What time of day do you weigh in?

cherilee0831
cherilee0831 Posts: 44 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
I usually weigh myself first thing in the morning but when I got to the doctor, it's usually around 3:00pm and I am always a pound or two heavier even if I have hardly had anything to eat! Is it water that makes the difference?

Replies

  • YouGotThis435
    YouGotThis435 Posts: 29 Member
    I usually weight myself in the morning's but if I had eaten a heavy/late dinner, I usually will weight myself again in the afternoon and my weight will have gone done. I usually only eat a cucumber or carrots for breakfast and generally don't drink water until I get back home in the afternoon, so my weight isn't affected by anything. Water definitely will add weight.
  • YvetteK2015
    YvetteK2015 Posts: 654 Member
    I weigh myself first thing in the morning after using the bathroom. If I have to go to the doctor, I take a picture of the scale with my weight because when I jump on their scale I'm a minimum of 5 lbs heavier. To hell with that! lol
  • duanehcpiercey
    duanehcpiercey Posts: 14 Member
    First thing in the morning..... but I only worry about the month to month values.... a month from today it should be less than today's. ..

    On any given day it goes up and down ... the 30 day trend is what I shoot for... :)
  • indiacaitlin
    indiacaitlin Posts: 691 Member
    I weigh first thing in the morning - it'll always be higher later on in the day, try not to stress over it :smile:
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I weigh in the morning after a bathroom break. I don't concern myself too much with the doctor weight since I'll probably be wearing various clothes and shoes, and have likely eaten during the day. Fortunately I have a doctor that cares more that I'm trending down rather than being too caught up in the actual weight.
  • lady_ghost
    lady_ghost Posts: 175 Member
    cherilee0831 wrote: »
    I usually weigh myself first thing in the morning but when I got to the doctor, it's usually around 3:00pm and I am always a pound or two heavier even if I have hardly had anything to eat! Is it water that makes the difference?

    Whenever I have a doctor's appointment I check. I just go by how I look in the mirror or sometimes I measure myself. I go more for how I look than how much pounds I have
  • MrsPinterest34
    MrsPinterest34 Posts: 342 Member
    I weigh myself at around 6:30am without clothes that is the most accurate value. My doctor's appointment is usually scheduled around 11am. I always expect my weight to be higher at my doctors' office. I don't worry about it since my overall trend is decreasing from prior office visits.
  • jepierson4
    jepierson4 Posts: 8 Member
    Weigh in the AM. Recommend a scale that measures water weight and body fat.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited May 2017
    indiacaitlin wrote: »
    I weigh first thing in the morning - it'll always be higher later on in the day, try not to stress over it :smile:

    Is it always higher later in the day?

    'Cause that's not the case for me at all. My fluid levels do not fluctuate when I want them to or when I expect them to. Your body retains water as it needs to and gets rid of it when it needs to.

    In fact, more often than not, my lightest time of the day is in the afternoon, after I've already eaten 75% of my caloric input for the day. Not intuitive at all when I got started, but totally understandable now.

    I'm kind of against the consensus on this one because the only numbers that matter are the long term ones. Why? Because your weight is not a number, it's a range. And because your water retention variables do not change when it's convenient for us. And our digestive pace (some of us anyway) is not always the same. And since your water retention fluctuations can be several times bigger in a day than your weight loss target in a week, it only makes sense to look over time.

    So, the long answer I would give to the OP (and this is just me) is that it really doesn't matter what time of day you weigh in. There is no best time, and it's not necessarily good or bad if you are retaining water, especially not bad if you are retaining it for things like muscle repair - that's a good thing.
  • LadyMcCracken
    LadyMcCracken Posts: 2 Member
    First thing in the morning right after I use the restroom! That way I know there's nothing extra in me to add to the weigh in.
  • spdaphne
    spdaphne Posts: 262 Member
    In the morning, after I've gone to the restroom and in just underwear. No morning water or anything. And yes, my weight has gone up if I have an apt in the afternoon so I take it with a grain of salt.
  • shandy82165
    shandy82165 Posts: 184 Member
    I weigh myself once every other week. I don't have a scale at home so I use the one in the health office at work. I arrive at work at 10:30am, so my weigh in is usually 10:25am every other Monday. I typically have coffee and about 16 oz of water every morning, and that doesn't change even on my weigh in days. I keep my clothes on but remove any heavy necklaces and any outer layers like a sweaters. I also keep my shoes on because the scale is in the bathroom and...ew.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    After lots of experimentation I know my weight is lowest just before lunch so if I'm home that's when I weigh
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
    I'm heavier on hot days and lighter on cold days! Usually heavier as the day progresses. I try not to wear heavy clothes like jeans to the doctor's office, and I always wear shoes that slip off and on easily. Even so, I'm about 4 pounds heavier at the doctor's than I am 1st thing in the morning at home.
  • Ella_1997
    Ella_1997 Posts: 11 Member
    In the morning after I've used the bathroom.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    My lowest weight is around 4:30 p.m. because I have been fasting for 18 hours. My weight is higher in the mornings because I eat all my food between 5:00 p.m. and 10:30p.m.
  • SiegfriedXXL
    SiegfriedXXL Posts: 219 Member
    Always in the morning, after bm. I've weighed in the afternoon before and sometimes it's lower but I figure weighing at the same time every day gives me more accurate trends, which is what I worry about more.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I weigh myself first thing in the morning. If i have a doctors appointment where i know they'll want to weigh me, then i just tell them what i weighed that morning, and that's the number they record in my notes.
  • soccerjerseyguy
    soccerjerseyguy Posts: 14 Member
    just be consistent. First thing in the morning will likely result in the most consistent #s.
  • Woodsmoke
    Woodsmoke Posts: 360 Member
    Honestly? It's kind of grim, but I weigh myself just once a week and only after I've... done my business. Get rid of the waste in your body and you'll see a more accurate weight. It always seems to make a difference for me.

    Sorry for the grossness. ^.^
  • PhilipByrne
    PhilipByrne Posts: 276 Member
    spdaphne wrote: »
    In the morning, after I've gone to the restroom and in just underwear. No morning water or anything. And yes, my weight has gone up if I have an apt in the afternoon so I take it with a grain of salt.

    Won't the grain of salt cause you to retain fluid?
  • YalithKBK
    YalithKBK Posts: 317 Member
    Natural daily fluctuation (you may be 2lbs heavier even on your scale at home)
    Scales vary (unless it's a hardcore scientific scale which you doctor does NOT have)

    Pick one scale to go by and stick to that one.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    soccerjerseyguy wrote: »
    just be consistent. First thing in the morning will likely result in the most consistent #s.

    How do you know this? What do you define as "consistent"? Do your fluid retention and digestive speeds coincide with your 24 hour schedule? I would guess that they don't. Is your workout and food intake and burn exactly the same every day (and at the same times and with the same stuff)? I would guess that it's not.

    I hear (and read) this consistency thing all the time and don't see any substantive basis for it. Weight fluctuates pretty wildly throughout the day for many people. And it's not always in the expected direction. So I can't see how the time of weighing or "consistency" day to day has any bearing at all. There are data points along the way, but that's all they are. There is no such thing as consistency in numbers, nor is there any benefit to it in the first place. Time and trend is everything.

    The only pro-argument I've read so far has to with the toxins your body burns while you sleep. But because of all the other factors, I'm not sure it has any significant bearing either.

    /off my soapbox for now (and I admit it really isn't a big deal).
  • SafioraLinnea
    SafioraLinnea Posts: 628 Member
    Daily and first thing in the morning after bathroom use. It fluctuates because I'm human but as long as the monthly trend is downward, I don't care about the number.
  • cstevenson86
    cstevenson86 Posts: 158 Member
    edited May 2017
    Every Friday morning at 6am, after I have used the restroom, with no clothes on, in the same exact spot --- I put the scale in the center of my bathroom lol. Hope this helps!
  • ffswmn
    ffswmn Posts: 30 Member
    I weigh myself in the morning after using the bathroom and before drinking anything. But I only track Monday morning weight.
  • acopeland321
    acopeland321 Posts: 23 Member
    YvetteK2015 wrote: »
    I weigh myself first thing in the morning after using the bathroom. If I have to go to the doctor, I take a picture of the scale with my weight because when I jump on their scale I'm a minimum of 5 lbs heavier. To hell with that! lol

    I noticed this too, although the doctors scale is probably much more accurate.
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