What weight am I??

n_green_l
n_green_l Posts: 74 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
I weighed myself and did it four times and it was the same each time. Probably sounds obsessive but I got scales back out again and weighed myself again and I was all of a sudden 4 pounds heavier than the last time! In 5 mins!! Which weight am I??

Replies

  • croftie4
    croftie4 Posts: 221 Member
    The first weight.

    Scales can be a nightmare I can only weigh in the bathroom as the floor is more even and yes will often move it and try again to confirm it's correct
  • stv1520
    stv1520 Posts: 199 Member
    No help here, but my scale does the same thing. If you have access to another scale, use both and see if they're similar
  • ashleighs148
    ashleighs148 Posts: 335 Member
    It sounds like your scales need new batteries but also make sure you're weighing on a solid surface. It's perfectly normal to be 4lbs up by the end of the day but not in 5 minutes.
  • menotyou56
    menotyou56 Posts: 178 Member
    I weighed myself yesterday morning. Put that weight into MFP and went to the gym. When I got back I sorta felt lighter so out of curiosity I stepped back on the same scale and it showed me two pounds lighter! Woo! Well I had already entered my weight for the day so I didn't change it. I thought I would wait till the morning and see what the scale said then. So...the next morning I got on the same scale and I was down but not two pounds, one! LOL
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Definitely the heavier weight...
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Definitely the heavier weight...

    I tend to agree with this I only weigh myself once every morning. But if I did end up weighing myself 4 times and one number was a bit higher I would use that number.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    I don't know if it's the same for all scales, but the manuals in mine said not to move it. If moved it takes 3 weigh-ins to recalibrate.
  • n_green_l
    n_green_l Posts: 74 Member
    Well I weighed again to see and I've apparently put on another two pounds. Def need new scales...
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    nataliegreenlouise wrote: »
    Well I weighed again to see and I've apparently put on another two pounds. Def need new scales...

    Change the batteries first.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Also, I'm going to add that this is (for me) one of the benefits of weighing daily. I know when and why my weight goes up. It's usually after a sushi lunch (I use too much soy sauce) so these gains don't surprise me. But if I saw a weird gain, I'd know to check the batteries.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    nataliegreenlouise wrote: »
    Well I weighed again to see and I've apparently put on another two pounds. Def need new scales...

    A new scale will drive you even more bonkers. Replace the batteries first.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »
    nataliegreenlouise wrote: »
    Well I weighed again to see and I've apparently put on another two pounds. Def need new scales...

    A new scale will drive you even more bonkers. Replace the batteries first.

    When I last got a new scale, it showed about a 1/2 lb less than the old one, so I was happy :)
  • LessCookiess
    LessCookiess Posts: 538 Member
    nataliegreenlouise wrote: »
    Well I weighed again to see and I've apparently put on another two pounds. Def need new scales...

    Why are you weighing yourself so much? Once a day is enough first thing in the morning after using the restroom. Take a deep breath and a break from the obsession you have with the scale. When you have a chance replace the batteries, and start weighing yourself only once a day. If you want to get a new scale that's your prerogative but I would still encourage you to only weigh yourself once a day to reduce your obsession .
  • mlsh1969
    mlsh1969 Posts: 138 Member
    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    You need to find a spot for the scale, and not move it. I find if I move mine around, I get different weights. Mine is next to my treadmill, on a hard floor in the basement. And it stays there. I weigh daily and it uploads to everything. But, I'll admit to weighing before and after my 30 mins on the treadmill and I "lose" about a 1/2 lb between the two. Funny thing is Trendweight takes the first (higher) reading and won't update for the second, but MFP will take the last reading.

    This^^^^
  • antdelsa
    antdelsa Posts: 174 Member
    Should really be weighing yourself once a week, first thing in the morning naked before you consume and food or liquids and after you use the restroom. This is your true weight, also understand your weight can fluctuate for various reasons and should only be measures once a week as a way to measure if you've plateaued or not, focus more on body measurements and ultimately how you look... I've gained 20lbs but my pants size has gone down 3 sizes, muscle weighs more than fat, and water retention if you don't know how to control it will always throw off your number on the scale... no one should be weighing themselves daily
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    Take a nice, deep, slow breath.

    We don't have a true weight.

    Drink a couple of cups of water, your weight goes up a pound. Get some exercise and sweat a bunch, and your weight goes down. Eat a bunch of high-fiber foods, and your weight goes up for a couple of days until the residue is out of your digestive system. Eat extra salt or carbs - even a totally healthy amount, within your calorie goal, just relatively more than usual - and your weight goes up. Do a new or extra-heavy workout requiring muscle repair and your weight goes up because of water held in the repair process.

    And none of that involves fat loss or storage . . . both of which happen off and on all day every day, even when you're at a calorie deficit.

    The scale reading at any moment is just a snapshot of that moving target. If you stay at a calorie deficit, the overall trend of the reading will be down. If you graph it, it'll be a jagged line up and down, with an overall downward slope. That's what you want.

    Don't worry about the jagged small ups and downs of a pound or few. Just pay attention to the overall trend over a period of time. Stay at a calorie deficit, and it'll head in the right direction.
  • antdelsa
    antdelsa Posts: 174 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Take a nice, deep, slow breath.

    We don't have a true weight.

    Drink a couple of cups of water, your weight goes up a pound. Get some exercise and sweat a bunch, and your weight goes down. Eat a bunch of high-fiber foods, and your weight goes up for a couple of days until the residue is out of your digestive system. Eat extra salt or carbs - even a totally healthy amount, within your calorie goal, just relatively more than usual - and your weight goes up. Do a new or extra-heavy workout requiring muscle repair and your weight goes up because of water held in the repair process.

    And none of that involves fat loss or storage . . . both of which happen off and on all day every day, even when you're at a calorie deficit.

    The scale reading at any moment is just a snapshot of that moving target. If you stay at a calorie deficit, the overall trend of the reading will be down. If you graph it, it'll be a jagged line up and down, with an overall downward slope. That's what you want.

    Don't worry about the jagged small ups and downs of a pound or few. Just pay attention to the overall trend over a period of time. Stay at a calorie deficit, and it'll head in the right direction.

    True weight would be first thing in the morning while you're fasted, in your most catabolic state after you've digested and metabolized most of the food from the day before and have burned off carbon, lost water weight through sweat and urination and have emptied your bowels if thats your morning routine, this is the most accurate weight you can get on a scale, this will be as close as you can get to being depleted of any additional weight

    I do agree however that the jagged ups and downs are meaningless as weight fluctuates throughout the day/week for many reasons and as long as the overall trend is in the direction of ones goal then thats all that matters.

    Timing of weighting yourself should always be consistent and at the same time of the day and for the most accurate reading it is first thing in the morning as I've outlined
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    ^ anything you weigh is your true weight at that moment

    Weighing first thing in the morning may well be your lightest weight of the day - but it isn't any more a true weight than any other time.
  • antdelsa
    antdelsa Posts: 174 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    ^ anything you weigh is your true weight at that moment

    Weighing first thing in the morning may well be your lightest weight of the day - but it isn't any more a true weight than any other time.

    My definition of "true weight" is what my body weighs without excess, water retention, food in my stomach etc. I mean i can accept that the definition is subjective but I'd rather guage my process without the inconsistent variables as much as possible for a value as close to true as it can be
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    That is a consistent weight - yes, weigh as same time of day in same circumstances to minimise variations

    Not a 'true weight' as if the other weights are false.
  • antdelsa
    antdelsa Posts: 174 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    That is a consistent weight - yes, weigh as same time of day in same circumstances to minimise variations

    Not a 'true weight' as if the other weights are false.

    In a way they are false, if for some reason you're 5lbs heavier because of water retention, something that can be quickly and easily corrected then thats a false value, fat loss is most peoples primary goal, fat oxidation isn't a quick and easy thing, so some people may see the number fluctuate by a few pounds because they are not eliminating these inconsistent variables as much as they can from their reading and then they get discouraged. Or feel as though they need to change things when it could simply be they weighed themselves at the wrong time. Again "true value" is subjective and really a matter of semantics, but there is a difference between getting an accurate and consistent reading and getting a reading that is inaccurate due to inconsistent variables
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    Semantics perhaps.

    I wouldn't say they are false, more part of natural fluctuations.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    Step slowly away from the scale.
  • antdelsa
    antdelsa Posts: 174 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Semantics perhaps.

    I wouldn't say they are false, more part of natural fluctuations.

    I agree to a certain extent, natural yes but they can also be a huge reflection if dietary flaws, such as sodium intake, not enough water, etc. Etc. Excessive water retention can be quickly corrected with small changes, so thats why i like to weigh myself the way i do because I like to guage my weight as close as i can to be able to attribute it to muscle gain or fat loss, the additional stuff isn't too much of a big issue for me
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    antdelsa wrote: »
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Semantics perhaps.

    I wouldn't say they are false, more part of natural fluctuations.

    I agree to a certain extent, natural yes but they can also be a huge reflection if dietary flaws, such as sodium intake, not enough water, etc. Etc. Excessive water retention can be quickly corrected with small changes, so thats why i like to weigh myself the way i do because I like to guage my weight as close as i can to be able to attribute it to muscle gain or fat loss, the additional stuff isn't too much of a big issue for me

    I weigh myself daily, and agree with the schedule you suggest, and for basically the "most consistency" reasons you mention.

    But when even a still-healthy amount of extra sodium or fibrous veggies can register a couple of extra pounds the next day, I see no point in trying to minimize random fluctuations, or worry about "true weight". It's an unnecessary additional source of stress, and possibly unhappiness. IMO, it's more helpful just to understand the process.

    Fat or muscle gain/loss makes itself evident on a longer time scale. If one patiently, routinely does the right things (calorie deficit, progressive resistance exercise), those results will be there.

    Everyone's different, I guess.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Oh good grief...
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