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traineo Community / Training Routines / When to weigh? Gauging water gain VS weight loss?
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C4G R.
traineo Newbie
Posts: 9
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 # Posted: 22 Mar 2007 18:36


When do you weigh yourself? I find that first thing in the morning is more motivation-course one will always be less in the morning. When I weigh in the evening it is always more, understandably.

I seemed to have gained FOUR POUNDS according to the scales, overnight...so it must be water gain. How to you gauge your wieght loss when there is water gain? I did drink a lot more water yesterday to help hydrate me for karate class (at which I sprang my right calf at last night. It just POPPED and then there was pain, lots and lots of pain.) . I did a lot of working out yesterday, housework, then karate paractice, then karate class later on that night (lesson learned? No practicing at home on class days!). I only took in around 1300 caleries with my max intake being around 2100. Grrrrrrrrrrrr....
Fred L
Fitness Guru
Posts: 753
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 # Posted: 22 Mar 2007 20:20


I always weigh myself in the morning before I drink or eat anything.

However, I always make my "official" weight on Thursday mornings. This gives me some time to lose any weight I MIGHT have gained during the weekend before.
Megan G
Fitness Guru
Posts: 265
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 # Posted: 23 Mar 2007 01:48


I weigh myself every morning, no clothes on, after I pee and before I eat. I have read multiple places that this is the scenario for your least-fluctuant weight.
Chereen Harding
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 166
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 # Posted: 23 Mar 2007 06:55


Yup - I do a similar morning weigh-in. That said, you'll never be able to do away with the confounding factor of water weight. Water makes up a much larger percentage of what goes in and out each day than solids do, so it has a much bigger effect on your daily weigh-in. Best you can do is record the weight and use one of the many online tools that produce a smoothed trend graph. This will give you a much better idea of your 'real' weight than your day-to-day scale reading can.
NYCinephile .
Fitness Guru
Posts: 328
Post History
 # Posted: 23 Mar 2007 13:16


@All:
Why are many of you weighing yourself every day? I've read recommendations that once a week, at the same time and under the same conditions, is sufficient.

Does weighing yourself every day result in a preoccupation with day-to-day fluctuations?
Megan G
Fitness Guru
Posts: 265
Post History
 # Posted: 23 Mar 2007 13:36 - Edited by: nutmegs23


keeps me motivated! I don't agree with WW on this- I need more reinforcement for my efforts. If I fluctuate a little, I'm ok with that, but more often than not the number goes down.
Aaron Freeman
traineo Regular
Posts: 35
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 # Posted: 23 Mar 2007 14:01


I'm a stat junky. It helps to know what is working and what isn't and fine tune to keep you from plateauing.
Heather Madrone
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 137
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 # Posted: 25 Mar 2007 07:34


It's easy to weigh every morning right after getting out of bed. Part of the daily routine, and the fluctuations are interesting, too. I often go up or down a pound or two, and it's interesting to speculate why that might be.
Christopher B
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 87
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 # Posted: 25 Mar 2007 16:24


I tend to follow the WW philosophy of fewer weigh-ins to avoid being on the emotional roller coaster of daily variation.

However, I've also known people who weighed themselves daily and kept track of their 14-day weighted, moving average so they could compensate for the variations.
V M
Fitness Guru
Posts: 211
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 # Posted: 25 Mar 2007 20:57


Chris,

That is exactly what I do. I too am a stat junkie. Weight myself every day after my I get up (I work swing shifts so that time during the day can change, but it is always after I get up from my main sleep period). I see very little flucuation, but find the positive reinforcement a good way to start my day. I also take my BP/Pulse when I get up and track all three stats for trends.

Vern
sam iam
traineo Newbie
Posts: 18
Post History
 # Posted: 25 Mar 2007 22:28


Personally, I DON'T weigh myself everyday since (as stated b4) your weight will flux due to muscle/water gain (or loss). Since I'm excerising like mad (not really, but it's more than I used to do), I *know* the weight will temporarily spike, since muscle weighs more than flab. The spike's only until the muscle starts noticably 'burning' all the little pocket o' flab (then the weight will *decrease*).

I *weigh* myself every week, using the right after you get up & use the bathroom, but b4 you eat/drink. Because I do use numbers as motivation, I take my *waist* measurements daily (I think it's per the "YOU: On a Diet" recommendation). and it's slowly going down... since I'm toning up! (hurrah! ^_^)
glenda shaw
traineo Regular
Posts: 56
Post History
 # Posted: 25 Mar 2007 23:48


Hi, I weigh daily, though my weight seems to go up and down like crazy and without rhyme or reason, like "C4G R." noted above, in spite of careful eating and maximum exercise & water, my weight has gone up 3 pounds over as many days! Can anybody explain why that is? It seems counter intuitive to me and frustrating.........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......... ................ Anyway this is my first post, and I'm really liking this site and seems to be working well for me.
Cheers to all,
Glen
V M
Fitness Guru
Posts: 211
Post History
 # Posted: 26 Mar 2007 00:05


Glenda,

Water weight that your muscles have absorbed to help recover from hard workouts. Added volume to your blood supply as your body responds to increased cardio. All those are possible. One trick if you are going to try and diet while also exercising hard is to take body measurements as well as your weight.
Christopher B
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 87
Post History
 # Posted: 26 Mar 2007 00:12


Quoting: grshawga
my weight has gone up 3 pounds over as many days!

Highly unlikely. More likely is that when you've weighed yourself you've happened to have a bit more food and water in your digestive system than the previous day.

Most of us eat and drink over 10 lbs. of food and liquids a day. It isn't too hard to catch a day here or there with an extra pound of water still in the system.

Either limit your weigh-in to once a week or take the average or your last several daily weigh-ins. Otherwise you'll drive yourself bonkers.
glenda shaw
traineo Regular
Posts: 56
Post History
 # Posted: 26 Mar 2007 04:59


Vernon & Christopher...
Thanks so much for this! I was honestly stratching my head ...Have a great week!
Chereen Harding
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 166
Post History
 # Posted: 26 Mar 2007 07:48


I've heard many people say that they weigh weekly because it's an emotional roller-coaster weighing every day. I completely disagree because:

1. If I only weigh once a week and I happen to catch myself on a bad ( read: 'bloated' ) day, I'd have to live with that weight all week.
2. Weigh yourself daily for two weeks and you quickly realise that weight isn't consistent, sure you may have put on today but I'll disappear a day or so later.
3. If I have a 'bad' diet day it's comforting to see I haven't really put on 5kgs overnight. It's a lot better than waiting 5 days to see what effect it had.
4. It gives me a sense of 'starting over'. When I used to go to weekly group weigh-ins I associated that with the start of a 'week'. If I fell off the wagon 3 days before weigh in I used to stay off until the meeting. Now every day is a fresh start.
5. Oh, and I'm also a stat junkie...
Phil Mcly
traineo Fanatic
Posts: 158
Post History
 # Posted: 5 Apr 2007 03:18 - Edited by: McPhilly


Just like Megan, I too weigh every morning (and then some! -- stat junkie too). All in all find it keeps me motivated, and motivation is a big part of the equation for me. Results can vary significantly from day to day, even if under the same conditions, so I know not to get too excited or down if one day I really lost, or another really gained. It's the moving average that counts. And that is what Traineo is great at tracking.

I also use a "workout diary" which I bought at a borders store which helps track week to week goals, nutritional habits, workout etc.

Quoting: nutmegs23
keeps me motivated! I don't agree with WW on this- I need more reinforcement for my efforts. If I fluctuate a little, I'm ok with that, but more often than not the number goes down.
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