Weight Fluctuations Between Evening & Morning?

treetz1979
treetz1979 Posts: 108 Member
edited September 22 in Health and Weight Loss
Since I started my MFP journey, my husband has been making changes as well - not an MFP member but he's doing really well.

He has been noticing that his weight can fluctuate 2 pounds or more between a weight check in the evening, and a weight check in the morning. He was trying to get some consistency to go by, which is why he was checking himself between the two times. Mine is not fluctuating that much.

Both times, he's wearing the same thing, he has gone to the bathroom, and no big meals within the last several hours. He always weighs 2 pounds less compared to the night before.

Why? Where did the weight go? Excuse the description, but he's not peeing 2 pounds each morning!

Replies

  • Healthyby30
    Healthyby30 Posts: 1,349 Member
    Everyone's weight can fluctuate (I've even heard as much as 5-10lbs) a day. You're still digesting food, have excess fluids in your body, etc. That's why the best time to weigh yourself is first thing in the AM after you use the bathroom. You have an empty stomach. You can't check your weight throughout the day and go off that. Your true weight is first thing in the AM
  • samfh
    samfh Posts: 2
    Mine can fluctuate 2 pounds or more between evening and morning. Where does it all go? I have no idea. The magic weight fairies are at work perhaps :) I know that I generally try to only weigh myself (now) once a day and naturally I choose the morning for the lowest number. I know that doesn't answer your quesiton, but perhaps just knowing he's not the only one will give you some, I don't know, ease with this issue?
  • treetz1979
    treetz1979 Posts: 108 Member
    Everyone's weight can fluctuate (I've even heard as much as 5-10lbs) a day. You're still digesting food, have excess fluids in your body, etc. That's why the best time to weigh yourself is first thing in the AM after you use the bathroom. You have an empty stomach. You can't check your weight throughout the day and go off that. Your true weight is first thing in the AM


    Thanks....I totally agree that the morning weight, before shower and before breakfast (after bathroom) is the perfect time. But I guess I still don't understand where the 2 pounds went in 8 hours?? It just doesn't make any sense to me...
  • i agree that the best time is in the morning after you use the bathroom, during the day you eat drink, and not everything is absorbed yet so there's a lot of the extra weight, plus water weight etc....
  • batty5
    batty5 Posts: 193
    Mine is usually 2 to 4 lbs but has occasionally been a 10lb difference!!!! Makes knowing my real weight difficult at times which is a reason my weigh day changes often!
  • you also burn calories while you sleep... i highly doubt he's burning off those 2 lbs lol. but probably once the body absorbs foods, or let's say he uses some water weight if he sweats at night, a think there's hundreds of possible explanations, but i'm the same way if i were to weigh myself at night then in the morning i would probably be a couple pounds lighter..
  • electromg
    electromg Posts: 70 Member
    I hear that we lose water weight from breath moisture when you're sleeping, and by sweating.
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    I have had up to 4lbs dissapear overnight. I have even had 3lbs dissapear after an hour nap in the middle of a long day! I don't know where it goes, I just hope it doesn't come back!:tongue: That is one of the reasons I only log the weight loss if I see the same number on the scale 2 days in a row. Sometimes the scale likes to play tricks, it will show a 3lb drop one morning, the next morning it is back up and only shows 1, the next 3, the next 2..... so I wait until its the same 2 mornings in a row, then I know its gone.
  • Bigpelly8
    Bigpelly8 Posts: 504 Member
    I am exactly the same.....I figure the calories are still being burned while I sleep so thats how I explain it.
  • hearthwood
    hearthwood Posts: 794 Member
    I think the difference between morning and night weight fluctuation is just what we are eating and drinking during the day. As an example if you drink 8 ounces of coffee it still weighs 8 ounces until it passes through the body. A 16 ounce 0 calorie diet coke will do the same.

    So the best time to get an accurate weigh in is first thing in the morning, before you have your coffee.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    my weight is usually 2 to 3 pounds more in the evening than when i wake up. and yes, it's the food and what we drink that adds the weight.
  • Im pretty sure that you can sweat up to 2 pints a night. Which could be the reason weight differs from evening to morning. The horrible thing is that those pints go straight into your mattress :/ haha
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    I don't weigh myself in the evening...did a couple of times just for curiosity...but will never do it again.
  • sheedy17
    sheedy17 Posts: 128
    I weigh myself 2-3 times a day, and it goes higher and lower as the day goes on, before bed, I am usually 3 pounds heavier and I drop it when i wake up
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    You are less hydrated in the morning because you haven't drunk for hours but are still losing water through the usual ways (not just peeing but also losing moisture from sweating and breathing out moisture)
This discussion has been closed.