What I Learned by Weighing Myself 15 Times in a Day
Libra is fickle: we lose weight when we pee or when we work out sweaty. We gain weight when we eat, drink, or wear a sweater. But how much does such fluctuation really affect the numbers we see? I weighed myself fifteen times in a day to find out.
140.3 pounds at 9:16 am : I step on the scale for the first time. I just woke up. I’m wearing light pajamas.
£ 138.9 at 9:19: After using the toilet. Apparently, my bladder can hold at least 1.4 pounds of urine. Well, this is new that I have learned.
£ 141.6 at 9:23 am : fully clothed, in jeans and shoes. This is how I weigh myself for the rest of the day, because I do not undress every time I want to step on the scale.
143.2 lbs at 9:24 am : Oops, forgot my sweatshirt. This is 4.3 pounds of clothing in total.
145.4 pounds at 10:35 am : After breakfast, which apparently weighed 2.2 pounds, drinks included.
144.4 lbs at 11:45 am : After pooping. It’s a pound of poop.
£ 147.0 at 2:23 pm : After a late lunch / early dinner. Full bladder.
145.8 pounds at 2:28 pm: urinated again, 1.2 pounds.
£ 145.1 at 5:58 pm: Didn’t do anything special in the last few hours. Lost over half a pound!
144.3 lbs at 6:57 pm : Same. Another half pound was gone. Losing weight is easy!
142.4 lbs at 7:04 pm : in sportswear and hoodie. I returned to my weight before breakfast. Now it’s time for the Nike Training Club (which they call Lunging Rise).
142.3 lbs at 7:45 pm : After a 30 minute workout. I drank most of a pint of water (a pint weighs a pound) and apparently sweated the same amount.
140.1 lbs at 20:15 : Naked, after shower, hair damp. This is the least I will weigh in the whole evening.
142.9 pounds at 11:07 pm : last weigh-in in normal clothes.
142.4 pounds at 11:09 pm : In my pajamas. We usually lose a few pounds during sleep. The next morning, I dropped to 139.3, within a pound of my original weigh-in.
I think of myself as 140 pounds, but my maximum was 147. My lowest was 138.9. Note that most of the daily weights included about four pounds of clothing – so this is not my “true” weight, but this is what I would see if I stepped on the scale during the day. I know you’ve seen these scales in the gym, or maybe you have these scales in the bathroom that make fun of you when you sit on the toilet and look at them.
I knew I would see fluctuations, but I was surprised how great they were. We are often told to weigh ourselves first in the morning, after going to the bathroom, but before breakfast. This corresponds to my lowest weight in the experiment, and it makes sense that it will also be the most consistent. Even that number will change from day to day, of course, depending on things like how hydrated you are.