weighing after exercise

jameslucy

Should you weigh yourself after doing exercise or not. Think I read somewhere that you weigh heavier straight after exercise. Does anyone know if this is true or not.

taso42

Doesn't make much sense to do that. You won't get an accurate reading. I'm normally up a lb or 3 due to all the water I drink due to working out. Or, if you don't drink water, you'll be artificially lower.

Best time to weigh is first thing in the morning after you get done with the bathroom.

edit:typos

StephW1990

I normally weigh first thing in the morning after using the bathroom .. then I go straight to the gym and have weighed myself there before (just out of curiostity) and I have always weighed more after a workout and I too am guessing it is all the water I drink whilst working out.

smashleymcgee

Best time to weight if first thing in the morning after you get done with the bathroom.

This one. You would only weigh yourself before/after working out if you want to see how much water you lost. I believe from every pound lost you need to drink 16oz. of water...or something like that.

starauthor23

It's probably not true, with one caveat. First, unless you're eating a power bar or chugging a smoothie, you're not putting anything except water or a sports drink into your body during the workout. Your body doesn't just produce mass, it has to come from somewhere, so you don't inherently weigh more after working out. The caveat is that whatever you drink during your workout is indeed mass being added to your body, and as it turns out that water weight tends to swing the pendulum of weigh-ins back and forth, this could potentially cause you to weigh more because of a high intake of fluids during the workout.

That's all to say that I don't know. Scientifically speaking, you're only going to weigh what you weigh. So based on this: your body weight - whatever you sweat out during your workout + weight of the clothes you're wearing during your weigh in (and any sweat they've absorbed during your workout) + whatever you intake during your workout = your post workout weight. Unless you're chugging gallons of water, your weight will probably not be significantly lower or higher after a workout than it would be before, or at any other time of the day as your body randomly fluctuates due to the number of factors influencing your weight.

I wouldn't stress about it. What's key is not to weigh yourself when you weigh the least in the day, necessarily, but to standardize when you weigh yourself. I weigh myself after I work out, but because I have a similar routine to all my workouts and I only weigh myself after workouts and never other times, there's a standardization that offsets whatever I may have gained or lost during a workout.

Hope this helps!

docHelen

the most important thing is to weigh your self the same time everytime so it's consistent. i do weigh after exercise and a really big drink

Pappabacon

I always weigh first thing in the morning before I have had anything to eat or drink. If I weighed after my workout I would have picked up some water weight.

nygiantschick

I've never weighed more after a workout. Just as long as you weigh yourself at the same time consistently and the weight is getting lower over time, then you should be moving in the right direction. Also, check how your clothes fit as a true measure of your loss. All the best to you.

moniquelessard

I weigh myself after I work out. It's fine, because thats the only time I weigh myself. I think what's most important is that you weigh yourself at the same time every day. (ie. first thing in the morning, or just before you work out, or just after you work out).

ahadj

Like most everyone else said, how much you weigh after a workout has everything to do with how much you sweat and how much water you drank. Weigh in the mornings for accuracy and consistency!

howsera

I do not the scientific reason but last night I weighed when I came in from walking/jogging and I weighed 2 lbs heavier than I did yesterday morning and 4 lbs heavier than I did this morning after going to the bathroom.

willdob3

It is a silly thing to do, IMO. I figure weighing after my workout would show water retenton or loss of water weight from sweating. Depends on the workout.

The scale shows only total weight at any given moment. Don't use it to judge progress. That is ridiculous and simply not correct scientifically.

There are other ways to tell if one is actually losing fat. The fit of clothes & measurements are good. Measure everything once a month & compare to the last month.

Francl27

The only accurate time to weigh yourself is in the morning, at the same time every time, before eating anything (and after going to the bathroom).