5lb difference in 2 days-which is true?

So yesterday I weight myself, then today, after being sick and going to the doctor. I got weight again but was 5lbs lighter.

So which is the true weight? Or am I actually somewhere in between?

First weight in I had on my workout clothes, no shoes.

This weight in I was in a tshirt and pj bottoms, no shoes.

Replies

  • charming12u
    charming12u Posts: 49 Member
    2 things probably at play. If you've been sick and not eating and or drinking, the weigh loss is related to being empty and or slightly dehydrated.

    Also, two different scales. Odds are the drs. Office is hopefully calibrated more often than your home scale.
  • RaggedyAnnazon
    RaggedyAnnazon Posts: 183 Member
    I don't have a home scale. My gym has the traditional weighted non-electric scale and a digital scale. The drs office's around here all have the same electric scale my gym does.
    So should I be going with the lower weight then?

    Guarenteed there was no food in my and I definetly wasn't properly hydrated.
  • charming12u
    charming12u Posts: 49 Member
    I weigh once a week, helps balance out the daily fluctuations you'll see. Friday morning after I get up has been my choice.

    If I've been sick, I don't really get too excited about loss, since I know it's related to water weight loss, and its going to level out once I'm drinking again.
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
    Go with the first one since the second is from illness. It isn't the fluctuations from day to day that matter, but rather the trend over time. So go with the first one, wait a week or two and weigh again. Or weigh daily and track the trend over time. Just don't stress over it either way because it is normal to fluctuate some daily.
  • GertrudeHorse
    GertrudeHorse Posts: 646 Member
    Go with the first one since the second is from illness. It isn't the fluctuations from day to day that matter, but rather the trend over time. So go with the first one, wait a week or two and weigh again. Or weigh daily and track the trend over time. Just don't stress over it either way because it is normal to fluctuate some daily.

    Correct!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Your weight will fluctuate day to day due to variations in water retention. You don't really have a "true" weight you have a collection of weights you range across and an average. Best way to find out what that is and how it is changing is to just keep logging it but don't sweat it if day to day your weight goes up or down seemingly at random, its about the trend over time not the individual measurements.
  • nelinelineli
    nelinelineli Posts: 330 Member
    Your weight is not a value, is a range of values your body can take depending on how hydrated you are, the contents of your digestive tract and many other factors. Both values are "true", they're just likely at different ends of the spectrum of your "weight".
  • ROBOTFOOD
    ROBOTFOOD Posts: 5,527 Member
    Water fluctuations. After a marathon I can be 8lbs down. Drink it back and be up 8lbs back to my normal pre race weight the same day.

    Just saw that you were sick. Most likely dehydration.