weight scale frustrations

FunkyMonkey80
FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member
edited November 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I know "they" say to not focus too much on what the scale says, but more on how you feel.. but get this: I weighed myself this morning: 132.4.. I go to bed tonight and weighed myself and I'm 135.8. Officially the most I have ever weighed in my life. I just started MFP on Monday this week and I was slightly under my calories each day and I exercised more than I usually do. I felt awesome! Tonight I went out for 2 drinks and a small-ish supper and BAM! up goes my weight to that?? I know, I know..you should only weigh in the morning..buuut, is it normal to have such a big fluctuation? Almost 4 lbs? This is what has gotten me frustrated in the past. I do well, and then I see how one day of not following the rules seems to erase all the progress I had felt I accomplished. Thoughts?

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Yes. It is normal. You are always going to weigh more at night. Just don't weigh yourself at night. You watch the TREND to make sure you're losing weight.
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    I can easily fluctuate 7 lbs in a day depending on when I weigh, how recently I've eaten, bathroom time, hydration, etc.

    This is normal. As @arditarose said above, weighing yourself at night can be problematic for these reasons. Try to make sure you weigh at the same time of day, under the same conditions each time and it will help with this somewhat... but ultimately you will have to track the trend over time and not sweat the day to day.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    edited November 2015
    Sure, it's completely normal. Mornings are the ideal time to weigh because after using the bathroom you're at your lowest weight over the day. Most important though is to weigh in exactly the same circumstances each day. So if you weigh as soon as you get up just after using the bathroom, all your other weights should be as soon as you get up just after using the bathroom.

    All the food and drink you had over the day weighs something, even all the undigested bits that are going to go out the other end, and until you use the bathroom, it's all still inside of you. There's really zero point to weighing more than once per day since you're basically just weighing the food you ate at that point.

    If I drink four glasses of water, has my weight gone up by two pounds? Well, yes, but zero of that is fat.
  • FunkyMonkey80
    FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member
    Thanks everyone for your responses. The restaurant food and drinks made me feel like crap so it got me curious to see if it affected my weight. Obviously it would..maybe it was a self-punishment thing.. I knew i'd be more. Anyway, I will stick to the weighing myself after my morning pee. I was happy with the nearly 2 lb decrease in weight morning from my usual 134ish weight
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for your responses. The restaurant food and drinks made me feel like crap so it got me curious to see if it affected my weight. Obviously it would..maybe it was a self-punishment thing.. I knew i'd be more. Anyway, I will stick to the weighing myself after my morning pee. I was happy with the nearly 2 lb decrease in weight morning from my usual 134ish weight

    You might even notice an increase the next morning after eating at a restaurant. I know it can be hard to keep your cool, but you have to trust yourself. If you're in a deficit, you know it's just water weight. I am the queen of water weight and bloat so I know it is frustrating.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    The important thing to remember is that you're not really trying to lose weight per se. You're trying to lose fat, which is only one component of your weight. You presumably don't want to lose muscle mass, or bone mass, or organ mass. You want to lose fat.

    But a scale can't measure fat (even the fancy scales that like to claim they do can't really do it accurately). It measures weight, so changes in the weight of your body for any other reason can make it hard to see the change in fat.

    That's why reading-to-reading changes are really rather meaningless - what matters is the long-term trend, which you can assume is mostly fat loss (and a little bit of other loss as well).
  • FunkyMonkey80
    FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for your responses. The restaurant food and drinks made me feel like crap so it got me curious to see if it affected my weight. Obviously it would..maybe it was a self-punishment thing.. I knew i'd be more. Anyway, I will stick to the weighing myself after my morning pee. I was happy with the nearly 2 lb decrease in weight morning from my usual 134ish weight

    You might even notice an increase the next morning after eating at a restaurant. I know it can be hard to keep your cool, but you have to trust yourself. If you're in a deficit, you know it's just water weight. I am the queen of water weight and bloat so I know it is frustrating.


    But at one point it won't be just water weight..but I assume you mean the first 2-5 lbs may just be water weight? I never really understood that phrase.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone for your responses. The restaurant food and drinks made me feel like crap so it got me curious to see if it affected my weight. Obviously it would..maybe it was a self-punishment thing.. I knew i'd be more. Anyway, I will stick to the weighing myself after my morning pee. I was happy with the nearly 2 lb decrease in weight morning from my usual 134ish weight

    You might even notice an increase the next morning after eating at a restaurant. I know it can be hard to keep your cool, but you have to trust yourself. If you're in a deficit, you know it's just water weight. I am the queen of water weight and bloat so I know it is frustrating.


    But at one point it won't be just water weight..but I assume you mean the first 2-5 lbs may just be water weight? I never really understood that phrase.


    What? If you're in a deficit, it will just be water weight...because you're not eating in a surplus. Water weight just means your body is holding on to water to due to things like increased sodium or muscle repair.
  • FunkyMonkey80
    FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member
    Oh sorry, I thought you meant deficit as in "lower weight on the scale"
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    Oh sorry, I thought you meant deficit as in "lower weight on the scale"

    Ohhh...no, deficit refers to your caloric intake.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    Don't sweat it. It happens to most of us. I tend to lose in spurts and stall for a while. If it really bugs you get on the scale 4-5 times in a single day and get comfortable with how much is fluctuates. For me I've seen days with 5 or so pounds variance.

    From there either don't worry about the scale, or get comfortable with the ups and downs. You can chart using programs like Trendweight, or use an app like Libra. Both show trends along with the absolutes.

    Today in a matter of 1-2 hours my weight had changed over a pound. With nothing but drinking coffee.
  • FunkyMonkey80
    FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    FunkyMonkey80 wrote: »
    Oh sorry, I thought you meant deficit as in "lower weight on the scale"

    Ohhh...no, deficit refers to your caloric intake. [/quote


    Kk, great. :)
  • FunkyMonkey80
    FunkyMonkey80 Posts: 71 Member


    Today in a matter of 1-2 hours my weight had changed over a pound. With nothing but drinking coffee.[/quote]

    Ha, crazy. Ok, i'll start looking for those trends.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Plain scale worthless. Get one that shows percent of bodyfat.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
    2 drinks is a lot of calories, but also, depending on what type, it can cause water retention.
  • GF4EVER2014
    GF4EVER2014 Posts: 8 Member
    I weigh every morning as well, and a late dinner or high sodium meal would put me up 3-5 lbs, and although I knew why, it would always send me into a tailspin of poor eating if it lasted a few days. Someone on a MFP thread suggested an app called Happy Scale and it allows you to post everyday and shows the big picture of weighloss so you don't get discouraged by day to day fluctuations.
  • angierosso
    angierosso Posts: 19 Member
    Yes even not eating anything- you will weigh differently at different times in the day.Don't sweat it- just weigh in the morning and hope for the best.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    And really, why weigh yourself at night ever? Unless you say 'hey, I want to know what my heaviest weight is!' No? I didn't think so... So only weigh in the morning! I only use that little window of time after I've used the bathroom but before I've eaten & drank anything.
    Once I started thinking about my body like a factory with water being moved & distributed, nutrients being extracted & broken down, waste being organized for elimination this made perfect sense. The very best time to truly assess actual body weight is first thing in the morning when the factory is the quietest.
  • laibyatt
    laibyatt Posts: 1 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    Yes. It is normal. You are always going to weigh more at night. Just don't weigh yourself at night. You watch the TREND to make sure you're losing weight.

  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    edited November 2015
    sounds like you got some great advice. Weighing can be problematic. It can be a huge motivator to see every lb slip away, but it can go in reverse expecting losses that aren't coming as quick as you would like. Day-to-day weighing in particular can be extremely frustrating due to natural body fluctuations. It is very normal to gain weight, for reasons unrelated to your diet. It is not a sign of failure. Be patient and stay the course.

    If you cant mentally handle those fluctuations, its best to weigh yourself less often, and only in the morning.

    I used to weigh myself 10 times a day, I didn't let those fluctuations bother me, I expected them but I wanted to see how my body reacted to weight training exercise, cardio sessions, over eating etc.
    Now I almost never weigh myself. kind of figured this out and don't need as much feedback anymore.
    Good luck
  • nicholajaneryan
    nicholajaneryan Posts: 76 Member
    What has really helped me is the happy scale app. You can input your weight as often as you like, but it only shows your average eight, weight loss and gives you achievable goals based on your loss.
    Also, bear in mind that one pound is about 450grams. Most meals physically weigh more than this amount, even if the caloric content is low, your body will physically be heavier while it contains added weight from food and drink.
    I'd reccomend just weighing in the morning when you're at your lowest, and try to see the long game. Fluctuations of 2/3/4 pounds a day mean nothing when in a few months you could have lost 10pounds!
    Good luck :smile:
  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
    I've "gained" 9lbs in one day before..but I'm assuming it was like a few pounds of food and close to a gallon of water.
    Just keep at it =)






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