vary by several pounds based on digestive rate and water retention. This is why experienced folks look at the trend over time and ignore the small jumps up and down every day.
Weighing once a week wont tell me if its broken though. I was purposely testing it because it seems really off lately and seems to vary a lot more than before. Not sure if my body is acting weird or if the scale is.
It doesn't actually matter if it is broken, what matters is your weight overtime. If the scale is off by 2 pounds randomly but you continue to weigh yourself consistently over time that error will average out over time and it won't matter.
You don't need a super accurate scale to accurately track your weight loss.
Picture it this way. You actually weigh 140 pounds exactly every day but your scale can be off as much as 2 pounds.
Day 1: 141
Day 2: 139
Day 3: 142
Day 4: 141
Day 5: 138
Day 6: 140
etc etc. The more days you track the closer the average will be to your actual weight, 140 pounds. If you are losing weight then that moving average will trend downward. The +/- 2 pound error of the scale will just cancel out within the average.
You are paying attention to something that does not matter.
I guess. I never really thought about it that way.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Your weight is always in flux regardless of whether you ate something or not...body weight isn't static. I've gotten on the scale before my shower and after my shower and there's been differences...stop with the OCD...
That's kind of offensive (almost) considering I cant, considering I have OCD. Lol4 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.
You ever lift heavy without drinking anything then weigh yourself after? I haven't stayed the same weight after performing hypertrophy sets. I could be an amphibian though. I've been called a greasy stain of life ¯\(°_o)/¯
I might like to be an amphibian - just for a day.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »Muscles. Expand. And. Swell. When. Moving.
If you were a non-living object without biologically responsive tissue, 1) you literally wouldn’t see a change on the scale, because 2) you wouldn’t be cognizant of gravity or life.
That's pretty awesome.... Ok so I didn't know that muscles swell for any reason other than injury lol
This is irrelevant to your situation. Muscles which expand or contract while moving weigh the same in both states. Swelling is fluid entering your muscles and the fluid has to come from somewhere - you're correct about that. You didn't ingest water between times of weighing yourself. Water weight doesn't absorb through your skin because you are not an amphibian. You have to actually drink water. If your muscles swell without you drinking anything, that water is taken from elsewhere in your body, and you will weigh the exact same amount.
Does any of this matter to your weight loss effort? No.
Aaron is right, it's the trend over time which matters. ALL HOME SCALES ARE INACCURATE, and even if you were using a doctor's calibrated scale, you will gain or lose several pounds per day depending on what you eat and drink.
Go ahead and mess around with your scale until you figure out its little peculiarities if it makes you happy. Mine reads one whole pound less if I set it in a particular spot on the bathroom floor. Do I set it in that spot every morning? You bet I do. But don't imagine that the number on the scale exactly corresponds to your real world weight loss. You can lose fat without losing on the scale at all, due to water weight or food in your digestive tract, and you can lose scale weight without losing fat due to dehydration. And your scale is probably not more broken than usual - even a very inaccurate scale will show some loss over time, if you are really losing.
You ever lift heavy without drinking anything then weigh yourself after? I haven't stayed the same weight after performing hypertrophy sets. I could be an amphibian though. I've been called a greasy stain of life ¯\(°_o)/¯
You can lose weight from exhaling carbon dioxide plus water vapour and from perspiring fluid but you shouldn't be gaining any weight. If you do gain weight according to a scale then the scale is just being inaccurate. I mean mass has to come from somewhere and the poster here is correct, you don't just absorb water from your enviornment and if you didn't drink or eat anything then no mass was added to you. Things can redistribute, mass can be lost through the mechanisms I mentioned...but no mass can be added.
Okay I was hoping someone would say this because that was my understanding and someone was arguing against that thought process. Thats why I made this thread lol1
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