Weighing In At Night

NewMK08

So-Against my better judgement, I got on the scale a few minutes ago after what I thought was a very good day. I worked out, tracked every single thing that was put into my mouth, drank my water, and had 27 calories left over. But the scale shows I gained 2 pounds from this morning. Is that normal? How much does everyone else gain during the day?? I'm just worried that I'm not going to lose the 2 pounds-I normally lose 1 during the night-and that I ended up gaining today :frown:

I know I just need to get away from the scale-But the number has forever been an obsession. I've got to find better ways to measure my success. Like working out today and drinking water and tracking calories, those should be the successes that I focus on for the day-Not the dissapointing number on the scale.

NewMK08

So-Against my better judgement, I got on the scale a few minutes ago after what I thought was a very good day. I worked out, tracked every single thing that was put into my mouth, drank my water, and had 27 calories left over. But the scale shows I gained 2 pounds from this morning. Is that normal? How much does everyone else gain during the day?? I'm just worried that I'm not going to lose the 2 pounds-I normally lose 1 during the night-and that I ended up gaining today :frown:

I know I just need to get away from the scale-But the number has forever been an obsession. I've got to find better ways to measure my success. Like working out today and drinking water and tracking calories, those should be the successes that I focus on for the day-Not the dissapointing number on the scale.

tweety3

Heres an article I found on weighing yourself in the morning. I had always heard to weigh yourself in the morning because it was the most uninfluenced and accurate time of day..... hope this helps.........



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When should I weigh myself?
Throughout the day as you eat, drink, breathe, sweat, and use the restroom your weight varies. In fact, from one day to the next your weight can vary by as much as 13 1/2 pounds.

That is why most people recommend that you don't weigh yourself every day. It is emotionally draining to look at the scale one day and see that you've lost 3 pounds, only to look at it the next day to see that you've gained 5 pounds. Most people, including me, can't take that kind of emotional abuse.

That was the genius of John Walker's The Hacker's Diet. He knew that those random variations are just noise. To really understand how you are doing on a diet you need to filter out that noise. And there are plenty of tools in the mathematical toolbox to filter out such noise. After a bit of trial and error John Walker settled on using an exponentially smoothed moving average. And that is what the PhysicsDiet.com uses too.

But there is one more way that we can add additional random noise to the system. Since we never eat the same thing at the same time of day. And we never do exactly the same activities at the same time every day. Our weight varies during the day in unpredictable ways. This is why I recommend that you weigh yourself every morning after using the restroom, but before eating or drinking anything. In my experience, this is the one time of day that all of the factors that affect your weight are most consistent.

Of course you aren't required to weigh yourself at the same time every day. The moving average that the PhysicsDiet.com uses will smooth out the hour to hour variations the same way it smoothes out the day to day variations. But if you do keep your time of weightings consistent that is that much less random noise to worry about.

mindyfab

I get tempted to do the same thing...but it's really not a good idea and they say weighing yourself after working out isn't accurate. I think at most it's ideal to weigh yourself maybe twice a week so it doesn't become obsessive...I know I used to weigh myself multiple times daily and it's really just self-defeating and can lead you to make bad choices if you don't see the results that you would like. I have just started to use this site and am hoping it will help me to lose weight in a healthy way. Remember, our bodies weight can fluctuate for many reasons so weighing ourselves too much isn't going to show us results the way that weighing ourselves once a week will. It is good to focus on the statistics on this site that show us we are on track, so I encourage you to keep doing that. Good luck with the weight loss!

AJCM

NEVER weigh at night! Are you crazy girl!

I can weigh anywhere from 2 - 4 lbs more at night, depending on my water consumption and what foods I ate!

Just don't do it!!!

sixtyinchesoffury

Even though I weigh in weekly to chart my progress, in my opinion the best ways on measuring my success has always been measurements---both my actual physical measurements as well as fitness...how far I can walk or or how many sit ups I can do. I find these to be more level as well as more motivating. Just a thought.:happy:

rjjarvis

Day/Night, who cares? Wasn't there a physicist that proved that the act of observation influences the results of observation. Granted, he was dealing with subatomic particles, but why pay such close attention to the scale that you have to weigh yourself only in certain precise circumstances? We're not doing a scientific experiment, we're trying to look and feel better, lose fat, be healthier, etc.

I've watched my weight jump all over the place seemingly illogically as I weigh myself. But it isn't the individual number, it's the trend that counts. So if you are really tracking calories accurately and faithfully, and not cheating, staying within goals, you can't hep but be on the right trend, and ultimately there will come a day when you reach the objective you want. For me, that isn't a number. It's fitting back into my clothes, it's having more endurance in sports, it's not feeling fat.

So I'm going to weigh myself once a week, but I'm not going to pay a lot of attention if the number is surprising. I know exactly what I'm taking in each day, and I know that over time I'll trend in the right direction. Frankly, I would be happy at my present weight if it were solid muscle rather than flab.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth. I think the only details worth obsessing about are the caloric and nutritive intake on a daily basis. If that's under control, the rest has to follow. You can't burn 2400 calories and take in 1500 without turning to internal stores of energy, so if you just keep your eye on that process, you can forget about the scale altogether.



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Nich0le

I weighed in at breakfast, lunch and dinner for about a week just to see what my body did and I typically went up 2-4 lbs in a day and then each morning I was actually a little lighter. It was an experiment for myself, but I don't recommend doing it long term....:noway:

Anyway, whether you weigh yourself habitually after your morning bathroom break, after your workout or just before bed every night consistency is what counts. I now weigh in every Wednesday morning after my shower and whatever the scale says it says.

Sexythighz

I really can't stand the scale. .Makes me so sick. My Weight and clothes size doesnt match. Im 168 lbs with a waist of 27 inches and clothes size in jeans some 7 8's and I even have a a size 4 dress that I wore last year and I was at least 175 then. I dont know what it is. They say muscle is heavier than fat. I wish the scale would at least give me a break. So thats why me and the scale dont get along.

Steph

alyfin

I used to be obsessive about the scale - 4 or 5 times per day. During that time there was a day that I gained 7 lbs. between morning and night! The next morning I was 1 lb. less than the morning before. So, yes, you can fluctuate a ridiculous amount in the day. Best to weigh once in the morning if you must weigh everyday.

Phoenix_Rising

It doesn't matter if you weigh yourself in the morning or at night, as long as you are consistant.

Don't night weigh after being a morning weigh-er. You will see a huge difference.

I weigh in every day after my workout, 'round 3:30p. While I may weigh more at 3:30p than at 6am, I consistantly measure my weight at 3:30p. This way my weight loss shown is true weight loss and not daily fluctuation (for the most part).

NewMK08

Thank you everyone for your support-And very good advice! I need to stop weighing myself at night...And I'd really like to stop weighing myself every day and just do 1 weekly weigh in, but I get scared if I don't weigh for a while. I think seeing the numbers helps keep me in check.

Anyway-I did lose the 2 pounds overnight...Yay! Plus .2 more. So I guess I'm still on track!!

jenn10

You know you did good during the day so don't let the scale tell you otherwise! you might have been retaining water -or - added some much needed muscle- or - you may have just been building up a good poop! ( i know gross but true) - so put the scale out of sight for a few days and focus on something else.

arewethereyet

I have gained as much as 5 lbs in a day when I ate a lot of sodium and didnt drink my water.

If you ALWAYS weigh at night than it wouldnt matter.

Stick to a schedule and I would adivse not to weigh everyday. I started this nasty habit and cant stop my self now.

I got on 4x this morning and got 3 different weights! 1st one 149.5, 2nd 151, 3rd 150.5 and 150.5

My theory is I weigh 149.5...lowest numer wins in THIS house!