A befuddled querying from the weighing-in obsessive ...

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meerkat70
meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I weigh myself a lot. I'm ok with that. I just find it interesting to watch sometimes how things change over the course of a day, or change day to day.

Anyway, I weighed myself as I was going to bed last night. I get out of bed this morning, go to the loo, weigh myself again, and I'm HEAVIER than I was last night.

I'm not bothered, this has happened before, I know it's not a 'real' gain. But it always puzzles me. How does this happen? It's just so bizarre. There's nothing going into the system, so how can the mass increase?

Replies

  • LilMissStrawberry
    LilMissStrawberry Posts: 34 Member
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    I weigh myself a lot too (probably up to 3 times a day, although I'm often told how bad it is). I find I normally lose 400grams over night, but to gain over night?! That seems crazy to me!!
  • kiwi1855
    kiwi1855 Posts: 218 Member
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    Small hormonal changes in your body happen throughout the day, and can cause the scale to read heavier or lighter. If you MUST weigh every day, do it at the same time each day, and only pick ONCE a day. Don't drive yourself nuts over things you can't control.

    That being said, try to weigh in a little less frequently... every 3 days to a week should give you enough of an idea of whether what you are doing is working or not!

    Don't stress about it!
  • bitemecullen
    bitemecullen Posts: 26
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    It amazes me as well ,how can you gain weight lying in bed !
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    Small hormonal changes in your body happen throughout the day, and can cause the scale to read heavier or lighter. If you MUST weigh every day, do it at the same time each day, and only pick ONCE a day. Don't drive yourself nuts over things you can't control.

    That being said, try to weigh in a little less frequently... every 3 days to a week should give you enough of an idea of whether what you are doing is working or not!

    Don't stress about it!

    As I said, I'm not bothered about it, and I am quite comfortably with the scales game I play, It works for me. And I do weigh in at the same time each day. I've lost a lot of weight, and not really been negatively affected by the scales game in the process.

    My query was more about the physics of how the same body, with nothing added, can weigh more in the morning than it does the night before.
  • littlemili
    littlemili Posts: 625 Member
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    If you MUST weigh every day, do it at the same time each day, and only pick ONCE a day.
    I think that's a bad rule. Personally I like to weigh after I work out to check if I have lost too much water, and make sure I rehydrate enough if I have lost a lot. It is also nice to know how my body works, and to what extent it retains water and in what situations. By understanding that, if in the morning I am up, I know why. Someone who weighs weekly or twice weekly can't be sure whether a 1/2 lb gain is real, or whether their body reacts to certain things that happened the day before. I like knowing how long I retain water after alcohol because otherwise I would have a lot of upset weigh-ins...
  • tomporter114
    tomporter114 Posts: 4
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    it's normal for your weight to change by up to +/- 2lbs.

    so for the sake of tracking your weight, you should weigh yourself at the same time each day.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I'm the same way, weighing 3 or 4 times a day, amused by nature and the effect a big glass of water or a sodium heavy meal will affect me. I don't stress it or let it hinder me. In fact, right now I am 4 lbs up, and my boobs hurt and look bigger so I know it's just PMS bloat. And I did weigh more this morning than I did last night. Until I peed, then I lost .6 lbs...lol
    PMS maybe for you too?
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    I have learnt to ignore and not take daily fluctiations to seriously..... here is some stats I gathered over a month - there is no rhyme or reason to the scale from day to day.....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Elleinnz?month=201108
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    If you MUST weigh every day, do it at the same time each day, and only pick ONCE a day.
    I think that's a bad rule. Personally I like to weigh after I work out to check if I have lost too much water, and make sure I rehydrate enough if I have lost a lot. It is also nice to know how my body works, and to what extent it retains water and in what situations. By understanding that, if in the morning I am up, I know why. Someone who weighs weekly or twice weekly can't be sure whether a 1/2 lb gain is real, or whether their body reacts to certain things that happened the day before. I like knowing how long I retain water after alcohol because otherwise I would have a lot of upset weigh-ins...

    exactly, it's not about being obsessive or beating yourself up over it, it's about learning the science behind your body and the little changes it makes on a regular basis, so you DON'T beat yourself up over gaining 2 or 3 pounds. You can look back at the previous day and say, "oh, it's because my sodium was 5000, ok! I'll drink a ton of water today and eat clean, but I'm sure glad I got to enjoy that pizza out with friends."

    Because this is a lifestyle, not a diet, and we want to be able to eat and drink what we want and not let it sabotage us.

    (Disclaimer: If you CAN'T handle the gains throughout the day and will feel like a "failure" or something, then don't do it. This is only for the educated who understand that you naturally go up and down 3-4 lbs every day.)
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I have learnt to ignore and not take daily fluctiations to seriously..... here is some stats I gathered over a month - there is no rhyme or reason to the scale from day to day.....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Elleinnz?month=201108

    I love that chart! And I love how you look at the overall downward trend rather than the little ups and downs. Well done!
  • melissa2807
    melissa2807 Posts: 35 Member
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    I find that intriguing as well, as to how you you gain/lose small amounts of weight for seemingly no reason. I'd have though that lying in bed you would lose some through sweat possibly?

    One major topic of conversation in our staffroom recently was "if you eat a quarter pounder, do you put on a quarter of a pound" and then consequently "if you weigh yourself before and after going for a poo do you weigh less after..." Nobody has actually gone home and tested that yet (or at least they haven't come back and told us the results!
  • hhan
    hhan Posts: 74
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    My query was more about the physics of how the same body, with nothing added, can weigh more in the morning than it does the night before.

    I'd suggest it was just a glitch in your scales. My sometimes do weird things if the battery moves slightly when I knock it to turn the scales on.

    I also weigh twice a day. Once in the morning for my usual daily weigh-in, and again sometime later in the day to "reset" my scales. For some reason if my weight hasn't changed enough from the previous weigh-in then it will just read the same value as the last time. Hence I weigh in the afternoon or evening when I know there will be a couple of pounds difference, that restes my scale so the next morning I get an accurate figure. personally I'd never go to a weekly weigh-in. I'd lose the motivation that daily weigh-ins give me, and I have no real issue with the daily fluctuations.
  • iwillsoonbeslim
    iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
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    If you MUST weigh every day, do it at the same time each day, and only pick ONCE a day.
    I think that's a bad rule. Personally I like to weigh after I work out to check if I have lost too much water, and make sure I rehydrate enough if I have lost a lot. It is also nice to know how my body works, and to what extent it retains water and in what situations. By understanding that, if in the morning I am up, I know why. Someone who weighs weekly or twice weekly can't be sure whether a 1/2 lb gain is real, or whether their body reacts to certain things that happened the day before. I like knowing how long I retain water after alcohol because otherwise I would have a lot of upset weigh-ins...

    exactly, it's not about being obsessive or beating yourself up over it, it's about learning the science behind your body and the little changes it makes on a regular basis, so you DON'T beat yourself up over gaining 2 or 3 pounds. You can look back at the previous day and say, "oh, it's because my sodium was 5000, ok! I'll drink a ton of water today and eat clean, but I'm sure glad I got to enjoy that pizza out with friends."

    Because this is a lifestyle, not a diet, and we want to be able to eat and drink what we want and not let it sabotage us.

    (Disclaimer: If you CAN'T handle the gains throughout the day and will feel like a "failure" or something, then don't do it. This is only for the educated who understand that you naturally go up and down 3-4 lbs every day.)

    I echo these - I'm LOVING finding out what affects me, and then addressing it. A gain doesn't demotivate me, it focuses me on determining the cause, and not in a negative way. Glad I'm not alone. I never used to be like this...but, then, I've never lost weight as quickly as I am through calorie counting!

    OH - and OP, I KNOW these don't answer your question, and I'd be keen to know too!

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