Suprised by weight difference

Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262 lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

"Oldhobo30001" wrote in message
...
Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262
lbs) but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank
goodness it has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more
importantly (at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I
go to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot
lighter in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very
old) so my wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same
results. Is this normal? I did not expect that much differences
overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

Well for sure, if you have used the restroom at all you'll see a big
difference. But the body does metabolize during the night, and you will be
lighter in the morning even without going to the bathroom. 4-6 lbs seems
like a big difference though.

Don't weigh yourself at night. Bad idea.
You've got food, water, ummm...."stuff" that is waiting to come out.

Weigh in the morning, after pee, before breakfast.

On Feb 5, 6:14 pm, "Oldhobo30001" wrote:
Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262 lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

Hector -- If you've camped in a tent, you might have noticed that the
walls of the tent are somewhat wet in the morning as a result of your
expiring moisture in the night. A lot of the temporary weight you lose
at it is the moisture in your breath.

Yours,

Caleb

This is from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wikipedia:Reference_desk_archive/Miscellaneous/2006_August_19


" The beginning of a fast may very well show a large weight drop
(several pounds), while, if you continue to fast, the weight loss will
slow down. You take in a few pounds of food each day, and expel the
same amount as waste each day. The first day you fast, you will likely
defecate yesterday's food. After that, you will have nothing more to
expel. In other words, you are lighter by the weight of the contents
of your digestive tract, which is now empty. StuRat 18:58, 19 August
2006 (UTC)

" Plus: your body will have got rid of a lot of fluid. For
instance, in the mornig you are a couple pounds lighter that when you
go to bed due to expiration of moisture. A pint of water weighs a
pound and a quarter: so weigh that up!--Light current 19:09, 19 August
2006 (UTC)"

On Feb 5, 10:52 pm, "Caleb" wrote:
On Feb 5, 6:14 pm, "Oldhobo30001" wrote:





Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262 lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

Hector -- If you've camped in a tent, you might have noticed that the
walls of the tent are somewhat wet in the morning as a result of your
expiring moisture in the night. A lot of the temporary weight you lose
at it is the moisture in your breath.

Yours,

Caleb

This is from Wikipedia athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wikipedia:Reference_desk_archive/Miscellaneous/2006_August_19

" The beginning of a fast may very well show a large weight drop
(several pounds), while, if you continue to fast, the weight loss will
slow down. You take in a few pounds of food each day, and expel the
same amount as waste each day. The first day you fast, you will likely
defecate yesterday's food. After that, you will have nothing more to
expel. In other words, you are lighter by the weight of the contents
of your digestive tract, which is now empty. StuRat 18:58, 19 August
2006 (UTC)

" Plus: your body will have got rid of a lot of fluid. For
instance, in the mornig you are a couple pounds lighter that when you
go to bed due to expiration of moisture. A pint of water weighs a
pound and a quarter: so weigh that up!--Light current 19:09, 19 August
2006 (UTC)"- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the info. One pound is 2 cups of water.

"Caleb" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 5, 6:14 pm, "Oldhobo30001" wrote:
Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262
lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness
it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more
importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I
go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot
lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so
my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

Hector -- If you've camped in a tent, you might have noticed that the
walls of the tent are somewhat wet in the morning as a result of your
expiring moisture in the night. A lot of the temporary weight you lose
at it is the moisture in your breath.

But 4 lbs would be a half gallon? Is that possible?

On Feb 5, 9:14 pm, "Oldhobo30001" wrote:
Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262 lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

I found this article helpful:

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspart...ight/scale.htm

The daily weight fluctuation is a combination of water retention, food
still in your digestive track, and glycogen storage. My weight doesn't
fluctuate as much as yours does - more like an average of 2 lbs - but
I'm also smaller (5' tall and currently at 117). I do notice however
that my weight can fluctuate more dramatically on days that:

- I take in more sodium. Did you know that instant pudding cups have a
lot of sodium??? I didn't! The advice here is to steer clear of
processed foods. Also, restaurant food tends to be higher in sodium.
Anytime I eat in a restaurant - no matter how careful I am with
portion control - my weight goes up temporarily.

- I don't drink enough water. Yep, sounds counter-intuitive, but it's
true. If I don't drink enough water, my body fights to retain what it
has. On days I drink at least eight 8 oz glasses, my weight doesn't
fluctuate anywhere near as much. And even if you find that your weight
does fluctuate when you keep well hydrated, bear in mind that you need
that water to metabolize and flush out the fat you want to burn.

- I exercise. Yep, again, this sounds counter-intuitive, but for me on
days that I walk for longer than an hour (i.e., enough exercise to
exhaust the glycogen in my system - 30 minutes isn't enough for that),
the scale will read higher that night and also the next morning. I am
assuming this is the glycogen storage effect. One pound of glycogen
requires four pounds of water. But that's no excuse to not exercise,
because a few days later, provided I am consistent with the exercise,
the scale will jump down to new, lower levels. IOW, it doesn't go
neatly down 0.2 lbs per day - instead, it jumps down from one plateau
to the next. Therefore the way I look at it is that the glycogen
storage is a *good* thing, because it prepares my body to do more
exercise the next day, and as a result, burn more fat. And that's what
we're trying to lose, isn't it? Fat - not water.

If your fancy scale gives out numbers other than weight, track those
functions too. For example, my Tanita gives out body fat % and also %
of water weight. This is very useful info to know.

In the manual that came with my Tanita, it recommends that you weigh
yourself in the late afternoon - before dinner - instead of in the
morning. This apparently is supposed to more accurately reflect your
true weight. I am finding that I weigh *less* in the late afternoon
than in the morning.

For example here's what the scale read for me over the last 24 hours:

- 118.0 in the morning
- 117.4 in the late afternoon
- 120 before bed (dinner was 1 cup of baked ziti, a cup of cauliflower
soup, and a glass of white wine... total 500 calories).
- 117.0 this morning

In this case, I didn't exercise yesterday or over the weekend
(unforutnately, it was way too cold and icy to venture out). Had I
been able to keep up with my routine, i might not be seeing 117.0
today; it would probably be more like 117.6, which is right in line
with my current average pace of 0.6- 0.8 lbs per week.

Also it goes without saying, make sure you are weighing yourself under
similar conditions i.e., undressed or wearing just your underwear or
whatever, hair dry not wet, etc. Clothes can weigh a few lbs. Heck, my
glasses even make a 0.2 lb difference!

Finally, the most important thing is to see a general downward trend.
If your weight is always 3-4 lbs higher at night, who cares, provided
that you are seeing a downward trend night after night.

jen

In article .com,
"shinypenny" wrote:

--A lot of good info snipped...

Finally, the most important thing is to see a general downward trend.
If your weight is always 3-4 lbs higher at night, who cares, provided
that you are seeing a downward trend night after night.

jen

Thanks, jen. Great post, and great advice!

Amy

168/117/115

"Oldhobo30001" wrote:

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

This is exactly why it is a horrendously bad idea to weigh more than
once
per day. Everything from sweating on changes the scale reading. And
none of it can possibly be a difference in fat.

The list of valid reasons for weighing more than once per day is very
short.
To see what variation your scale has by stepping on every ten minutes
for
a while. To drive yourself crazy by focusing on the noise in the data
in
order to lose sight of the trend. To track what effect eating a meal
has.

Folks who sucessfully maintain tend to weigh in daily to be able to
catch
regain before it gets large. As long as you are on your plan, you're
in the
losing phases so you're not on maintenance yet so you don't have that
need. How often to weigh depends on your emotional reaction - Weigh
infrequently if you have a strong reaction or if you are stoic about
it day
daily and do a weekly average to give the daily bouncing numbers a
real
meaning. But more often than daily, not usefull.

On Feb 5, 9:52 pm, "Caleb" wrote:
On Feb 5, 6:14 pm, "Oldhobo30001" wrote:

Hi all;

Just started a diet/exercise routine (almost a week ago). I planned on
keeping my calorie intake to around 1900 (I am a 46 year male, 6', 262 lbs)
but so far I have been keeping it to about 1500 calories (thank goodness it
has been bearable) mainly by watching the foods I eat and more importantly
(at least for me) the portions.

My question/issue is that I have been noticing a huge (between 4 lbs and
almost 6 lbs) difference in weight between my evening weight in (before I go
to bed) and my morning weight in right after I get up. I am a lot lighter
in the morning. I initially thought It was my scale (it was very old) so my
wife bought me a new fancy one and I still get the same results. Is this
normal? I did not expect that much differences overnight.

Thanks

Hector

262/258/200

Hector -- If you've camped in a tent, you might have noticed that the
walls of the tent are somewhat wet in the morning as a result of your
expiring moisture in the night. A lot of the temporary weight you lose
at it is the moisture in your breath.

Yours,

Caleb

This is from Wikipedia athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wikipedia:Reference_desk_archive/Miscellaneous/2006_August_19

" The beginning of a fast may very well show a large weight drop
(several pounds), while, if you continue to fast, the weight loss will
slow down. You take in a few pounds of food each day, and expel the
same amount as waste each day. The first day you fast, you will likely
defecate yesterday's food. After that, you will have nothing more to
expel. In other words, you are lighter by the weight of the contents
of your digestive tract, which is now empty. StuRat 18:58, 19 August
2006 (UTC)

" Plus: your body will have got rid of a lot of fluid. For
instance, in the mornig you are a couple pounds lighter that when you
go to bed due to expiration of moisture. A pint of water weighs a
pound and a quarter: so weigh that up!--Light current 19:09, 19 August
2006 (UTC)"


Yes...especially the dehydration, since water is very heavy. I noticed
the same dramatic night vs. morning weight as I was losing my weight.
Honestly, I think part of the water loss is the insomnia and fretting
that happens as you fast. The dehydration also effected the reading on
the reistence testing for body fat that I was doing. I kept getting
readings that were way too low for the body fat that I had at the
time. Later, after I lost weight, I also slowly became hydrated again
and put on a little weight (water weight) while eating exactly the
same amount of food and exercising the same. I do sleep a lot better
now too. When anyone tells me about dramatic weight loss in a short
period of time, I always think dehydration first. dkw