Best time to weigh?

[moonstarsuns]

So I’m on a diet.. yesterday at boots weighing scales in store I was 10 stone 8. Today I got digital scales in Tesco which this evening , 2 hours after eating and no snacks or drinks, showed 10 stone 9 but half an hour later it showed 10 stone 10. How can half an hour make a difference when I haven’t done anything? I’m so confused

It has taken me a while to work out that my digital scales, although not ones with an actual memory function, do in fact have some level of internal memory - as do a lot of similar ones. This is to avoid them fluctuating by 300 or 400g all the time, depending on how you're standing, the surface, etc. So it remembers the previous weights, and if the next time isn't significantly different, it just shows the same as before! I've learned to get around it by holding some heavy things (like shampoo bottles) and weighing myself again to reset it, and then putting them down and getting the new weight for the day. Obviously that's not exactly the same as what's happening to you, OP, but it shows that scales - even digital scales that apparently weigh to the nearest 0.1kg - don't actually necessarily show the true weight all the time. So some of your lower weight ones might really have been higher, and vice versa. It only changes if there's a certain level of difference, and/or possibly a certain amount of time passing. Perhaps try holding some heavy things first and see if it changes anything! I was disappointed in the way it worked, as I had hoped to see small changes in my weight more often, as I thought it would give me motivation, and it's frustrating to know that I could drink a half a litre of water, or go to the loo, or get dressed, or run 5k or whatever, and not have it change the scale up or down, when I knew that it absolutely must have changed my weight!

Def weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've eaten or drunk anything.
Also sometimes scales arent 100% accurate so I usually hop on 3 times to check I get the same reading.

Ok who wants to work out my calories for me cos im curious but lazy

2 Weetavic with semi skimmed milk
2 hard boiled eggs with 6 cherry tomatoes
1 chicken breast with 4 pieces of medium sized broccoli chunks
1 pink lady apple
daily treat - 1 can of Appletiser

Chat gpt says Estimated Total: ~855 kcal

whoops, forgot to quote;

Chat gpt says Estimated Total: ~855 kcal

Thank u 🙏

Quick question - jumped on the scales 3 days in a row and it’s giving me the same reading, does this mean it’s gonna stay now and I won’t lose any more weight?

No. 3 days isn't long enough to see an impact. A healthy rate of weight loss is about 1-1.5lb a week and with all of the other things which can cause your daily weight to fluctuate, three days of the same weight in a row means very little.

I know you weren't asking this but I'd encourage you to eat more fruits and vegetables. That's only 3 of the 5 a day of non starchy fruits and vegetables which is a minimum you should be aiming for. Also it will not only help your health but weight loss.

I think you are overly fixating on 1-2Ilbs. Try to chillax and maybe weigh weekly.

Are you sure you didn’t write that backwards? I’m always LESS in the morning than the evening.

@keepswimming38me and chillax don’t get along lol. Story of my life in many areas

@Lemonthymewhst do u mean by “means very little”, please elaborate

What she means @moonstarsuns is that you really won't/can't expect to see weight loss every day. And three days isn't much time. You really do need to learn to 'chillax'!

... and also, I think, to read up a bit more about nutrition and food values. You can't expect everyone to always work out your calories for you

If you’re wanting to keep an eye on your calories then I’d recommend using a calorie counting app.

If you remember to put what you’re eating into one of those it’ll work your calories out for you, and it’ll probably be easier than posting your food on here every time you want to know.

You really need to work out your daily calorie needs then you know how much you can eat.

there is loads of info on line re how to do this, what to eat, nutrition guides etc.

i would weight daily and log it in something like the app happy scale. You can then see the tend over time. Weight often spikes for no obvious reason. That doesn’t mean it’s body fat tho. Again, loads of info on line about why this might be.
Good luck.

I’ve always wondered who uses the scales in Boots!

I weigh the same day, once a week, first thing in the morning, no clothes. There is so much that can contribute to readings, the big one being where you are in your cycle, I never weigh the week of my period, it’s pointless (water retention). Also even things like having had a carb heavy meal the night before.

There’s no point obsessing over a few days, you need to do over weeks, if the trend is downwards, you’re going down, even if some weeks are outliers.

I weigh just after I have got up every day and find that sometimes my weight goes up and sometimes down. You can’t take much notice in the fluctuation over 24 hours, let alone anything significantly less than that. Our bodies are dynamic systems and in constant flux. Today I might be better hydrated than yesterday and maybe yesterday I ate more fibre, so have more in my bowels…. So today I might weigh more. I only care about the overall trend.

Thank you. Madness to expect such high accuracy with supermarket scales.

Insignificant - 72 hours is not enough to track progress so weigh in weekly as that data will mean more. That’s how I interpreted it anyway

This doesn’t work for me I have to weigh myself first thing before eating / drinking etc as I can’t go to the toilet till an hour after breakfast 😂😂

Op, my scales told me I gained 1.25lbs in one day.

I didn't. It's just the normal fluctuations on weight. I've just taken a screen shot from the app I use to log daily weights. You can see that a few weeks back when I started the current weight loss programme I'm on, I started to steadily lose weight. Draw a trend line and that trend is definitely going down, right?

But also look at the individual points. There are days I'm lighter and days I'm heavier for 101 reasons other than how much fat is on my body. It's the trend that matters.

Early morning naked

🤣🤣

Still worth trying to squeeze out a fart if you can. Every little helps

Your weight can easily go up by a full pound or even more within half an hour, even when you haven’t eaten, drunk, or done anything at all. Digital scales are very sensitive, and tiny differences in how you stand, the surface underneath, or your body’s natural fluid movements can make the number change quickly. The reading at Tesco being higher than at Boots is also normal because different scales are rarely calibrated exactly the same. Half an hour later it showing 10 stone 10 instead of 10 stone 9 is nothing unusual and does not mean you gained any real weight. For the most reliable results, always weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after the toilet, on the same scales, on a hard flat floor, and wearing the same clothes (or none). This daily up-and-down in stone is completely normal and not something to worry about.