Getting Our Most Accurate Current Weight

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donjtomasco
donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Coming off hip surgery and having cut off pain killers, I am having issues with insomnia that will pass, but I am not able to get an accurate take on my weight.

With normal sleep patterns, weighing first thing in the morning after doing our business gets the accurate current read. But when I might be eating or snacking at 2 or 3am, but am still within my calorie goal, if I am waking up at the same time and weighing, I obviously am not getting a 'true' weight, especially if I was pounding water up to going to sleep like I always do.

So........until my sleep cycle corrects itself, what would be the best way to get an accurate read, for just one day? Like last night I went to sleep at 2, got up at 7am, had a breakfast bar (Kind Bar) two cups of water and my usually lots of water. I plan on eating some lean turkey and beans for lunch, but could delay that depending on what I read here.

I am guessing, I could keep drinking water, then weigh say around 2:00pm before eating? Or would fasting and waiting to weight just before dinner be more accurate?

I have been stuck in a 3 pound up and down range since July 2, when I quit taking my pain killers, and I have been out of whack since then, but continuing a healthy diet within my MFP goals. And my jeans are fitting looser, I have been able to lift more often, and doing the PT exercises is pretty calorically burning, not to mention being active all day. So it's not a big deal, but you know how it can become a big deal to us when we think we should be weighing less, but it does not show up on the scale.

This is my third go at weight loss. I started at 214 on April 23, had hip replacement on May 23rd, and currently way between 194.2 and 197.8 (this mornings weight, and my highest in a few weeks, but I also ate a full meal at 1:00am, still within my 24 hour calorie range).

Anyway, I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. I am on a long term 1# per week weight loss goal, and am well in that range, so I am not worried long term. It's just been to long since I have been able to get a normal 'morning weight' with the body void of food and fluids (as much as is normally possible).

Thanks.

Replies

  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    Your most accurate current weight is whatever a calibrated scale says when you step on it. You can never eliminate weight fluctuation and there is no "true" weight unless you want to die and have someone empty out your bowels and hydrate you to a given %. You are over thinking it.

    Just weigh at a consistent time with consistent behavior. If your behavior or time changes, then whatever just make a mental note of it and move on (in other words, don't do TDEE calculations if you switched from weighing in the morning to weighing at night until things have settled down to the new normal).

    Being stuck at a given weight for 2 weeks is normal and happens to everyone eventually. Using a program like Trendweight helps you recognize fluctuations for what they are (just noise). Just keep eating at a deficit and see where you are in another 2 weeks.
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
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    Really? My current weight is whatever my current weight is? Thanks!!! lol. Uh, would you consider then that if I weighed after eating dinner, that this would be a reflection of my current real weight?

    I think you did not read my message, or else you did not hear what I wrote. But it is probably the fault of my writing ability. But nice try on the answer, I appreciate your considerate, thoughtful, sincere and knowledgeable reply.......

    Next?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I agree with @nordlead2005. Your weight is what you weigh when you get on the scale.

    If you know that you are eating/drinking/whatever before weighing and that is unusual, you just keep in mind that it will affect your weight.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Really? My current weight is whatever my current weight is? Thanks!!! lol. Uh, would you consider then that if I weighed after eating dinner, that this would be a reflection of my current real weight?

    I think you did not read my message, or else you did not hear what I wrote. But it is probably the fault of my writing ability. But nice try on the answer, I appreciate your considerate, thoughtful, sincere and knowledgeable reply.......

    Next?

    Yes. If you weighed after eating dinner, it would be a reflection of your weight at that moment. You are always going to have varying amounts of food, water, and waste in your body in addition to whatever you weigh without these three.

    I second the suggestion to use a trending app (like Trendweight or Libra) to help even out the day-to-day "noise." If it helps you, you can consider the trend your "current" weight.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    Trying to time it around your bathroom schedule is always going to be hit or miss. I don't "go" until after breakfast anyway. I wake up at around 4:30 AM and weigh at that time every day. I say just pick a time first thing in the morning and weigh. I also have an Aria FitBit WiFi scale that automatically logs my weight and body fat % which makes it easy to spot trends over weeks, months or years.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Your "weight" is constantly fluctuating due to all types of processes that don't happen on a set schedule: Fat loss and gain, water weight loss and gain, digestion, hydration, etc. There is no way to know which of those factors is affecting your weight at any given time.

    Your best bet is to weigh yourself every day, first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and look at the fluctuations over time to see a trend one way or the other. Even when you are doing everything exactly on your typical schedule, factors like stress, the weather, your immune system, and I'm sure other stuff I'm not thinking of would affect the number on the scale first thing in the AM.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Anyway, I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. I am on a long term 1# per week weight loss goal, and am well in that range, so I am not worried long term. It's just been to long since I have been able to get a normal 'morning weight' with the body void of food and fluids (as much as is normally possible).

    This is the key.

    Since your goal is long term, you should try to ignore short term fluctuations.

    You could use Excel, or a number of web sites, to chart a moving average of your weight, to smooth some of the noise out. Or you can accept that it's going to bounce around some, but, as long as you're doing the right things, it will go in the right direction.

    Here's a year of my weight. You can see all kinds of noise, and it can be frustrating trying to look for a trend over a few days at a time, but after a year, it's clearly what I wanted to achieve. Sorry this is a bit out of date.

    24239821189_d46a7056e3_o_d.jpg
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    I would just weigh after you wake up even if you sleep 5 hours before eating or drinking and not stress about it. Long term you should still see a change.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Really? My current weight is whatever my current weight is? Thanks!!! lol. Uh, would you consider then that if I weighed after eating dinner, that this would be a reflection of my current real weight?

    I think you did not read my message, or else you did not hear what I wrote. But it is probably the fault of my writing ability. But nice try on the answer, I appreciate your considerate, thoughtful, sincere and knowledgeable reply.......

    Next?

    I read what you wrote. You are concerned about something that you both haven't defined and can't measure. Not only that, it doesn't provide any meaningful benefit.
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
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    When I started in MFP in 2013 it was suggested to me, and I "think" I have read numerous times from numerous people, that the best time to track your weight, whether it is daily or weekly or monthly is when you wake up and after you go to the restroom.

    I guess I heard wrong, or did not understand what that meant.

    Thank you for your comments and suggestions. And yes, I have a graph that I keep, overlaying my daily weight, overlaid on top of my 2015 weight loss and my 2013 weight loss.

    Yes, I was overthinking. Sorry to stir the pot with the confusion, I thought it was a simple question with a logical answer to it. But yes I do certainly understand the logic of "You weight what you weight when you weight", it's like "You are where you are when you are there", or "You are eating what you are eating, because what you are eating is what you are eating", or......aw to heck with it.

    I will just keep reading. I will think twice thought the next gazillion times I read in MFP to always weigh when you wake up, after you clean out your system if you need to, and before drinking or eating anything, in order to get a better standard baseline to track in the future. Kind of made sense to me, but I guess I got it wrong.

    Thank you all!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    I'm sorry, but I don't see any responses telling you not to weigh yourself first thing in the morning? And the only responses suggesting when to weigh yourself, are suggesting first thing in the morning. So I guess I have no idea what's going on here.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    It is a good thing to always weigh yourself at the time of day when you can most control the variables. For most people that is first thing in the morning (or after your longest sleep.) But when things are up in the air due to insomnia, surgery, etc., you just have to roll with it. No big deal :)
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    donjtomasco wrote: »
    When I started in MFP in 2013 it was suggested to me, and I "think" I have read numerous times from numerous people, that the best time to track your weight, whether it is daily or weekly or monthly is when you wake up and after you go to the restroom.

    I guess I heard wrong, or did not understand what that meant.

    Thank you for your comments and suggestions. And yes, I have a graph that I keep, overlaying my daily weight, overlaid on top of my 2015 weight loss and my 2013 weight loss.

    Yes, I was overthinking. Sorry to stir the pot with the confusion, I thought it was a simple question with a logical answer to it. But yes I do certainly understand the logic of "You weight what you weight when you weight", it's like "You are where you are when you are there", or "You are eating what you are eating, because what you are eating is what you are eating", or......aw to heck with it.

    I will just keep reading. I will think twice thought the next gazillion times I read in MFP to always weigh when you wake up, after you clean out your system if you need to, and before drinking or eating anything, in order to get a better standard baseline to track in the future. Kind of made sense to me, but I guess I got it wrong.

    Thank you all!

    The "first thing in the morning" advice is more for people who freak out when they weigh X in the morning and X+5 in the evening and think they've gained 5 lbs somehow in less than a day. It's easier to see the kind of changes you're looking for if you don't complicate it with a day's worth of eating, eliminating, and hydrating and try to compare that to a fasted number.

    Ultimately, it doesn't really matter as long as the scale is generally going in the direction you want it to. IF this sort of thing is hanging you up it might be better to weigh weekly rather than daily as it easier to see a consistent downward trend this way.

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