My scale jumps so high even after a light meal

vanityy99
vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
edited January 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
For example..
I’ll weigh myself in the morning ...with the same clothes I have on after breakfast, when I weigh myself again out of curiosity the scale will tell me I’m three pounds heavier. A piece of toast with coffee that I never finish surely can’t weigh that much.

It’s not a big deal just an observation what could be the logic reason though?

Replies

  • TheFitHooker
    TheFitHooker Posts: 3,357 Member
    The best time to weigh yourself is in the morning after you empty your bladder. With nothing on. I never weigh clothed or after eating. Your body will fluctuate throughout the day. For your own sanity, I'd only weigh once a week. It really irritated me when I first began and weighed every day.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    It's very common for weight to fluctuate throughout the day.
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    It's not only the weight of the food but also water retention.
  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    edited January 2019
    Teabythesea_ wrote: »
    vanityy99 wrote: »

    Water retention from a tiny bit a coffee? The coffee hasn’t even had time to digest yet.

    Sorry overthinking.

    Water is also a byproduct of the metabolizing of certain nutrients.

    Not that it matters. Why is this a concern again?

    Curious
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    way overthinking. weigh once in the morning, naked, and preferably after peeing and/or pooping and before you eat.

    If you weigh every day - you will certainly see huge variations. use an app such as Happy Scale or Libra to enter your weight, it gives you a funky graph that tracks your weight loss TREND - it's great. You will see spikes and troughs and that is normal.

    And I have done the same thing out of curiosity - weighed again after eating breakfast - still naked - not even clothed - and have "put on" 600 grams or something. But I haven't not really. My whole breakfast didn't even weigh that much. I can't scientifically explain WHY a cup of coffee and some oats would make me gain 600 grams but it does, so just don't do that. If you weigh at night too you will be way "fatter" than you were when you weighed in the morning - so don't go there either.

    Use the weight as a trend - that is best.

    Different scales also give you different weight. I love the scales at my parent's house - i'm a whole 3 kilos lighter at their place than at my place, regardless of morning, naked, pre or post food. And yes, it's calibrated - the scale. So really - scale is a measuring tool but not accurate really. It's a guide.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    Oh yeah, And I have weighed before taking a dump and then straight after and lost 400grams :D
  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Water weighs more than you might realize - if you're drinking anything, and you should, a pint is a pound. Also, your scale is probably not accurate to itself. Digital home scales are never accurate closer than 1 - 2%, but most have a memory which hides the inaccuracy by repeating the same exact number if it's within a certain period of time and a pound of the previous measurement. You can find out if this is the case by weighing yourself, picking up a heavy object and weighing yourself again, then setting down the object and finding out if your weight has changed from the first measurement.

    Interesting thanks.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    Oh and another thing re digital scales - some of them you have to step on them twice before they work properly. Mine at home is like that. The first time I step on it it tells me i'm about 2kg heavier than the second/third/fourth (I tried it a few times to make sure). So now I know to step on it twice. naked. in the morning. after peeing and bonus if pooping too.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    When the data doesn't make sense rather than try to make sense of it first validate the data....

    Weigh yourself 10 times in a fairly short period when you aren't eating or drinking and you will know how consistent your scales are.
  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    Seffell wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    It's very common for weight to fluctuate throughout the day.

    Well, unless the OP took in 3lbs worth of breakfast, it isn't.

    Get a new scale. Or don't move tour scale around. Some scales are too sensitive.

    Thank you!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    our weight fluctuates.

    no need to step on it more than once a day. really, no need to step on it more than once a week.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Watch Scooby's weight fluctuate like crazy over the course of a day:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=cYMNPP2ZR1U
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Seffell wrote: »
    Guys! Stop this. Unless the OP put 3lbs through their mouth it is not expected and natural their weight to raise by 3lbs. What water retention? What are you talking about? Why are you wooing the OP.

    OP, again, get a new scale.

    If it's a digital scale, it can also be affected by changes in temperature, humidity, etc. If I weigh myself before my wife takes a shower and then afterwards in the humid bathroom I will get a different weight.

    But yeah...check your batteries maybe...but also just step off the scale...your weight is going to bounce around all over the place throughout the day.
  • lokihen
    lokihen Posts: 382 Member
    Does anyone else remember the one post where he weighed himself, defecated, weighed himself again and found his scale said he had gained weight?

    I briefly considered buying a more accurate scale, but quickly decided a trending app was good enough.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I think it is a bad idea to weigh yourself after you eat or drink anything on a regular basis. There is no good reason to have that higher number floating around in your head. You are going to get higher numbers some days anyway just from normal fluctuations why add to it?

  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    edited January 2019
    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    Don't weigh yourself under different circumstances and expect the same results.

    I didn’t expect so much of a difference in a lil amount of time with hardly anything in my system. I think it’s my scale. Thanks though!
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    edited January 2019
    Scales need to be on a hard surface, in the same place and checked regularly. I use 2 x 5kg dumbells so far it is always accurate. Mine is a tap with your foot until it shows 0 then step on.

    I love to weigh every day, (I am a data nerd) same time, nude after peeing. Never bother later on as it is always higher.

    I use a trending app Libra (android) to track my weight this stops me freaking out if I gain a pound or two now and again as the general trend is still down. It also helps me to see what causes those apparently random fluctuations. In my case it is usually pasta or if I eat a meal with high salt content.

    I threw some figures into WeightGrapher and you can see clearly where I had a couple of holidays and my weight went up mainly due to sodium intake...or alcohol...yup it may have been alcohol. :/:D<3

    5gd8w1z4xony.jpeg

    Hope this helps :)


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