I lost over a pound after last night’s treadmill workout.
In over an hour (5-minute cooldown) on the treadmill last night I went 4.2 miles and burned nearly 600 calories. When I got home, I weighed myself and had lost 1.2 pounds during the workout.
Most of that from sweating, of course.
Since January I’ve stepped onto my scale
Do I recommend weighing yourself several times a day? Absolutely not, especially if you’re just starting out on your journey. I have touched on this topic before, but if you weigh yourself everyday (or multiple times a day) expecting to lose pounds every new weigh-in it simply won’t happen.
It’s a great way to get discouraged and drive yourself crazy.
With that being said, I have weighed myself at least once a day, sometimes multiple times a day, every day for the last year and have observed countless weight fluctuations on the scale. Most gains and losses are expected and can easily be explained, while other shifts in weight are more perplexing.
Noticeable scale fluctuations (gains):
- After a Coke and bag of popcorn at the movies: +7 pounds
- After a plate of your typical Chinese food: +4 pounds
- Being constipated: +3 pounds
I weigh my most after dinner. Any sizable meal, healthy or not, will be an automatic gain of 1-2 pounds. Any restaurant meal with your typical restaurant portions, healthy or not, will be an automatic gain of 2-4 pounds.
Noticeable scale fluctuations (losses):
- After mowing lawn in 90+ degrees: -8 pounds
- After Swine Flu: -5 pounds
- 180-minute workout pledge: -4 pounds
I weigh my least in the morning when I wake up. Overnight, I typically lose between 1-2 pounds which is why I do Wednesday weigh-ins so early.
Whenever I step onto a medical scale I’m usually naked (too much info?), because clothes usually add 2-4 pounds. Your typical jeans, t-shirt, and underwear are about 2.5 pounds, and that’s if they’re not from the big and tall department.
I imagine my 48-waist pants weighed much more than my 34s.
How often do you weigh yourself? Does your weight fluctuate like mine?
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
I only weigh myself once a month. Then again, Im not on a huge crusade. I have posted it to my facebook the past couple months, just looking for a bit of encouragement. Its just really nice when I get on one scale and it says 157 on month, and 152 the next.
Once a month!? I’d go crazy. Congrats on the weight loss so far — still going to the YMCA downtown?
Indeed I am still going. 20 pounds down. It gets easier when its routine. But as for only checking once a month…I found I drove myself crazy when I checked it everyday. I go more by how I look vs. how many pounds. My face is thinner and I can fit a size 10. That makes me happy. :)
I weigh myself every day i like to see the return for my hard work!!
I weigh myself several times a day as well. It’s definitely out of curiosity. My weight normally fluctuates day to day, but I found that it does less now that I bought a more expensive scale (and one that measures body fat/water, too!)
That’s interesting you’d fluctuate less with a more expensive scale — was the cheaper one less accurate or something?
I do my best to weigh myself once a day (never more often). I do it first thing in the morning after a take a leak to be sure that I’ve ejected all additional water weight from the night before. I usually wear boxers and a tshirt when doing it.
My weight (as with everyone else) fluctuates on a daily basis, sometimes by as much as a pound.
I use the Google personalized homepage gadget called Google 15. It keeps a moving average of your weight over a 2 week period. I generally consider my “actual” weight to be that average.
That’s a good idea to average your weight over a 2 week period. I might have done something like that, but I’m not going to change it now considering I’ve been doing it one way for so long already.
I have been weighing myself everyday…partly out of curiosity and partly out of OCD. Some days I step on the scale several times throughout the day. I weigh the least in the morning and the most after dinner, which is normal I suppose. It’s the weekly number I’m most concerned with and use that as a true gauge of whether I lost or not.
Good job last night by the way!
Thanks! It was easy, to be honest. I could’ve done it for 2 hours, and honestly, I probably will soon.
I have “weigh-day” every Friday. In the morning, after going to the toilet (every Friday morning I secretly hope for a poo, lol. Sorry TMI but it’s true) but before having a shower (wet hair weighs more than dry!) and wearing nothing but my birthday suit (TMI again, but hey I’m a straight talking gal!)
After recently changing my eating habits (I went LCHF – low carb high fat) I had 2 weeks of daily weighing because I was paranoid about gaining – but now I see it’s working I’m back to once a week :)
I know exactly what you mean. I definitely make sure to get my share of fiber between Monday and Tuesday, right before weigh-in day, if you know what I mean.
T, ever tried psyllium powder? Good source of fiber. Hard to get down because of the texture, but it also comes in pill form for sissies (like me). I’m doing a local biggest loser competition and one of the guys in the contest swears by his psyllium day before weigh in!
I’ll have to check it out.
I’ve started hopping on the scale every morning. Think I’ve definitely discovered that my scale has some inadequacies.
Yesterday before I left for the doctor I weighed myself and it was 342.4, no way in hell that was right since I was a little over 347 the day before. So I hopped on and off a few times and got different results every time, including a 344.2 which made me chuckle.
This morning I did two times to check and both popped at 345 on the nose, so hopefully I’ll meet my goal this week of being at or below your starting weight. I’ve been limited with my knee injury so no exercise this week, only calorie counting. The counting lead to the creation of a new meal I just posted though, so we’ll see if that helps.
Tune in Tuesday for the results lol
Also, I think once I get down to 320 I’ll buy a better scale if this one keeps jumping around on me. A lot of the fancier ones don’t go as high as I need them at present.
That’s weird. Maybe you’re leaning a little off the scale or are leaning against something when you step on.
I don’t know, weird!
Every morning, naked, thank you very much.
Since I started my weight loss journey I have switched from weight myself every day to weekly. I now weigh myself as soon as I wake up on Friday mornings. When I was weighing myself daily I would get disappointed at the fluctuations I would see every day, not that I am doing it weekly I have something to work toward and it keeps me aware.
That’s exactly why it’s not “recommended” to weigh yourself every day. It gets frustrating, because you could’ve gained a pound just by eating a large dinner.
My fluctuations are awful! I can be lighter or heavier by about 8 pounds at any given point. Sometimes it makes sense, but sometimes not. I weigh 6 pounds more today than yesterday, and ate well and exercised yesterday. Who knows. I think I’ll start once a month weigh-ins (if I can handle it), because the gains are so discouraging. I’m at the maintenance stage, and it’s very scary to see a gain when I’m at that point.
Yeah, I can imagine! I’ve gained a few pounds overnight exercising well and eating the day before, but never nearly 8 pounds. That’s a lot.
I just bought a scale last night (been using one from work) b/c I want to be able to weigh myself a little more often then once a week just to keep track of how I am doing. This probably isn’t best b/c of the fluctuations you described above, but I tend to obsess and once a week was driving me crazy. Maybe once I get into a good routine and am losing regularly, then I’ll cut back.
What scale did you buy?
And no, you won’t cut back. It only gets worse. :)
I used to religiously weigh myself every day, but then I moved my workouts to the mornings and it literally became one too many things to worry about on my way out the door. That said, when I do get around to weighing myself, I always do so in the morning, after peeing, before eating or drinking. I figure there’s no point in discouraging myself, and that’s going to be my best weight of the day.
Yeah, I’d like to go to the gym in the mornings like you, but I simply don’t have enough time to do that.
I weigh in every morning and I usually weigh myself twice and if it’s a big lose I weigh myself 3 times just to make sure that I was reading the scale correctly. I use to weigh throughout the day but like you said – it is so discouraging to see my weight increase from the morning weigh in.
If you’re going to weigh yourself during the day, just be prepared to see the gain. Otherwise, stay off the scale and only weigh yourself every few days at the very least.
Hey Ty, maybe I missed it, but did you ever get new shoes?
I did. Posting about them soon!
I weight myself about 3 times a day (once in the morning, once before working out, once after working out, and once for bed)–just for fun. But I only count one weigh-in. And I weigh myself naked.
I find that I actually usually GAIN weight between when I weigh myself at night and when I weight myself in the morning…but that’s because I drink about 30 oz of water at night!
I drink water all throughout the day, but I haven’t really seen how much water I’ve drank relative to how it is reflected on the scale. I’ve never gained weight overnight though, not once I don’t believe.
I weigh myself every day (or I have for the past year) because when I don’t do this I gain weight. It frustrates me, but that seems to be the way it is. Like you I try not to let the fluctuations drag me down.
I notice your daily weigh-ins, that’s commitment to post every single one every single day!
Great job last night! Lately I weigh myself every morning, more out of curiosity than anything (and always naked). I’m in the process of losing another 50 pounds (I’ve lost 27 already), and I find weighing myself in the mornings makes me think twice about what I eat during the day.
I just recently discovered your blog and am really enjoying it. You are a wonderful inspiration and have done so well for yourself, thank you for sharing your journey with us. :-)
Thanks! I’m glad you found my blog. I hope you keep reading and thanks for wishing me luck!
I weigh myself daily, right after I shower and my morning constitutional (I know, TMI). The biggest impact on fluctuation I notice consistently is if the day before I ate a lot of carbs. That will usually bump me up between 1 and 1.5 lbs. Day after an intense workout will dip the scale as much as 1 lb as well.
I haven’t taken a look at carbs the day before. I eat a load of carbs every day lately, maybe that’s affecting my weigh-ins considerably.
Clothes — That’s the reason :-)
Clothes will do it.
I weigh myself every morning at work on a digital scale at the doctor’s office. I do it just to see what is working and what isn’t. While my weight definitely flucutates during a day, it’s pretty consistent each morning. I’ve done it for so long now that I can usually tell if I’ve lost or not before I step on the scale.
I weigh myself daily too, in the morning. My weight used to fluctuate a lot more before I started this (by 2-3 pounds). Maybe the consistent carbs or reduced sodium or something help, but I fluctuate very little now (except for my sloooooow progress down).
Keep it up! Slow is still moving.
I’ve broken up with my scale. It drove me nuts. I was like a crack addict walking into my closet near my scale. I made a decision, it was either the scale or me. So I chose me:) I pulled my skinny jeans (size 10 Levis) out the back of the closet and now I used them to tell me where I am on this journey.
The scale will make you go crazy. It’s not really important, what is more important that you eat right, like the way YOU look and feel.
I weigh myself every morning, just to make sure I keep on track. I don’t expect to see a loss everyday, but I can catch myself if I start to slack off or eat unhealthy food. Thankfully, I don’t have not a lot of those days.
One of the 344lb readers is doing their own treadmill challenge – be sure to visit her blog and post some words of encouragement (and add 30 seconds)!.
http://www.loss.nuchereno.com/
Definitely — I added my time!
Tyler, your story continues to inspire me. You’re the reason why I started my diet on May 1, 2009.
Today, I “retired” my pairs of pants that were size 40 or higher (I plan on donating them to Goodwill). While I’m still in a size 38 (I’m 5’10″ with a BMI of 29.7), it was such a great feeling to be able to realize, “these don’t fit, I don’t need anymore!” (in a good way).
I started my own personal weight loss journey at 246.4 lbs (highest known weight was 253 lbs) and I am currently at 207.0 lbs. I started May 1, 2009 and I’ve been extremely happy with my results so far and never felt better. My goal weight is <175 lbs.
Thanks for the inspiration Tyler; keep up the awesome work!
You don’t know how much I like hearing that. CONGRATULATIONS on your weight loss. I am so proud of you.
I have a coworker who weighs himself two to three times a day. I myself weigh myself twice a month.
Also, it depends on the scale. I’m near the limit on my home scale, so it fluctuates wildly. I found that I sometimes need to do seven or eight measurements before I’ll get a few in a row that are the same. (And by wild, I’m meaning +/- 10 pounds.)
I’d like to get back to the Doctor’s scale I bought years ago, but I’m sadly over its maximum… but having a good scale is motivation to lose some more. ;)
Hubby and I tend to weigh ourselves in the morning for consistency. We do weigh ourselves at night but it’s mostly just to marvel at the fluctuations. What I notice makes me gain is eating out – even when I control overall calories. I’ve long suspected this is due to the high sodium in commercial food. Over the weekend we were out of town so we ate out a lot – but carefully. I still gained four pounds. When I got home, I took a doctor-prescribed water retention pill (well – anti-retention) and, no big surprise, I lost all four pounds before going to bed.
Home scale are typically inaccurate, especially if you are towards the high end of the weight range. I’ve tried to get away from weighing myself daily.