Question for people who weigh every day

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Rhyssa6
Rhyssa6 Posts: 33
in Health and Weight Loss
How much fluctuation do you get?

I read a lot on here about how your weight can fluctuate by as much as 3 pounds during the course of a single day. Before I started my healthy eating and exercise plan I also found this to be true. I could weigh myself 3 times in one day and get a different weight every time.

Since I started my healthy lifestyle plan though I get no fluctuations at all, even from day to day. My weight will go down (or occasionally up) by between 1/2 and 1 1/2 pounds every few days. It then stays at that weight for a few days until the next change. It makes no difference whether I've changed my clothes, just been to the bathroom, just eaten or just exercised - no fluctuations at all.

I bought a new, more accurate set of scales about a month ago and I've tested them by having my daughter weigh herself and also by weighing myself holding a couple of 1 pound handweights. My daughters weight will be different and mine will be 2 pounds heavier. I put the weights down and it's back to what it was.

Does anyone else not get any fluctuations, or have any suggestions as to why I don't?

Replies

  • sblim
    sblim Posts: 99
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    You can't test a scale with a couple pound weights. The reason is that a 1-2 percent difference won't show up on your scale with one lb but with 200 lbs it means 2-4 lbs difference. Test your scale with a 50 lb weight with you holding before/after to get a better result.

    I don't weigh myself everday but I have Out of curiosity like you. My weight can fluctuate up to 6 lbs or more during the day based on what foods, sodium, and water I have ingested.
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
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    I weigh myself every day, but only once a day: in the morning. I have heard (and don't know how true it is) that we weight more at the end of the day due to the compressive forces of gravity. Plus I've eaten a lot food and drunk tons of water by then! I find my weight can fluctuate daily based on 3 factors: how much sodium I had the day before, how hard I exercised the day before, and the time of the month - all three conditions will cause me to weigh more, by a couple of pounds. Otherwise I don't fluctuate much.
  • mmshburn
    mmshburn Posts: 2
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    I weigh myself everyday, sometimes twice. I have some of the same outcomes, a difference in weight by 2-3 pounds. My mother is a nurse and says it's much better to weigh the same time every day. Your weight will change depending on the time of day same as the way shoes fit differently through out the day because blood flow cause feet to "swell". The tendencies with weight are similar; most people weigh more at night than in the morning.

    I hope that helps!
  • tkrall
    tkrall Posts: 109
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    I weigh myself everyday as well. In the morning I'm 145 by the end of the day before I go to bed it's 148-150. This is about average everyday. It all depends on how much I ate that day or the water that I drank. It all depends on the body type. Not everybody is the same.
  • sweetheart312
    sweetheart312 Posts: 26 Member
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    Hi everyone im new to this site but i weigh myself everyday cause it keeps me on track that way i dont start eating things i shouldn't eat i love this and i been on here for a week and already lost 4 lbs i love this site and by tracking my food it helps
    to know if i can eat or not but most of the time i dont use all my calories is that a bad thing if you dont use them all cause
    i cant use them all i would be too stuffed and how much cardio should woman do a week
  • leelu
    leelu Posts: 136 Member
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    I weigh pretty often and can go up anything up to a kilo (2.2 pounds) different between evenings and morning, but from day today its only a couple of hundred grams different and part of that is due to legitimate fat loses i think.
  • KiriKiriKiri
    KiriKiriKiri Posts: 227 Member
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    Ok, I will admit it...I am addicted to my scale! I weigh myself a bazillion times a day! It does nothing for me other than satisfy curiosity. The only "weight" that I count is in the morning.

    The reason for fluctuation is food, water, ELECTROLYTES!!! and your body changes throughout the day, period. Yes, it is normal which is why you should not let that gauge your progress and why they say only weigh once a week, etc.

    Hope this helps!
  • sroseber
    sroseber Posts: 197 Member
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    I weigh every morning before I get in the shower. I don't weigh later in the day because I know it will be more just from eating and other factors during the day. Usually if I"ve eaten well and been at least a little active then the next day I'll usually be down a little (.2-.4 lbs usually) or maybe the same weight as the day before. If I didn't eat well or got too much sodium or not enough water or sometimes if I worked out a lot more than usual (muscles retaining water) then I might be up as much as 1.5 lbs if it was sodium or sore muscles usually that's gone by the next day or most of it. As long as I'm not going up 5 lbs or so and it doesn't consistently stay up I don't usually worry tooooo much about a slight increase. I try to use it as a tool to look at how I ate the day before. Too much sodium yesterday? Keep it less today and drink more water. Exercise a lot yesterday? No worries, it will go away in a day or two. Not enough water? more today. Eat bad? Do better and exercise a little more. I wish MFP had a way to record amount of sleep you get each night, I find that REALLY makes a difference in my weight. I will stay the same or go up just by getting a couple hours less sleep than I need for a day or two. Once I get a good night's sleep it goes back down. I find it crazy that sleep can have that big an influence on weight, sometimes even more than the food and exercise!

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