Endocrinologist Kathleen Wyne, MD, says that a five-pound weight shift is typical for most people day-to-day but that the number on the scale can change by as much as 20 pounds depending on your body size.
It's normal for your weight to go up and down a little each day. Water retention, hormones, medications, what you eat, and how active you are can all contribute to weight fluctuation. You might notice these changes throughout the day or during certain times, such as menstruation or on weekends or holidays.
A lot of people wonder why they weigh more at night. The reason is because you carry more water weight at night. When you're awake, your body's sympathetic nervous system is active and releases adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones cause your muscles to contract, which uses up water and increases your weight.
It is normal for your weight to fluctuate throughout the day, most notably from morning to night. Going up or down between 2-5 pounds is standard for most people, but everyone's normal weight fluctuations can differ. Your body may fluctuate on a broader scale than what's considered typical.
Every day, our body weight fluctuates. In fact, it can go up or down by as much as five or six pounds in a single day depending on a variety of factors, including what we ate, how much we moved, our stress levels and more.
Hormones are just one reason people might gain water weight. Your dietary choices also impact your weight. Remember, all food has weight, so you're going to weigh more after eating than before, but some foods can carry over long after the meal and cause temporary increases in your weight.
"Your weight can fluctuate by a few pounds every day," says Lisa Valente, M.S., RD. "The number on the scale depends on lots of factors, including how hydrated you are, what you ate and when you last pooped."
Water retention may clear without treatment in a few days. However, if there is a health problem causing you to hold onto fluid, your swelling may worsen over time. You may find that the body parts retaining water become tight, swollen, and painful. If untreated, heart or kidney problems may get much worse.
Putting on five pounds in a week, or two to three pounds in 24 hours, is a good reason to talk to your doctor if nothing's changed in your day-to-day. “If you can't get to the bottom of unexplained weight gain, talk to your doctor to make sure there's nothing serious going on,” Dr.
Our weight also tends to be lower first thing in the morning after our food intake has been restricted overnight and higher in the evening after our daily intake of food and drinks.
Water weight loss
This water intake will be reflected on the scales. The two main ways in which your body loses water are through sweating and urinating. During the day, you replace the water that you lose by drinking more. Overnight, you are less likely to replace the water you lose through sweating and urinating.
“Per unit volume, muscle weighs more than fat, so shedding fat and gaining muscle may not immediately change the scale but will result in changes in shape, tone, and measurements,” says McGowan. In other words, you may look leaner as you build muscle and lose fat, but you may actually start to weigh more.
Even for people within a healthy weight range, the average fluctuation is a window of about 5 to 6 pounds per day (2 to 3 lbs in either direction). For those who aren't accustomed to the normal ups and downs of their weight, this number might sound discouraging. But everyone is different.
So even though you may be losing fat, you're gaining muscle. You might feel slimmer, even as the number on the scale rises. “The scale doesn't tell the entire story,” said exercise physiologist Christopher Mohr, PhD, RD. “Since muscle and fat take up different volume, they look very different on the body.”
Daily weighing is emerging as the recommended self-weighing frequency for weight loss. This is likely because it improves adoption of weight control behaviors.
Drink plenty of water. It may sound contradictory, but a well-hydrated body is less likely to retain fluid. Cut back on dehydrating drinks such as tea, coffee and alcohol. Cranberry juice has a mild diuretic action.
"We can weigh 5, 6, 7 pounds more at night than we do first thing in the morning," Hunnes says. Part of that is thanks to all the salt we consume throughout the day; the other part is that we may not have fully digested (and excreted) everything we at and drank that day yet.
Many women notice an increase in belly fat as they get older even if they don't gain weight. This is likely due to a lower level of estrogen because estrogen seems to have an effect on where fat is located in the body. Genes can contribute to an individual's chances of being overweight or obese too.
The Best Time to Weigh Yourself
The thing that's most important when it comes to weighing yourself, either weekly or daily, is at what time. Most researchers agree that it's best to weigh yourself first thing in the morning.
Water weight is not usually a cause for concern, but it can be uncomfortable and recurring. Reducing salt and carbohydrate intake, keeping hydrated, and frequently exercising are all good ways to lose water weight and prevent it from returning.