Why do I weigh less in the morning?

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SiltyPigeon
SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok.... weird question, yes. But, I've been wracking my brain about this for weeks now!

A few times, simply out of curiosity, I have weighed myself before bed and after I wake up. Sometimes I weigh as much as 2 pounds less in the morning than I do at night!

Every time I weigh myself I am completely nude (sorry, but it had to be said), it is the same scale in the same place. In the morning I weighed myself BEFORE I went to the bathroom (again, sorry, but that seems relevant). I do not pee the bed (at least I don't think so, hahaha) and am not a big night-sweater or night-drooler (lol at 2 pounds of drool on my pillow). So WHY would a person weigh 2 pounds less in the morning than at night? Does it simply evaporate: and if so, in what form?

My only theory so far... and this is probably REALLY stretching it.... is that a person breathes deeper at night, thus saturating the body in oxygen, causing one to weigh less (sort of like a balloon). But that is probably REALLY silly. Who has a better explanation? There MUST be a reason for this!
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Replies

  • triannataylor
    triannataylor Posts: 32
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    It's totally normal for your weight to change throughout the day - this is why it's ideal to weigh yourself first thing after your morning pee : )
    Mainly I think it has to do with all your fluids... I can weigh up to 4lb more before bed than in the morning, and I fluctuate throughout the day, but I drink a lot of fluids and also I perspire a lot, including in my sleep!
    Nothing to worry about : )
  • laney237
    laney237 Posts: 26
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    I'm the same way....It's kind of depressing to weigh yourself in the morning and think u r down 4 pounds, and then that afternoon you are only down by 2!!! I've decided to weigh only in the mornings!!! I put my scale under my bed and only take it out Thursday mornings :))
  • naivenitara
    naivenitara Posts: 32
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    You're better off just weighing yourself first thing in the morning so as not to get depressed since the average human body can fluxiate as much as 4lbs during the day! Here's what I found online to answer your question.

    You weigh less in the morning because when your body
    converts food materials to energy, CO2 and water vapour are released as waste products - and are expelled from the body (that's why when you breath on glass condensation appears). If you think about it - this is happening all night - so a fair amount of water leaves your body. A third of the body's water loss occurs at night - and can amount to about 2 or 3lbs.
    Also, you will clearly weigh more when you eat/drink something - you will be adding the weight of that food to your body. However, this won't necessarily make you 'put on' weight because the food is essentially burned off/ waste products leave the body (unless excessive calories are consumed which are more than the number you use in a day) - so basically, you will essentially stay the same weight if you eat a normal amount of food.
  • tay_913
    tay_913 Posts: 71 Member
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    It's due to digestion and the extra food in your stomach at night verus the morning. I always weigh myself in the morning right before I get changed for the day.
  • Anidorie
    Anidorie Posts: 291 Member
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    and if you are like me when you wake up you pee. pee= weight. but yes your body digests and eats some of yesterdays food.
  • Mary830
    Mary830 Posts: 64
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    I'm trying to remember all the technicalities on this one. The main reason is changes in the amount of water in your system. You can lose water constantly- not just when you get up to go pee or drooling on the pillow. :happy: Sweating, and even just the process of breathing will play a part.
    So WHY would a person weigh 2 pounds less in the morning than at night? Does it simply evaporate: and if so, in what form?

    I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh. I'm picturing my fat just evaporating away while I sleep, and now I think I might go to bed early and turn the alarm off. Thanks for the great mental image!
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    You're better off just weighing yourself first thing in the morning so as not to get depressed since the average human body can fluxiate as much as 4lbs during the day! Here's what I found online to answer your question.

    You weigh less in the morning because when your body
    converts food materials to energy, CO2 and water vapour are released as waste products - and are expelled from the body (that's why when you breath on glass condensation appears). If you think about it - this is happening all night - so a fair amount of water leaves your body. A third of the body's water loss occurs at night - and can amount to about 2 or 3lbs.
    Also, you will clearly weigh more when you eat/drink something - you will be adding the weight of that food to your body. However, this won't necessarily make you 'put on' weight because the food is essentially burned off/ waste products leave the body (unless excessive calories are consumed which are more than the number you use in a day) - so basically, you will essentially stay the same weight if you eat a normal amount of food.

    Thank You, so much! That is EXACTLY the answer I was hoping to get! I hadn't considered Co2 being released as a waste product! Now I can go to bed happy that I have learned something... and weigh less tomorrow, too! :-)

    YOU are AWESOME!!!

    Thanks everyone else for your answers, too!
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh. I'm picturing my fat just evaporating away while I sleep, and now I think I might go to bed early and turn the alarm off. Thanks for the great mental image!

    Something to meditate on! And: you're welcome! :tongue: :happy:
  • sunshinel397
    sunshinel397 Posts: 262
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    So WHY would a person weigh 2 pounds less in the morning than at night? Does it simply evaporate: and if so, in what form?

    I'm sorry, but I just had to laugh. I'm picturing my fat just evaporating away while I sleep, and now I think I might go to bed early and turn the alarm off. Thanks for the great mental image!
    [/quote]

    That post about the fat evaporating just made my night! If only that were true!!!
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    PS..... Usually I do only weigh myself in the morning. But, I'm a very curious person, so on occasion I have weighed myself before and after doing different activities just to see if said activity makes a difference. For example: After taking a long hot bath I usually weigh a pound less!! Probably from sweating, I suppose: but still interesting!
  • callipygianchronicle
    callipygianchronicle Posts: 811 Member
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    You weigh less in the morning because when your body
    converts food materials to energy, CO2 and water vapour are released as waste products - and are expelled from the body (that's why when you breath on glass condensation appears). If you think about it - this is happening all night - so a fair amount of water leaves your body. A third of the body's water loss occurs at night - and can amount to about 2 or 3lbs.

    That was really informative. Thanks! And thanks to the OP for asking. I always wondered why the weigh-yourself-first-thing-in-the-morning concept was so widespread.
  • paulalex
    paulalex Posts: 1
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    Gotta also remember that you do burn calories while you sleep. That's why doctors always recommend 7-8 hours of sleep:

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/280877-about-calories-burned-during-eight-hours-of-sleep/#
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
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    Gotta also remember that you do burn calories while you sleep. That's why doctors always recommend 7-8 hours of sleep:

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/280877-about-calories-burned-during-eight-hours-of-sleep/#

    Thanks!
    I knew that calories were burned while sleeping, but I guess my bigger question was "Where do they go?". There isn't any smoke coming out of my ears while I sleep, so I don't think the calories just thrown on a bonfire in my belly. The idea that the calories are broken down into Co2 and Water and breathed out of the body makes sense. :-)
  • mavila1978
    mavila1978 Posts: 49
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    drooling on the pillow. :happy: Sweating, and even just the process of breathing will play a part.

    brb, going to change my pillowcase :indifferent:
  • ntruluck
    ntruluck Posts: 2
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    Hi all.

    So here is another related question. Let's say you weight 60kgs at 7am when you wake up, you eat or drink nothing and at 8am you weigh more?

    Thanks
    Nick
  • heddy90
    heddy90 Posts: 144 Member
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    Weighing yourself after you've eaten and drunk, is like stepping on the scale with a full plate of food and a bottle of water in your hands. When you consume something the weight from that doesn't magically disappear once it enters your body ;)
  • LadyL2012
    LadyL2012 Posts: 127 Member
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    I've always figured it's because you haven't eaten for many hours and your body processes have kept on burning the calories.

    My weight can fluctuation up t 4 lbs in a day. I actually find I am at my lightest a few hours after waking before eating anything.
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
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    [Redacted]
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
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    Gotta also remember that you do burn calories while you sleep. That's why doctors always recommend 7-8 hours of sleep:

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/280877-about-calories-burned-during-eight-hours-of-sleep/#

    Thanks!
    I knew that calories were burned while sleeping, but I guess my bigger question was "Where do they go?". There isn't any smoke coming out of my ears while I sleep, so I don't think the calories just thrown on a bonfire in my belly. The idea that the calories are broken down into Co2 and Water and breathed out of the body makes sense. :-)

    The calories go to your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver, sexual organs, muscle repair, eyes, skin, and hair, to keep you alive; and, of course, you're fasted during this time. That's your BMR/RMR. Plus, nighttime urination can account for several pounds.
  • annabell48
    annabell48 Posts: 42
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    It has to do with the fact that you sleep for so many hours during the night (6 to 8 hours, different for everyone) and your digestive system has that much time to digest everything that you eat and drink the day before, besides what you work off while exercising. As the day progresses, you body does not have the time to work off all the calories that you have consumed. Best thing to do is weigh yourself in the morning 1 day a week due to the body's capability to fluctuate the weight day to day.

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