So how much do I actually weigh?

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ajc1309
ajc1309 Posts: 255 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
On Saturday I weighed 139.4 gone down from 142. Today I weigh 141. I never seem to be the same weight. So did I actually lose weight? Do I go with the lowest weight that week?

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited June 2016
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    You weigh 139.4 to 142 pounds. Body weight isn't a number, it's a range.

    Either weigh weekly on the same day, and enter whatever snapshot of your weight range the scale shows, or weigh daily and calculate your weekly average.
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
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    Just weigh on a specific day at the same time if fluctuation worries you. I weigh daily but only log the saturday morning weigh in.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
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    Pick a weigh in day and weigh yourself under the same conditions every time and try not to worry about all those daily (heck, hourly) fluctuations in hydration. Over time you will see the trend down if you are maintaining a deficit.

    Many people say first thing in the morning with no clothes and after you've gone to the bathroom.

    I like to weigh daily and chart it on trendweight.com. That gives you a rolling average which is harder to move. I like it because it forces me to understand that one day won't make or break my progress. What matters is what I do over time.
  • Heartlight441
    Heartlight441 Posts: 278 Member
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    I only log losses here on MFP but I use Happy Scale and log into that each day to track the fluctuations! I weigh each am, before I shower (no clothes).
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I weigh myself every day and use https://trendweight.com to calcularte my weight trend since body weight is nearly never constant.

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  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    As others have said, weight naturally fluctuates within a range of maybe 2-3 lbs. I weigh the most on Monday mornings usually, after weekends that tend to be more indulgent and involve restaurant meals with more sodium. I'm usually 2 lbs lighter by Friday mornings (usually my lowest weight of the week). I weigh daily and doing so helps me understand those fluctuations and not panic when I see something on the scale I wasn't expecting.

    I'm in maintenance now but when I was losing I usually logged my Friday weights to track my progress. Even within maintenance I have a 4 lb range that I fluctuate within as my normal weight.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    WBB55 wrote: »
    Protip from Aunt WBB55:

    You're a young woman. You have a long life of frustration ahead of you if you define your self worth based on a number on a scale. Define yourself through your accomplishments that add value to other humans. Health is certainly a valid aim in life, but health has very little to do with a number on a scale that measures the force the earth and your own mass have on each other.

    But bodyfat percentage (linked to weight) has a very real life implication for health and well being. Record daily measurements, use an app or a spreadsheet to track it and look at the overall trends. My weight can fluctuate 4lbs daily depending on food intake and exercise.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    WBB55 wrote: »
    Protip from Aunt WBB55:

    You're a young woman. You have a long life of frustration ahead of you if you define your self worth based on a number on a scale. Define yourself through your accomplishments that add value to other humans. Health is certainly a valid aim in life, but health has very little to do with a number on a scale that measures the force the earth and your own mass have on each other.

    But bodyfat percentage (linked to weight) has a very real life implication for health and well being. Record daily measurements, use an app or a spreadsheet to track it and look at the overall trends. My weight can fluctuate 4lbs daily depending on food intake and exercise.

    I don't disagree in any way, but a scale does not directly measure bodyfat%.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
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    I only log losses too...and my last number logged is the number I keep on my head as my current weight ;)
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    WBB55 wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    WBB55 wrote: »
    Protip from Aunt WBB55:

    You're a young woman. You have a long life of frustration ahead of you if you define your self worth based on a number on a scale. Define yourself through your accomplishments that add value to other humans. Health is certainly a valid aim in life, but health has very little to do with a number on a scale that measures the force the earth and your own mass have on each other.

    But bodyfat percentage (linked to weight) has a very real life implication for health and well being. Record daily measurements, use an app or a spreadsheet to track it and look at the overall trends. My weight can fluctuate 4lbs daily depending on food intake and exercise.

    I don't disagree in any way, but a scale does not directly measure bodyfat%.

    Fully agree with you. My paragraphing wasn't quite right there!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    ajc1309 wrote: »
    On Saturday I weighed 139.4 gone down from 142. Today I weigh 141. I never seem to be the same weight. So did I actually lose weight? Do I go with the lowest weight that week?

    your weight is a range, not a specific number...it's one of the many reasons that it's just plain stupid to obsess over a particular number. body weight isn't static...your body is made up of anywhere between 50%-65% water...so that's always going to be in flux...you're always going to have varying degrees of waste in your system, etc.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Unfortunately for me it is weight, as in gravitational force exerted on me by the earth in proportion to my mass, that is the problem - the stress on my joints and feet is the main reason I need to lose weight.

    But I agree with your point about self worth.

    OP, you are not a solid object with a fixed mass, like a brick - you are mostly water, and water comes and goes. You are aiming to reduce your average weight as an indication of how much fat you're carrying - how much you actually weigh at any given moment will always vary.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Your weight fluctuates within a range, and ALSO no scale is actually all that precise. Just because it reads to the nearest 0.1 pounds doesn't mean its accurate to that. Its likely that you weigh *about* 140 +/- 2. Between variance in scale readings and variance in your weight, that's about as accurate as you can actually be.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    You weighed in at 141 today? Then you weigh 141. You weighed 139.4 the other day.

    A 1.6 lb fluctuation isn't necessarily a big deal, as has already been explained by others. Watch the trend and make sure it does whatever you want it to do (gain, lose, maintain) over time.

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