Weight fluctuates 5-6lbs a day. Is that normal?

david_swinstead · October 2013

Several people have said it could be things like bloating, from things you drank before bed, or calories "catching up with you" from things you ate before your night-time weigh in.

Sorry to be abrasive but these notions are utterly absurd.

Calories being absorbed into your blood stream doesn't make you heavier. It just takes the weight that you already had in your stomach and stores it in a more permanent way as fat - but it doesn't make you heavier because the weight was already there in your stomach.

Nothing - absolutely nothing - can make you heavier, except taking on board more mass. This means eating or drinking, and nothing else! Bloating just changes your shape - it won't increase the weight of the food and drink you already ate!

You can't get heavier without eating or drinking more. The weight doesn't just come out of thin air! it has to come from something you add to your body.

So basically, this takes us back to my original point:

If you didn't eat or drink between weigh-ins, it is literally, scientifically, 100% IMPOSSIBLE that you gained weight.

Your scales are wrong (time for a new battery perhaps), or your eyes need testing.

david_swinstead · October 2013

And everybody saying this is normal has clearly not read and understood your original post.

Losing a few lbs overnight is completely normal.

Gaining a few lbs overnight is not possible.

annakow · October 2013

I got a difference of 2-3kg between the morning and the evening..4-6 lbs...thats normal for me

Tiznonay · October 2013

my weight can vary by as much as 7 lbs on a given day - I think it's normal(ish)

never understood why ppl say they weigh like "181" or something. Just round it off. It fluctuates anyhow - least that's how I look at it

trudijoy · October 2013

And everybody saying this is normal has clearly not read and understood your original post.

Losing a few lbs overnight is completely normal.

Gaining a few lbs overnight is not possible.

>> clearly you're not female

Utter crap. Your weight CAN change. Yes it's to do with what you put in and dispose of, however it's not as simple as what you eat and drink. Water retention, working out, any number of things can affect it.

It's not a true gain, as it's temporary but it shows as a gain and that is frustrating. It's often never as simple as what you put in your mouth.

padams2359 · October 2013

Male or female is immaterial. Eat something high in sodium, drink .5 oz of water, as recommended per lb. in my case, put 77 oz of water on a kitchen scale and see what it weighs. It is temporary, but your scale does not show actual weight and temp weight.

spfldpam · October 2013

I do believe that is normal. It depends on what you are eating. Salty or sodium high foods will make you retain water and you'll post a gain on the scale. I vary 3-4 pounds a day sometimes. If you drink alot of water also you will weigh more. Of course you always weigh more at night then when you first get up. I do weigh myself daily to keep myself in check. First thing in the morning after going to the bathroom in my pjs. I know alot of people say not to weigh that often but I do to keep myself in check. In the past I didn't and the weight came back on after I had lost some.
Good luck!

david_swinstead · October 2013

And everybody saying this is normal has clearly not read and understood your original post.

Losing a few lbs overnight is completely normal.

Gaining a few lbs overnight is not possible.

>> clearly you're not female

Utter crap. Your weight CAN change. Yes it's to do with what you put in and dispose of, however it's not as simple as what you eat and drink. Water retention, working out, any number of things can affect it.

It's not a true gain, as it's temporary but it shows as a gain and that is frustrating. It's often never as simple as what you put in your mouth.

Honestly, you think the weight just comes from nowhere? out of thin air? Ludicrous.

Once you drink a glass of water, that weight is included in what you see on the scale,in exactly the same way as if you stood on the scale holding the glass of water in your hand.

If you drink 1 litre of water (1kg exactly) it weighs 1kg when it's in the glass on the table, then it still weighs 1kg when it's in the glass in your hand, and it still weighs 1kg when it's in your stomach. Whether your body then decides to hold on to that water (due to sodium or whatever), or pass it through, doesn't make that litre of water weigh more than 1kg.

I honestly don't know how so many people are struggling to understand this. It's super-basic physics.

trunkfish · October 2013

I was 149lb the other day (which depressed me because it's the heaviest I've been for a while), but the next day I weighed myself first thing in the morning as usual and I was 145lb - always use the same scales by the way. 4lb had gone from nowhere. It's a bit disconcerting to be on a goal to lose 2lb per week and then find you can lose double that in one night without doing anything. Still - not complaining.

See, this right here is EXACTLY why I think weighing in daily is better than weighing in weekly. If that one 149-pound day had been trunkfish's only measurement for a week, it would have given her the wrong impression and possibly prompted a weeklong funk. More data points makes for better understanding.

Thanks for that. I weigh every day cos it helps to keep me on track if I've gone up one day from the next. I don't freak out about it though. I've also found that if I've stuck to calorie count for the day, and exercised, it doesn't go up the next day....

trudijoy · October 2013

And everybody saying this is normal has clearly not read and understood your original post.

Losing a few lbs overnight is completely normal.

Gaining a few lbs overnight is not possible.

>> clearly you're not female

Utter crap. Your weight CAN change. Yes it's to do with what you put in and dispose of, however it's not as simple as what you eat and drink. Water retention, working out, any number of things can affect it.

It's not a true gain, as it's temporary but it shows as a gain and that is frustrating. It's often never as simple as what you put in your mouth.

Honestly, you think the weight just comes from nowhere? out of thin air? Ludicrous.

Once you drink a glass of water, that weight is included in what you see on the scale,in exactly the same way as if you stood on the scale holding the glass of water in your hand.

If you drink 1 litre of water (1kg exactly) it weighs 1kg when it's in the glass on the table, then it still weighs 1kg when it's in the glass in your hand, and it still weighs 1kg when it's in your stomach. Whether your body then decides to hold on to that water (due to sodium or whatever), or pass it through, doesn't make that litre of water weigh more than 1kg.

I honestly don't know how so many people are struggling to understand this. It's super-basic physics.

No, it's not. You drink 1L of water. You've put in 1kg. eventually that comes out again. But you don't pee a litre for every litre you ingest, immediately. You don't necessarily dispose of things in the same time frame as you eat them.

So if you're retaining water then there could be extra on the scale the next time you weigh in. Gender DOES play a role too. I'm 4kg heavier this week, and it's all TOM weight. I didn't miraculously eat thousands of extra calories, but it's there. Next week I won't have cut thousands more, and it will be gone.

It's not quite as black and white as you think. You can see it as black and white all you want and if that's clearer for you, great. But it's not like that for most of us because there are multiple factors in play and whether you like it or not that is true.

gk03ub · October 2013

110% normal

david_swinstead · November 2013

And everybody saying this is normal has clearly not read and understood your original post.

Losing a few lbs overnight is completely normal.

Gaining a few lbs overnight is not possible.

>> clearly you're not female

Utter crap. Your weight CAN change. Yes it's to do with what you put in and dispose of, however it's not as simple as what you eat and drink. Water retention, working out, any number of things can affect it.

It's not a true gain, as it's temporary but it shows as a gain and that is frustrating. It's often never as simple as what you put in your mouth.

Honestly, you think the weight just comes from nowhere? out of thin air? Ludicrous.

Once you drink a glass of water, that weight is included in what you see on the scale,in exactly the same way as if you stood on the scale holding the glass of water in your hand.

If you drink 1 litre of water (1kg exactly) it weighs 1kg when it's in the glass on the table, then it still weighs 1kg when it's in the glass in your hand, and it still weighs 1kg when it's in your stomach. Whether your body then decides to hold on to that water (due to sodium or whatever), or pass it through, doesn't make that litre of water weigh more than 1kg.

I honestly don't know how so many people are struggling to understand this. It's super-basic physics.

No, it's not. You drink 1L of water. You've put in 1kg. eventually that comes out again. But you don't pee a litre for every litre you ingest, immediately. You don't necessarily dispose of things in the same time frame as you eat them.

So if you're retaining water then there could be extra on the scale the next time you weigh in. Gender DOES play a role too. I'm 4kg heavier this week, and it's all TOM weight. I didn't miraculously eat thousands of extra calories, but it's there. Next week I won't have cut thousands more, and it will be gone.

It's not quite as black and white as you think. You can see it as black and white all you want and if that's clearer for you, great. But it's not like that for most of us because there are multiple factors in play and whether you like it or not that is true.

You seem to be arguing against a point which isn't the point I'm making.

You're saying that once you drink water, various factors can make you retain that water. And I completely agree with this; it's widely accepted.

But this is not what our original poster was saying. They said that they had gained weight between two time periods despite not taking on board any water (or any food or drink).

This is simply not possible.

If you retain water, then the scales will show that weight from the moment you ingest it. It won't arbitrarily appear on the scale during the night, or at any other point in time.

corgicake · November 2013

If you're getting a weight GAIN of that much across a time that likely doesn't involve consuming anything, your scale is out to lunch.

Bruceapple · November 2013

Water weighs 8.33 lbs / gallon

david_swinstead · November 2013

If you're getting a weight GAIN of that much across a time that likely doesn't involve consuming anything, your scale is out to lunch.

Finally someone else in the thread who knows that a weight *loss* is normal, a weight *gain* is not!

I was starting to feel like the madman preaching on the street corner

Koldnomore · November 2013

Tbh I was a little drunk when I weighed myself at 2am. Maybe when I weighed myself in the morning my drinking calories caught up to me? But when I weighed myself in the evening that same day it went down to like 133 I think?

Alcohol messes with your system. Sleeping some of it off may have allowed your body to resume its 'normal' functions. Also if you were a bit drunk you might have also read the scale wrong or have been standing in an odd position (which can mess with the numbers too) I'm going to bet it was the fact that you were drunk

susannamarie · November 2013

I'm betting you were standing funny because you were drunk or misread the scale.

You should never see a weight gain over a period when you have ingested nothing. If you do, there's something bizarre going on with your scale or the way you're standing.