Did I REALLY Gain 3 Pounds Over Night, Or Is The Scale Lying To Me?

PugBug20
PugBug20 Posts: 55
edited January 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, all. Now, I know you aren't supposed to weigh yourself every day, but I do. I know it's bad, but I just can't help myself. However, I always weigh myself on the same scale (the scale at my gym), at the same time of day, wearing the same amount of clothing, so at least I'm being consistent. Anyway, when I got on the scale this morning, it said I gained 3 pounds since yesterday! I would be able to accept this if I had overeaten yesterday, but I worked out and ate normally (i.e., I didn't eat over or under my caloric limit). I also didn't eat anything that was high in sodium and (TMI warning) I'm not expecting my time of the month, so I don't think it's water retention. Is it possible that the scale is wrong? If not, what could it be? Please help!
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Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,020 Member
    edited January 2015
    Read this!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1210243/omg-i-ate-a-donut-and-was-up-80-pounds-the-next-day/p1
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Weight naturally fluctuates around 5 pound up or down from day to day due. It sounds like a natural water weight fluctuation to me.
  • mallory_2014
    mallory_2014 Posts: 173 Member
    Unless you ate over 10000 extra calories you didn't really gain 3lbs. Scale could be messed up, you could be retaining water, your muscles could be retaining water from exercise, etc. Many reasons. Don't weight everyday! Weight changes so frequently that it is not an accurate view of progress!
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    More than likely you did gain 3 pounds. The one alternative explanation is that your scale is defective, or you were wearing clothes, etc.

    But there's good news! You certainly didn't gain 3 pounds of fat, nor even any fat necessarily. Water weight (even though you say no salty and not TOM), food and waste in your system - there are a lot of variables at play. Don't stress and don't let it get you down.

    I actually favor weighing every day under the same circumstances (for me, nekkid, just out of bed, after doing my business). Not because it shows any sort of incremental, regular change, but because it shows me how radically weight can vary day-to-day, even when there is no chance that the scale weight is an accurate reflection of fat loss efforts. I've seen my weight go up by more than 5 pounds in a day and lost more than 5 pounds in a day -- after a while, I don't pay too much attention to the daily weight, but I have a nice data set for seeing the trend. When losing, we're presumably trying to lose fat; that doesn't happen in pound or multiple-pound increments day-to-day (just like we don't gain it in such huge chunks day-to-day).

    Others may not be happy seeing the fluctuations; I find it reassuring.
  • katherine_startrek_fan
    katherine_startrek_fan Posts: 425 Member
    Yes to the above.

    Also, no shame in weighing daily. It's only bad if you get too caught up in daily fluctuations.
  • kimtab
    kimtab Posts: 64 Member
    You're looking for a downward trend, not today versus yesterday so don't sweat it, weight fluctuates.
  • MelonFlower
    MelonFlower Posts: 37 Member
    Inflammation could also be a factor. If your GI tract is not in phenomenal shape, food particles can sneak across the barrier and go crazy in your blood stream (leaky gut syndrome). Your immune system will engage and the result is bloat (inflammation). Inflammation is your body's attempt to rid itself of pathogens. Solutions: probiotics, prebiotics (raw plantains, raw potatoes), removal of food allergens from diet, and, (though this is up for debate) L-glutamine supplementation which may help heal digestive lining. Damage to the GI tract is caused by NSAIDS (advil, aleve, etc.), antibiotics and chronic exposure to food allergens (like gluten!). You don't have to go into anaphylactic shock to have food allergies.

    For me personally, I will gain ridiculous amounts of weight from eating gluten, but I tested negative for celiac. If I eat a 6 oz bagel, I'm literally up 3lbs on the scale the next day due to inflammation.

    So no, you probably didn't literally gain three pounds of fat/muscle overnight, but if this keeps happening with certain foods, it's worth investigating; your body is trying to tell you something.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    Sometimes I'm up by 8 lbs! But it's nothing to worry about at all. There's many reasons for weight flucuation so it's not worth worrying about. Pay attention to overall Trends
  • joepage612
    joepage612 Posts: 179 Member
    I have a digital scale. I can step on it and get a reading. Step off. Step back on, and get a +/- 3 pound variance. It's not the scale its just gravity and air pressure and the way im leaning etc. Scales are like that. Look at the big picture only, or you will go crazy.
  • chouflour
    chouflour Posts: 193 Member
    joepage612 wrote: »
    I have a digital scale. I can step on it and get a reading. Step off. Step back on, and get a +/- 3 pound variance. It's not the scale its just gravity and air pressure and the way im leaning etc. Scales are like that. Look at the big picture only, or you will go crazy.

    If you step on a third time, does it match the second? The scale at my office does that - it calibrates the first time you step on and off, then the second time is the accurate reading.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    If a 3-pound in one day gain is going to freak you out then you may want to reevaluate - weighing daily may just not be for you.

    Otherwise, get used to it. Mine swings as much as 6 pounds in a day.
  • 1sisrat
    1sisrat Posts: 267 Member
    unless you ate a billion calories you didn't gain fat, it's water. did you eat something with a lot of salt? did you have alcohol? a lot of carbs can make you hold onto water too. My advice, drink a glass of warm water with lemon juice in it or gulp a lot of water to flush it out.
  • PugBug20
    PugBug20 Posts: 55
    Also, I know I didn't actually gain 3 pounds overnight since I didn't eat an extra 10,000+ calories that day. I should have asked, "Why did the scale go up 3 pounds overnight?". I worded it incorrectly, my apologies.
  • PugBug20
    PugBug20 Posts: 55
    Also, I didn't consume any alcohol, soda, etc. I ate exactly what I eat every other day (I'm a creature of habit and don't change up my diet very often). That's why I'm so confused.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    It has to be that you are retaining water.

    I can gain 3 to 5 lbs over night from retaining water and not eliminating everything before I weigh....

    I no longer weigh daily for this reason. Weighing daily drove me absolutely insane.
  • ihad
    ihad Posts: 7,463 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/mfp-101-i-just-gained-3-pounds-overnight-636811
  • jchite84
    jchite84 Posts: 467 Member
    edited January 2015
    Weight every day! Don't feel bad about it! Weight changes constantly, hour to hour. You are not seeing how much you weigh, you are recording a single data point to measure a trend. You want to record those data points and calculate a rolling average. There are apps that do this or if you are half as nerdy as me, you can throw the formula into excel or google drive and track this yourself. More data points means a more accurate picture of the trend.

    Your 3 lbs could come from water from a lot of things other than your "time of the month", it could come from needing to take a good crap, or having to pee, it could come from the fact that you just drank a big old glass of water. Don't worry about it, but keep recording those data points.
  • lawlifehanna
    lawlifehanna Posts: 90 Member
    chouflour wrote: »
    joepage612 wrote: »
    I have a digital scale. I can step on it and get a reading. Step off. Step back on, and get a +/- 3 pound variance. It's not the scale its just gravity and air pressure and the way im leaning etc. Scales are like that. Look at the big picture only, or you will go crazy.

    If you step on a third time, does it match the second? The scale at my office does that - it calibrates the first time you step on and off, then the second time is the accurate reading.

    Are your scales on hard floor or on carpet? I had been using mine on a carpet before, then today (after a 2lb gain since yesterday) I decided to see if the scale was lying. I tried it 4 times in a row, and got a different number every time. I moved it to my hardwood floor and got more consistent numbers.
  • radiosilents
    radiosilents Posts: 223 Member
    I am an unabashed daily weigher, however I do it for data mining LOL. I also have an "official" weigh-in day each week so that I base my progress on that as well as month-to-month losses (whether it is one pound or ten, I will take it!). If you stick with the daily weigh, you CANNOT let it take over your mind like that. You have to note the number somewhere and be done with it. That is all. Then you go about your day no matter what.

    I used to use the Physics Diet site which had a tool that showed your weight trending – and to do that, you needed daily data. It has since closed down but I was thrilled to find out about the Happy Scale app, which does the same thing. That might be helpful to you, but you definitely have to get around the mental thing. Our bodies do strange and wondrous things that we may never figure out – weight fluctuations despite our best effort is one of those things. Don't sweat it as long as you're doing the right things.
  • ciacyrus29
    ciacyrus29 Posts: 109 Member
    PugBug20 wrote: »
    Hi, all. Now, I know you aren't supposed to weigh yourself every day, but I do. I know it's bad, but I just can't help myself. However, I always weigh myself on the same scale (the scale at my gym), at the same time of day, wearing the same amount of clothing, so at least I'm being consistent. Anyway, when I got on the scale this morning, it said I gained 3 pounds since yesterday! I would be able to accept this if I had overeaten yesterday, but I worked out and ate normally (i.e., I didn't eat over or under my caloric limit). I also didn't eat anything that was high in sodium and (TMI warning) I'm not expecting my time of the month, so I don't think it's water retention. Is it possible that the scale is wrong? If not, what could it be? Please help!

    Nope the scale is just wrong!

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