A personal observation about exercise + eating back cals -

heykatieben

I weigh every day, same time of day. I've noticed pretty definitively by now that my weight is lower if I exercised the previous day, even though I usually eat back my exercise cals, or most of them. It's kinda neat to weigh everyday - makes it easier to pick up on things like this. YMMV but just wanted to share.

AngelaeLebron1

Also I noticed that on days I workout, I have way more of an appetite...almost like my body is telling me I need more calories without MFP telling me to..and the more weight I lose the hungrier I am.

Jemmuno

sry but whats YMMV?

KeyMasterOfGozer

Your Mileage May Vary

http://www.internetslang.com/

Women on this site use TOM a lot, and it took me months to figure out what they were talking about, and of course I refused to ask. You are obviously braver than me.

merrick7871

Ok, what does TOM mean?

sandi228

Time of Month, aren't you glad you asked?

rlv2680

Ok, what does TOM mean?

Time of month lol

SHBoss1673

TOM = Time of Month

But back to the original point, while I think it's great that you can receive a positive emotion out of it, please note that seeing changes in everyday weight is usually nothing more than hydration levels and sometimes waste levels in the body, it in no way correlates to exercise calories and eating back exercise calories (other than the weight of the food and/or water in your body).

I'm not saying this to be negative, on the contrary, I'm just making sure people understand that weighing yourself and determining your days calories because of a result is really not how it should work. Your plan should be the same, regardless of whether you worked out or not (I.E. your calorie deficit should remain constant, but your total calories will vary based on if you worked out that day or not).

best wishes

-Banks

PBJunky

TOM = Time of Month

But back to the original point, while I think it's great that you can receive a positive emotion out of it, please note that seeing changes in everyday weight is usually nothing more than hydration levels and sometimes waste levels in the body, it in no way correlates to exercise calories and eating back exercise calories (other than the weight of the food and/or water in your body).

I'm not saying this to be negative, on the contrary, I'm just making sure people understand that weighing yourself and determining your days calories because of a result is really not how it should work. Your plan should be the same, regardless of whether you worked out or not (I.E. your calorie deficit should remain constant, but your total calories will vary based on if you worked out that day or not).

best wishes

-Banks

You beat me to it, but yes I agree with the above^

heykatieben

Sure, I understand that there can be big fluctuations - I've seen myself "lose" too much weight at one time to all be fat.

I always weigh 30-60 minutes after waking up, after using the bathroom. Weighing every day and recording the lowest weight seems to me like it should be pretty accurate, as long as that's what I *always* record.

Weighing every day seems to me to give me more accurate data, too. What happens if you weigh once a week and happen to hit a day where water retention is up? I personally would be discouraged for the rest of the week. If I weigh every day, same time, same conditions, and I'm up, I know I'll see the effects of a cleaner diet much sooner.

jdhosier

What happens if you weigh once a week and happen to hit a day where water retention is up?

That happens to me all the time. Saturday morning is my normal weigh-in day (at least that I officially record) and If I eat a larger than normal Friday night, especially if there is more sodium involved (pizza) then I tend to show little or no weight loss. <shrug> I still know that I am heading in the right direction because I am still trying to do the things I need to do.

If you like weighing every day it is no big deal. Where people get into trouble is when they obsess about small fluctuations in weight and it ruins their day and causes them to give up.

jlewis2896

Sure, I understand that there can be big fluctuations - I've seen myself "lose" too much weight at one time to all be fat.

I always weigh 30-60 minutes after waking up, after using the bathroom. Weighing every day and recording the lowest weight seems to me like it should be pretty accurate, as long as that's what I *always* record.

Weighing every day seems to me to give me more accurate data, too. What happens if you weigh once a week and happen to hit a day where water retention is up? I personally would be discouraged for the rest of the week. If I weigh every day, same time, same conditions, and I'm up, I know I'll see the effects of a cleaner diet much sooner.

Agreed. I weigh every day for my own observations. My 'official' weigh-in day is Monday, but seeing numbers before and after that date gives me a better idea of how accurate it actually is.

meli_medina

What happens if you weigh once a week and happen to hit a day where water retention is up?

That happens to me all the time. Saturday morning is my normal weigh-in day (at least that I officially record) and If I eat a larger than normal Friday night, especially if there is more sodium involved (pizza) then I tend to show little or no weight loss. <shrug> I still know that I am heading in the right direction because I am still trying to do the things I need to do.

If you like weighing every day it is no big deal. Where people get into trouble is when they obsess about small fluctuations in weight and it ruins their day and causes them to give up.

What John says. I am a daily weigher and the fluctuations don't bother me. I can usually look at what I eat and determine how much fluctuation I will get based on my intake of sodium and carbs. As long as your trend is downwards, that's really all that's important.

wickedcricket

Ok, what does TOM mean?

don't ask what BOB is