Losing weight overnight?

It's normal to see fluctuations due to hydration, time of day, whether or not you've eaten (or used the toilet--TMI, I know). Many people's weight fluctuates +/- 2 pounds or so over the course of a day. It's unlikely that you lost a pound of fat in one day.

shanikashavon wrote: »

Thanks, folks. I'll just log them and watch the trend.

There's an app called Happy Scale that will plot the trend lines for you.

If you got a great night's sleep, it's possible to see bigger drops than on nights you have less sleep. Sleep is an important part of weight loss, and I find when I get less than my 7 hours, I tend to retain more water and feel bloated and often see increases on the scale. When I get a full 8 hours or more, I'm usually feeling pretty good and it shows with losses on the scale (some minor, some major depending on other factors like how well I'm also doing with my calorie deficit and workout schedule).

I personally like to weigh daily, and I check in with my weight on MFP so I can track it...however, I do a 'for record' weigh in weekly for the various challenges that I've joined here. I like to do my 'for record' weigh in on Fridays so that I have some freedom in what I'm eating, and not fret if I have a less than stellar day because I have to worry about a Monday weigh in. And everyone is right, be prepared for fluctuations. If you panic easily because of a gain, I'd say it might be easier to weigh yourself weekly...but I personally like to see the differences to track what I'm doing right and wrong with my eating and exercise and sleep.

The biggest thing is to be consistent with the scale since it is a relative measuring tool rather than an absolute one. Use the same scale, at the same time of day (I prefer mornings), in the same location (different surfaces can affect the measure), after the same routine (ex: after going to the bathroom and before eating). If you change any of these, be prepared for the measures to be inconsistent. I often will jump on the scale around three times to be sure the measure is more accurate. Even with a digital scale, some mornings, I can get three different readings of over a pound apart in the span of 5-10 minutes. I typically log the reading when I get three consistent numbers rather than averaging, but some prefer to average.

I also like to take tape measurements to get a better feel for my body composition. I like to do neck, shoulders, chest, waist, hips, biceps, thighs and calves, but you may have different areas of your body to track. I often find when I don't have a great scale loss, I can have some inches lost and vice versa. Most places recommend you only tape every couple of weeks, but like the scale, I like to track more closely, so I typically tape myself weekly on my record weigh in day. Even with tape measurements, you need to watch the trend rather than the minor fluctuations.