I get that a lot of factors lead to weight fluctuation on a day to day basis: sodium intake, water retention, etc. but sometimes it’s seems excessive. For example, on friday I weighed 174. On Thursday, after having a turkey sandwhich from subway the day before(I rarely eat out during the week) I weighed 177. Yesterday after having a decent amount of beer the night before, I was 176. This morning after maybe 3 beers and a couple of tacos, I’m 180. It’s notable as well that my waist is almost a half inch bigger today than it was a couple of days ago. I weigh myself at the same time everyday. So my question is, what’s accurate?
What you weigh is what you weigh. When people ask me what I weigh now as opposed to before I started doing this is I give a range now. I can be between a 7 lbs or so range depending on what I ate, workout, sleep, ect.
But it just comes down to as long as the scale is accurate what it says is what you weigh at the moment.
Personally, I don’t really care what I weigh. I care about body composition. I check my body fat % / weight once a week on Saturday AM. That’s my baseline check. It also varies throughout the week, but the Saturday AM check is “my number”.
My weight is what it is…
Brad
I reckon with me there’s a 3 week delay to changing my weight, I can loose water quick, I can loose a few pounds by crash dieting a week but to actually change the core of my body mass takes a few weeks. The addition of a turkey sandwich to my stomach wouldn’t cause any change other than a massive shock to the system as I’m a vegetarian!
Why do you care? Are you are interesting in getting down to a specific target for a race or just want to not gain too much in the off season? Day to day doesn’t matter.
As for me. I keep track of my long term trends by weighing myself first thing in the morning. I note the weight every day, but I only record my weight on Monday’s and I only record my weight if I am actively trying to lose. Right now I am trying to drop 5 pounds by the end of January. I figure I would have an easier time if I wasn’t trying to lose over the holidays, but that’s when the race is. 5 pounds in 10 weeks shouldn’t be that hard, but with the holidays it might end up becoming 5 pounds in 4 weeks, which it too much for me.
I’d prefer to use that method as well. What do you use to take your bf %?
I’m trying to lose 12 lbs by the end of the year. Definitely not the best timing with the holidays and all. I also weigh everyday but only count Friday. Frustration comes from watching the weight steadily decrease over the course of the week only to inexplicably go back the previous week’s weight on the day I count.
I agree with the 3 week delay. Anything short term is crash dieting and water loss. If you pay too much attention, it can be very bad. Your weight my be down a pound or two after a few days and you think you can relax a bit. But you probably only lost water weight and by relaxing you can end up worse than you started. A pound a week is my limit and to do that I can never go off the diet. After a month or two, my metabolism shifts and things get easier (or at least the cravings get smaller). I figure it is similar to quitting smoking.
Weigh yourself under the exact same conditions each time and you will see less fluctuation. I wake up, urinate, get buck naked and weigh myself. Doing that, I rarely see a daily variation of more than a pound. Occassionly an odd number shows up, but within the next day or two, it works itself out. I am sure there is a reason, but I always seem to weigh more the day after a big time IM duration workout.
your weight will always fluctuate
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Body weight is contributed to by the following dynamic variables:
- fluid balance (your beers were a diuretic and amateur athletes are prone to not rehydrating adequately after long sessions. THis can be apparent the following morning)
- glycogen stores (a long session with inadequate carb during or after will leave your stores depleted. they can weigh up to 1kg in some people and bind 2-3x that in water)
- contents of small and large intestine, and bladder. ( higher starch meals will leave more fibre in the gut which attracts more water from the body).
A dodgy set of scales won’t help. If you step on and off your scales 5 times, and get anymore than the same reading +/- 0.1 kg, then they aren’t as good a quality as they could be.
Best to weigh yourself at the same time on arising after emptying bladder, and bowels if necessary. The kidneys can fill the bladder at 90mls per hour, so weighing yourself one hour later can result in 0.1 kg or 0.2 lb variation.
This morning after maybe 3 beers and a couple of tacos, I’m 180.
Breakfast of MFing champions!
I use a regular scale that gives body fat. I know they aren’t the most accurate method, but I just use it for a baseline. I don’t really care if it told me I was 5% BF or 50% BF. I just use it to monitor the trend.
Brad
I use a regular scale that gives body fat. I know they aren’t the most accurate method, but I just use it for a baseline. I don’t really care if it told me I was 5% BF or 50% BF. I just use it to monitor the trend
Are you from ST at all? You need to say “I don’t really care if it told me I were 5% body fat or 7% body fat. I just monitor the trend.”
Weight yourself every day, first thing in the morning, and compute the arithmetic mean.
You could find a mode or median if you wanted, too.
TC, is that the “Math Nerd” way to track your weight? 
Brad
Maybe just throw away the scale and use your mirror instead.
I get weighed at the doctor and at races that weigh you prior to start. That’s it.
Are you from ST at all? You need to say “I don’t really care if it told me I were 5% body fat or 7% body fat. I just monitor the trend.”
Sorry, it was a typo, it should have read "I don’t care if it told me 5% or 5%, I just monitor the trend…
Brad
TC, is that the “Math Nerd” way to track your weight? ]
Triathlete nerd thing, duh, along with a graph of resting HR and Garmin data and power files. Get with it!
Ha! I know that you’d take this stuff to another level… That’s how you roll.
I know how much I weigh, that fact that I need to run, ride and swim a few times a week and that’s pretty much it.
Brad