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

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  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
    edited January 2015
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    It's probably water weight. Eating certain foods can make you retain water. Your monthly cycle can make you retain water. I notice that sometimes right before I get sick I crave salty foods (ooooh McDonald's), which cause me to retain water.

    I think you need to stop weighing yourself daily. It's good to monitor your weight, but you don't want to become obsessive over it, and of course small changes can cause shifts in weight from day to day and you don't want to drive yourself crazy. Maybe one day you'll be thrilled that you lost 2 pounds overnight and then the next day you've gained 3 pounds. But by the end of the week you're one pound down from where you were 7 days before. What's important is an overall downward trend from week to week.
  • miriams76
    miriams76 Posts: 138 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I did too .. The scale is up 2.5lbs from yesterday. I also got my period this morning and my weight always goes up 4-5lbs for the duration of that. It goes back down by that amount afterwards too.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    ihad wrote: »
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/mfp-101-i-just-gained-3-pounds-overnight-636811

    This is the absolute answer to this question!
  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
    edited January 2015
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    stephe1987 wrote: »
    I think you need to stop weighing yourself daily. It's good to monitor your weight, but you don't want to become obsessive over it, and of course small changes can cause shifts in weight from day to day and you don't want to drive yourself crazy. Maybe one day you'll be thrilled that you lost 2 pounds overnight and then the next day you've gained 3 pounds. But by the end of the week you're one pound down from where you were 7 days before. What's important is an overall downward trend from week to week.

    You CAN and SHOULD weigh daily as long as you're not a complete idiot about it. Weighing daily will show you (...drumroll...) what you weigh every day! This includes water weight fluctuation and BMs on board and everything. If you're going to get upset because one day you're up a bit despite a downward trend then maybe you need to graph your progress to get a visual on what a downward trend with daily fluctuations looks like.

    This is 4 months of daily weighing. See all the times it goes up? Those are the times I have learned to give absolutely zero f___s.

    bcdl5xudgjt7.png
  • GretchenB02
    GretchenB02 Posts: 59 Member
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    radiosilents wrote: »
    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.

    Thanks for sharing this as I weigh daily, but don't want to drive my friends nuts with daily weigh ins.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Don't mean to hijack this post. But I have been sitting on a 2kg (4lb) gain all week! My totm is due on Monday. Could the weight gain happen so early before they arrive?
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    Don't mean to hijack this post. But I have been sitting on a 2kg (4lb) gain all week! My totm is due on Monday. Could the weight gain happen so early before they arrive?

    I don't know about anyone else but mine sure does. Mine spikes about maybe 3-5 days before it actually starts and doesn't go back down again until about 3-5 days after it ends.

    Basically I just don't weigh myself for about half the month lol

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2015
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    emdeesea wrote: »
    christinev297 wrote: »
    Don't mean to hijack this post. But I have been sitting on a 2kg (4lb) gain all week! My totm is due on Monday. Could the weight gain happen so early before they arrive?

    I don't know about anyone else but mine sure does. Mine spikes about maybe 3-5 days before it actually starts and doesn't go back down again until about 3-5 days after it ends.

    Basically I just don't weigh myself for about half the month lol

    Phew thanks!
    My calories have stayed the same. So I can't think of any other reason. ...
    Being a woman just really sucks sometimes :(
  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
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    GretchenB02 wrote: »
    Thanks for sharing this as I weigh daily, but don't want to drive my friends nuts with daily weigh ins.

    You can change this in your settings.
  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
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    fluffyasacat wrote: »
    This is 4 months of daily weighing. See all the times it goes up? Those are the times I have learned to give absolutely zero f___s.

    Geez even if I self-censor I get flagged.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Sometimes you just have to use the F word when you want to get a strong point across!
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
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    http://exercise.about.com/od/gettingweightlossresults/ss/4-Things-You-Do-Not-Know-About-Weight-Loss.htm



    http://www.healthdiscovery.net/articles/scale_lies.htm

  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    Sometimes you just have to use the F word when you want to get a strong point across!

    Being Australian I can't really help it :wink:
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    fluffyasacat wrote: »
    christinev297 wrote: »
    Sometimes you just have to use the F word when you want to get a strong point across!

    Being Australian I can't really help it :wink:

    Haha can totally f***ing relate!! Im an Aussie too :D@fluffyasacat‌

  • jchite84
    jchite84 Posts: 467 Member
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    Thanks for sharing this as I weigh daily, but don't want to drive my friends nuts with daily weigh ins.

    You can also track your weight in an outside program like excel, google docs, or WeightTracker (iphone app, probably has an android version as well) that will track your moving average and give you a nice smooth line like Fluffy showed. Then no friends will be harmed by your daily weigh ins and you'll still get a more accurate idea of your progress.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    Cortelli wrote: »
    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.

    Just quoting this because this is a point that needs to be emphasized. Yes, you DID gain 3 pounds. The scale is not lying. No, you DID NOT gain 3 pounds of fat. The scale can't tell the difference between adipose tissue and water.

    Water is actually quite dense: at 1 g/cc it is denser than fat at ~0.9 g/cc.

    A pint's a pound, the world around.
  • PugBug20
    PugBug20 Posts: 55
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    Thanks for the advice! I'm back down to "normal" today, so I guess it was just the scale? I usually don't freak out when it goes up or down a few ounces, but I was just confused as to why it went up 3 pounds overnight for no apparent reason. I weigh myself daily because I find that it holds me more accountable, but hey, whatever works for you! On another note, how accurate are gym scales, exactly?
  • Original_Beauty
    Original_Beauty Posts: 180 Member
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    stop weighing yourself daily!
  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
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    Original_Beauty wrote: »
    stop weighing yourself daily!

    Why?
  • dougpconnell219
    dougpconnell219 Posts: 566 Member
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    I normally wouldn't ask a lady this, but... How's the bowel movement situation going? That could be part of the gain.

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