Water weight ?

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FitnessFreak1821
FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I have been floating around 138-140 all weekend until yesterday (I was sore from last week's work outs as well) I have been constipated (sorry tmi) and the last couple days or so I haven't been going to bathroom properly even though eating right and drinking water. So I gave in and took 2 senokot. I only take when needed and only once. Let me tell you that helped tremendously , thank God.
Fast forward to this morning I step on the scale I'm finally down to 136.6 pounds! I'm hoping it's a true weigh in. I'm sore again as well from ab work out I did yesterday. So I would assume I would still have some water weight even though the laxative draws out all water. Hopefully it is true weigh in from being backed up Abit and maybe some fat loss.

Looking at my stats on my scale app though says my fat % went down, my muscle % went up and my water %went up too. Anyone know how true these numbers are?

Replies

  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Scales are very inaccurate for measuring anything except weight. I wouldn't believe anything a scale tells you about body fat percentage, muscle, etc.

    There's no such thing as a "true weight". Your total weight is ALWAYS going to fluctuate based on factors like you are describing...such as food waste in your system and water weight from exercise. We are made up of more than just muscle and fat.

    That's why, as you reach your goal weight, you'll have to start thinking about your weight as a RANGE, not a set number. Most people have a maintenance range of at least 5 pounds. It sounds like you might be approaching your goal weight, so it would be good to get yourself into that mindset.

    Anything but a doctors office scale isn’t even accurate for weight...
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    The scales that tell you your body fat are notoriously unreliable. I wouldn't put much confidence in those numbers.

    Here's how I approach it. Your weight this morning was your "true weight." It's what you weighed this morning. But the weight yesterday, that was also a "true weight." It was what you weighed yesterday. We're never in this ideal state where we have no waste to eliminate, no food being processed, no water in our bodies (heck, most of our body IS water). It feels really good to see a low weight on the scale - I think most of us here get that excitement. But if it goes up a bit tomorrow, that doesn't mean today was a lie or not your true weight. It just reflects that our weight is better thought of as a range we go through as our body responds to various factors in our environment.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
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    tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »
    I think you need to give the scales a break for a while given your past posts, even if only for a week. Focus on some non scale goals for change.

    Seconded
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    The scales that tell you your body fat are notoriously unreliable. I wouldn't put much confidence in those numbers.

    Here's how I approach it. Your weight this morning was your "true weight." It's what you weighed this morning. But the weight yesterday, that was also a "true weight." It was what you weighed yesterday. We're never in this ideal state where we have no waste to eliminate, no food being processed, no water in our bodies (heck, most of our body IS water). It feels really good to see a low weight on the scale - I think most of us here get that excitement. But if it goes up a bit tomorrow, that doesn't mean today was a lie or not your true weight. It just reflects that our weight is better thought of as a range we go through as our body responds to various factors in our environment.

    Thanks good points 😊
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Scales are very inaccurate for measuring anything except weight. I wouldn't believe anything a scale tells you about body fat percentage, muscle, etc.

    There's no such thing as a "true weight". Your total weight is ALWAYS going to fluctuate based on factors like you are describing...such as food waste in your system and water weight from exercise. We are made up of more than just muscle and fat.

    That's why, as you reach your goal weight, you'll have to start thinking about your weight as a RANGE, not a set number. Most people have a maintenance range of at least 5 pounds. It sounds like you might be approaching your goal weight, so it would be good to get yourself into that mindset.

    Very true , time to really get into that mind set
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
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    Thanks everyone 😊
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,871 Member
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    Scales use bioimpedence to measure things like BF%, muscle mass, water, etc...it's not really accurate at all...consumer reports won't even review them anymore.

    You also need to get over this "true weight" thing...your body weight isn't static...your body is comprised of roughly 55-65% water and that will always be in flux for a variety of reasons both natural and self induced...you will always have variable degrees of inherent waste in your system, etc. These things are normal and natural...nobody weighs XXX Lbs all of the time.

    Where weight loss and weight management are concerned, you need to look at long term trends and averages over time.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Scales are very inaccurate for measuring anything except weight. I wouldn't believe anything a scale tells you about body fat percentage, muscle, etc.

    There's no such thing as a "true weight". Your total weight is ALWAYS going to fluctuate based on factors like you are describing...such as food waste in your system and water weight from exercise. We are made up of more than just muscle and fat.

    That's why, as you reach your goal weight, you'll have to start thinking about your weight as a RANGE, not a set number. Most people have a maintenance range of at least 5 pounds. It sounds like you might be approaching your goal weight, so it would be good to get yourself into that mindset.

    Anything but a doctors office scale isn’t even accurate for weight...

    Doctors scales are also not accurate. In most countries there's no need to have them checked by specialist annualy, you usually step on with your clothes, and the timing is probably different to the time you use at home. If you go after getting up, after loo and naked then a doctor scale at 13:00 will not show you anything you can use.

    I purchased one for my home. You can get them used surprisingly cheap. That way I can wear what I want and weigh at the same time each time I use one.

    Cheap scales from online or Walmart are simply inaccurate and often wildly so.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,572 Member
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    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Scales are very inaccurate for measuring anything except weight. I wouldn't believe anything a scale tells you about body fat percentage, muscle, etc.

    There's no such thing as a "true weight". Your total weight is ALWAYS going to fluctuate based on factors like you are describing...such as food waste in your system and water weight from exercise. We are made up of more than just muscle and fat.

    That's why, as you reach your goal weight, you'll have to start thinking about your weight as a RANGE, not a set number. Most people have a maintenance range of at least 5 pounds. It sounds like you might be approaching your goal weight, so it would be good to get yourself into that mindset.

    Anything but a doctors office scale isn’t even accurate for weight...

    Doctors scales are also not accurate. In most countries there's no need to have them checked by specialist annualy, you usually step on with your clothes, and the timing is probably different to the time you use at home. If you go after getting up, after loo and naked then a doctor scale at 13:00 will not show you anything you can use.

    I purchased one for my home. You can get them used surprisingly cheap. That way I can wear what I want and weigh at the same time each time I use one.

    Cheap scales from online or Walmart are simply inaccurate and often wildly so.

    And it doesn't really matter.

    They're plenty accurate enough for a silly thing like body weight management, when momentary body weights vary by pounds a day inherently anyway. The fluctuations of the body tend to be larger than the inherent error of the scale, assuming some semi-adequate use of that scale (same time, same clothing or lack, level floor, good batteries, etc.). Normal scale is close enough.

    OP, IMO we don't have a current weight (let alone a *true* weight).

    Over a day to a couple of weeks, we have a weight range. It meanders up and down in what might as well be random ways, for all we try to explain them. Most of the change (numerically speaking) in that kind of time period is changes in water retention and digestive contents - meaningless for the goal of fat loss or muscle gain.

    Over a few weeks to a few months, the range tends to wander downward (mostly fat loss), upward (mostly fat gain) or stay around the same range of weights (maintenance). The movements of the range over those time periods are mostly about fat changes, in a healthy person.

    Over months to years, for most otherwise healthy people, muscle and other lean-tissue changes can potentially be a bigger part of the picture. That can be faster for some, on the positive side (such as muscle gain through good strength training, loosely), faster for others on the negative side (such as unnecessary muscle and other beneficial-tissue loss from bad "dieting" practices).

    I'm sure a medical style scale is a swell thing to have. But it's not essential.

    It doesn't look like anyone has linked this in this thread yet. OP, the article linked below is an excellent read, if you haven't read it:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    It's fine to use mild laxatives occasionally for constipation. It's a bad plan to try to game your body's normal water-weight fluctuations, though, in pursuit of "weight loss". Healthy bodies regulate water retention in order to stay healthy. That's a good thing. We don't really want to defeat that: Understanding and accepting it is better.

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