How many pounds heavier are you at the end of the day?
 

I've been doing low carb, trying to stay under 20 carbs for about 4 months now. I've had 3 cheat days - or events I should say - a few days at Christmas was an event, the others were just days. I am down to 272 from 328 in just 4 months. Today I've had a lot of water and gatorade zero, eggs and country ham for breakfast, some sugar free pecans for snack and a salad, burger patty with onions and mushrooms and a side of green beans for supper. Overall a pretty low carb day. Weighing myself tonight I am about 6 pounds heavier than when I started the day. I really haven't checked to see if the morning and night weight swings were that much but it's hard to believe I'll drop those 6 pounds by morning.

Anyone else experience this type of weight swing from am to pm?

I don't weigh at night because of the huge increase. Too depressing. Water weight easily adds pounds, especially ham as it often contains loads of salt and a bit of sugar.

Hi Mike. Yep, your weight is way too dependent on what you ate/drank that day, plus even the humidity: we lose varying amounts of water through our skin and lungs, too. Most people, self included, only weigh first thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom - it's the most accurate/consistent. :thup:

I'm sure it is going to vary from person to person and depend on a lot of things, so keep that in mind.

For me, I find that I lose about a quarter pound an hour if I'm doing nothing - such as sleeping or watching TV or working on the computer. This is for when nothing obvious is going in or coming out of my body, so the dominate processes are breathing (you are breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, so carbon is leaving your body with every breath) and water, both through perspiration and exhalation. I have found that this is pretty constant regardless of my weight.

Now, that just accounts for a baseline. If you eat or drink a bunch of stuff not too long before you go to bed, that will still be with you unless you go to the bathroom in the morning before you weight yourself. If you've taken something that causes you to retain water or if you started the day dehydrated, then your body will hold onto water which can add up very quickly -- and the heavier you are the quicker it will add up because these things generally go as a proportion of your weight.

Depending on the exact situation, don't be surprised if most or all of that six pounds is gone over the course of the next day.

After a surgery a few years back my kidneys were having a hard time kicking in so I was given a diuretic and lost 13 lb by the next day (a lot of time spent in the bathroom). And although my doctor could tell that I was retaining water, it wasn't obvious to me at all.

On the flip side. I let myself go and got very dehydrated because my sugars were through the roof. I didn't feel bad (though I knew what was going on because of insatiable thirst). My doctor's reaction to my blood work convinced me to take action and in ten days I had gained 35 lb.

So those give an idea of how much of a switch our bodies are capable of in a very short period of time just due to water issues.

For what it's worth, I've experimented and found that my weight can GREATLY fluctuate during the day. There have been occasions where I weighed myself a.m. and p.m before dinner, and was lighter near dinner. Other times I was heavier. I once weighed myself 4 times during the day and it was all over the place. Water fluctuation....we are nearly 60% water. Of course it is continually changing. Don't take these fluctuations seriously or focus on them.

You might be amazed, if you were able to stay home and do a dry fast from when you get up until noon. You may (don't know your personal details) find yourself in the bathroom several times. When I do this, I can drop three pounds in one morning. I actually don't count any weigh-in when I have to leave the house before noon. You should try that on a Saturday, if you can, and just see.