Scale is evil Can I get an AMEN!!!
amwoods72
Posts: 35 Member
So I started this journey about a month ago, maybe a tad bit longer. I have lost about 8 pounds according to my morning scale, but if I step on it at night it seems to be 3-5 lbs more. I got on last night for s*its and giggles and when I looked this morning it was 5 lbs less. I know I didn't lose 5 overnight LOL!! So which is the weight you go by. I really only plan on weighing myself once a week or once every other week, but I was curious last night. Do you go by the morning weight or do you just scrap the scale altogether and go by clothes. Don't want to do that though because even though the "morning" scale says I've lost, my clothes aren't showing it 
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Replies
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Your weight does change due to what/when you've had to eat and drink due to the mass of food/liquid in your body until it processes out. By fluid retention due to stress/sodium/TOM/etc. Due to what you're wearing, and so forth.
The trick about weight loss is that you are looking for a difference over time. So make sure your weighins are consistent. If your 'beginning weight' is based on morning/after emptying bladder and before eating anything: then follow that routine. If you get on the scale at other times, under other circumstances, or even on other scales know its not an exact match.5 -
Wake, pee, weigh, record. From a daily weigher of over 3 years you will always weigh more at night.6
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Weigh in the morning. Your evening weight includes undigested food, water retention, etc. You are looking for trends over longer periods of time (weeks, months, years), not just fluctuations during the day, or even from one day to the next. While it can be interesting to see how much the weight fluctuates from morning to evening, that is irrelevant. And, actually, yes, you did lose five lbs overnight. Not five lbs of fat, obviously, but five lbs of water and undigested food
. Perfectly normal. 4 -
It's all part of the Scale Conspiracy, oh, don't laugh! First you weigh yourself, see you weight, go into depression, eat (chocolate, chocolate, chocolate) to make you feel better, go shopping for new cloths because the cloths you bought a size bigger (to make you look like your losing weight) and grew into, no longer fit. And you say it's not a conspiracy! .
In Truth, try to only weigh yourself once a week, at the same time, wear the same thing, make it a routine. Daily weighing could cause you to deviate from your diet routine because all foods do not break down the same and you won't necessarily eliminate them the same way. Stick with it, Your doing great!
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tlflag1620 wrote: »Weigh in the morning. Your evening weight includes undigested food, water retention, etc. You are looking for trends over longer periods of time (weeks, months, years), not just fluctuations during the day, or even from one day to the next. While it can be interesting to see how much the weight fluctuates from morning to evening, that is irrelevant. And, actually, yes, you did lose five lbs overnight. Not five lbs of fat, obviously, but five lbs of water and undigested food. Perfectly normal.
Amen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMNPP2ZR1U 4 -
The scale isn't good or bad. It is what you make of it :P3
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Its a bumpy road down the weight hill if you take it daily, EVEN if you do it at the same time every morning. Don't live and die by that daily number. Look at Trends.1
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Weigh in after you've gotten your night's sleep and are ready to start the day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Yeah I wouldn't weigh myself multiple times a day. That'll *kitten* with your psyche so bad you might truly *kitten* yourself over and binge out of disappointment. I recommend 3 times a week. But if you must weigh daily then do it first thing in the morning and leave it there. That fluctuation throughout the day is simply food mass and water. Don't sweat it.4
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I weigh every morning when I wake up. I plug the number into an app and move on. I think it holds me accountable and allows me to see the trends without too much effort.3
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So I started this journey about a month ago, maybe a tad bit longer. I have lost about 8 pounds according to my morning scale, but if I step on it at night it seems to be 3-5 lbs more. I got on last night for s*its and giggles and when I looked this morning it was 5 lbs less. I know I didn't lose 5 overnight LOL!! So which is the weight you go by. I really only plan on weighing myself once a week or once every other week, but I was curious last night. Do you go by the morning weight or do you just scrap the scale altogether and go by clothes. Don't want to do that though because even though the "morning" scale says I've lost, my clothes aren't showing it
stop getting on the scale multiple times per day. when you weigh in at night you're weighing everything you've ingested throughout the day, not to mention body weight is going to fluctuate throughout the day and from day to day. the scale is just a tool...it's up to you to understand how to use that tool.2 -
I don't get on multiple times - Just last night because I was curious and wanted to know what weight you go by
I won't do it again now until Sunday. I try to do it once a week 0 -
Weigh as much as you like. Personally I need to weight every morning after I wake, pee and before I eat or drink anything. But as other posters have said, keep the variables constant.
I know myself and I need that reminder. Also, I know that after a carb load or too much sodium, I will magically gain 5 or 6 pounds. This was confirmed by weighing and then checking my diary to see what I'd eaten. I'm slowly learning my body quirks.
Do what helps you keep your sanity....2 -
My hubby always weighs at random times and ends up with his weight fluctuating drastically. Me, I weight once only, as soon as I wake and have gone to the bathroom. And ONLY then. I'm well aware that I'll weight at least a few pounds more at any time during the day due to water, food, etc. And YES, you can definitely "gain" and "lose" 5 lbs every day, quite easily.1
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You are not made of plastic. You do not have one fixed weight. You are mostly water, and the water comes and goes, along with undigested food and solid waste. These variations, often 5-6lb, sometimes as much as 10lb, are beyond your control and don't matter at all, not even a tiny bit. You're trying (I assume) to lose fat, which is only one small part of that big number on the scale. So pay no attention to the fluctuations day by day or hour by hour. Take the long view.
Try marking the numbers on a chart so you can see the big picture. You're looking for an overall downward trend over weeks or months. The line will not be smooth, it will zig zag, but if you're doing it right, it will gradually fall over time.
(I always weigh in the morning, after peeing and before eating. It's generally thought to be the time that gives the most consistent reading, though it will still fluctuate)3 -
I was told to weigh in once a week... But also told to weigh in once a day to get comfortable with the numbers on the scale and use that as information0
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I weigh I'm the morning when I'm not as bloated0
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Scales are like computers... they know nothing by themselves, only what you tell them I weigh twice a week, my "regular" day is Wednesday after waking up etc but before eating, and also on a Monday just to check I'm still on track after the weekend, not that my weekends are usually indulgent! 1
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I weigh in every day and use trendweight.com to see the trends in my weight - takes the water fluctuations out of the equation and makes me feel better There's also happy scale (iOS app) or libra (android app) that do the same thing 1
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i stopped weighting myself a year ago because :
- It took too much space in my bathroom
- Turned me into a neurotic woman checking her weight before eating, after eating
- Got me depressed when i saw the numbers without understanding how i gained 1kg when i have been fasting.
- Actually is useless and inacurate because when you gain muscles the scale doesn't discriminate and just tell you that you *kitten* is 1lbs fatter ...
- Rather than rejoicing on keeping your diet through hard work and will power looking at the scale makes you scorn the result of your efforts because the numbers are not up to ower deluded idea of weight loss/effort combo.
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i believe that your clothes and a measuring band is your best ally on a weight loss journey. A scales gives you numbers but no accurate weight and body analysis.1 -
I weigh in every morning at 6:45 AM when I get up for work. Same time, same conditions..gives you the best chance of seeing your results.
Aside from TOM, eating salty Chinese the night before (as I did last night), etc...
But no, the scale isn't evil. If that's your view of it, then you're giving it too much power. It just tells you a number..it's your choice to decide how you handle that.1 -
Why on earth would you weigh yourself at night when you've been eating/driving all day... of course the reading at night is going to be heavier by quite a bit.
Try not to get hung up on scale fluctuations as you're setting yourself up for disappointment.1
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