Weighed less at night?

FitnessFreak1821

OK so the other day I weighed myself in the morning I was 147.4. I wasn't feeling well so barely ate. Only had one slice of toast and some water but very little. I just decided to hop on the scale before my shower at night I was 146.2! Then next day went up exactly 1 pound. So I'm curious was 146.2 just water weight loss? I guess I'm really 147? Not much a difference just curious how I went down in weight at night like that.


Now today I went up a whole 4 pounds but I ate some chips and salsa last night. There was no way I gained 4 pounds of fat in two days with way I have been deficient all week.

Redordeadhead

Provavly water weight, yes. And if you went to the bathroom...
But these are really minor things, weight fluctuates all the time so you can't really draw any meaning from that.

yirara

Yeah, water weight likely. Crisps are high in salt, and salt binds water = water weight goes up.
I mean it's fun to play with the scale and to see what happens throughout the day, but I would only really record the weight first thing in the morning, naked, after the loo and before breakfast. There will still be waterweight variations, but less then weighing once in the morning, then in the evening, etc.

Btw, I once lived in a superhot country. Hopped on the scale, spent 30 minutes outside at 50C. Went back in and hopped on the scale: lost 2kg! No, it's probably not something that's recommended regularly

Lietchi

You might want to re-read some of the answers to your previous posts. This isn't the first time you've been (over)analyzing weight fluctuations. You pee, you sweat, you exhale, you poop - your weight goes down. You eat, you drink - your weight goes up. High salt and carb intake, you might go up more (pee out less).
I don't believe in a 'true' weight, since our weight just constantly fluctuates.

AnnPT77

Yes, water and/or digestive contents.

Quick multi-pound shifts over a day or few (without a clear calorie reason that arithmetically justifies them) are most likely to be water, and/or digestive contents on their way to becoming waste. Fat loss or gain tends to show up more slowly, gradually accumulating to show up over a week or few. Muscle mass changes - absent some dire health condition you'd notice! - are more like many weeks to months.

Any/all of that can play peek-a-boo on the scale, especially over short time periods, because bodyweight is the sum of water, fat, bones, muscle and other lean tissue, plus up to a few pounds of gut microbiota that (genetically speaking) isn't even "us" but rather other creatures (!) that are helpful to us.

Personally, I don't even think I have a "real weight" or "true weight".

What I have, IMO, is a current weight range, and a long-term weight trend.

Over the past 7 days, my weight has ranged from 131.8 to 125.8 pounds. Those aren't the end-points of the time period, either: Just the most extreme points of random bouncing up and down as measured by my consistent first-thing-in-AM weigh-ins.

That's my current weight range, 126 to 132, in rounded numbers.

Since I'm in maintenance, I need to go back a ways to talk about a trend.

Back in the same week in 2020 - so 2 years ago - the extremes of my 7-day weight range were 133.2 and 137.2, i.e., the then-current ranges was 133 to 137. Conclusion: I've lost a few pounds in the past 2 years.

That's a long-term weight trend.

When I was actively losing from an excessively heavy weight (back in 2015-16), trends developed a little quicker. I could see a meaningful change in current range from one month to the next, maybe quicker sometimes. Now - especially since I have no interest in a big calorie deficit to compensate if I drift up a few pounds in the healthy range and within a current jeans size - trends are slower.

If you haven't read this yet, it would be a good read:

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

No need to stress: What you're seeing is normal.

Xellercin

Day to day it's always water loss. Always.

Even week to week it can be water. You're best off logging your weight daily and taking a rolling average. There are apps that can do this for you.

Those didn't exist when I was losing weight so what I did was I recorded it daily, but only graphed the lowest weight each month. Water can fluctuate up by a lot, but it can only fluctuate down so much without being horribly dehydrated.

When I just looked at the lowest weight for each month, no matter how much fluctuation there was, it was clear as day that I lost the *exact same amount* every month for an entire year.

I was losing slowly, only 2lbs/mo, so the fluctuations were way more noticeable than the fat loss. So I might bloat up 5lbs for 4-6 weeks, and then suddenly drop several pounds over two weeks, and if I hadn't been graphing the low weights, I would have believed that I had gained or plateau'd and then quickly lost 5lbs.

But no, the graph showed very clearly that I lost only 2lbs, like clockwork, every month, no matter what craziness happened on the scale even for weeks on end.

That's just my personal experience, but maybe it will help you.

FitnessFreak1821

Thanks everyone! I was just curious because went down late in the day..then next morning I went up but I had feeling it's definitely water weight. I also knew not to stress to much because you can go up a few pounds. It is normal like some of you have said.

AnnPT77

XoXashleighXoX wrote: »

Thanks everyone! I was just curious because went down late in the day..then next morning I went up but I had feeling it's definitely water weight. I also knew not to stress to much because you can go up a few pounds. It is normal like some of you have said.

I usually see my lowest weight in the late afternoon. A lot of people seem to tend to be lightest first thing in the morning, but I usually eat my biggest (physically heaviest) meal of the day pretty late, shortly before bed, and most of it is still in my system by morning weigh-in. Routine patterns vary between people, and even one person can have some days that vary from their norm.

I still weigh-in first thing in the morning because that's a consistent time - I don't care that it's not my lightest time, because within-day variation isn't about body fat. Body fat changes show up in the multi-week trend, for me, if there are any. (I'm in maintenance.)