Pre and post workout

bennyg1973
bennyg1973 Posts: 43 Member
in Motivation and Support
I worked out yesterday and weighed myself pre and post workout. The scale said I lost 3 lbs after my workout. Now when I weighed myself pre, I was fasted. Post weigh in was after workout and drinking water. How can you lose that much in one workout. Water weight? All I did was walk for 30 and stretch for over 10 minutes.
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Answers

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 11,705 Member
    Scales are funny animals. I once weighed myself before a trip to the bathroom, then again after: scale said I had GAINED weight during that brief interval.

    Why are you weighing yourself both before and after? A single workout, no matter how intense, is not going to cause any significant drop in body fat. (Ok, marathons, iron mans and the like maybe, but a normal gym session nope.)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,238 Member
    Short answer: I think you can't.

    The only reason I can think of that I would weigh before and after a workout is to check hydration strategy effectiveness after doing something reasonable long and/or intense. (I'm a heavy sweating person.) I don't recall ever losing 3 pounds, even after a couple hours bike ride or an hour of intense-effort on-water rowing in extremely warm weather.

    Were you wearing the same clothes before and after? If no, then not comparable. Did you move the scale, or is it on carpet/wobbly floor? If yes, then not comparable.

    If same clothes and non-moving scale, then I vote that your scales are a little wonky, unless (maybe) that walk and stretch was in a very hot very dry climate. (Most home scales are a little wonky, IME.)

    Losing 3 actual pounds of scale weight in that scenario is improbable. Losing 3 pounds that were all/mostly body fat is impossible, at least without some dire health condition in the picture.

    I wouldn't worry about it, personally: Anomaly.

    Best wishes!

  • bennyg1973
    bennyg1973 Posts: 43 Member
    I believe I need a new scale. lol Because the one at the doctor's that has the weights on it that you slide usually weighs me in a few lbs less than my home scale. Know any good scales?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    bennyg1973 wrote: »
    I believe I need a new scale. lol Because the one at the doctor's that has the weights on it that you slide usually weighs me in a few lbs less than my home scale. Know any good scales?

    You can check your scale with an object of a known weight...like a dumbbell or something. Your scale should also be on a flat, hard surface. But really, nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs all of the time. Your weight at any given time is going to depend on numerous variables that have nothing to do with fat. Hydration levels, more or less waste in the digestive tract, normal changes in body water composition, time of day, heat, humidity, etc.

    You're best off to just weigh in at a singular given time...for most people this is in the morning after using the restroom and before you've consumed food or liquids. Some people do this daily...I do it weekly or maybe twice per week. Weighing yourself multiple times per day in multiple situations and under multiple different conditions isn't providing you any meaningful data and is a waste of time and energy.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,238 Member
    bennyg1973 wrote: »
    I believe I need a new scale. lol Because the one at the doctor's that has the weights on it that you slide usually weighs me in a few lbs less than my home scale. Know any good scales?

    If it shows a reasonable trend over a period of weeks, and a reasonable set of ups/downs within a few pounds from day to day, I'd suggest keeping it.

    Home scales aren't perfect. IMO, what we need is for them to be fairly consistent. I care whether I'm gaining, losing, or maintaining. I care how I feel, and how my clothes fit (since I hate to clothes shop). I don't honestly care what the number is, i.e., whether my "true weight" is 126 or 130 or 137 (or whatever).

    I don't even think I have a "true weight" . . . it's more like a few pounds range over a day or few, with a trend over multiple weeks for that range to move upward (gaining), downward (losing) or cycle through about the same numbers (maintaining).

    It's never, ever going to match the scale at my doctor's office. I can't imagine weighing at home in exactly the clothes I'll be wearing on the doctor's scale, then eating/drinking nothing, avoiding sweating, minimizing heavy breathing, until I'm on the scale at the doctor's office. I mean, why? (I don't care if it matches, either.)

    Advice: Don't give the scale too much power.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,324 Member
    put a 10 pound free weight on your scale.. one hour.. then do it again later... i bet you get two different reads.
  • history_grrrl
    history_grrrl Posts: 216 Member
    bennyg1973 wrote: »
    I believe I need a new scale. lol Because the one at the doctor's that has the weights on it that you slide usually weighs me in a few lbs less than my home scale. Know any good scales?

    I looked for suggestions in the discussions here and ended up getting: EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale with Extra Large Backlit 3.5-Inch Display and Step-On Technology. So far, so good - but my bathroom tile is wavy so I have a foot square piece of wood under it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    No scale is perfect, apart from possibly the ones at doctors offices. Where you might be fasted, wear other clothes at home or anything else that differs from your home weight-in. May I suggest you stick with your scale, only weight after the bathroom in the morning, naked, and otherwise ignore it? This way you probably get the most consistent weights. And if they're off from your doctors scale a bit then what does it matter? The overall trend will still be the same, regardless of a slightly higher or lower number.
  • MeanNurseGM95
    MeanNurseGM95 Posts: 49 Member
    The most accurate weight is the one you take when you first get out of bed before you eat or drink anything for the day.

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