Having a bath and gaining?
 

Last night I had a bath. Before the bath I weighed 180.5. After I weighed 182.1. My hair was dried etc. Anyone else experience this?

Did you eat or drink anything in between?.. Probably normal fluctuations, I wouldn't worry about it because all of our bodies are weird like that, lol.

I caution you against looking too much into scale situations that cannot logically make you gain fat.

Bathing, working out, drinking extra water, high sodium day, intestinal issues, weight of actual food, hormonal swings, etc....these are not truly making you gain weight. They may temporarily fluctuate the scale, but it is not fat. You will gain fat by expending less calories in a day than you consume.

If you are eating within a calorie deficit range, you will lose weight. I have lost over 60 pounds and not even once was I surprised by the number on the scale, despite fluctuations. I know I eat right. I exercise. I am honest with myself, so small jumps on the scale don't affect me. Try not to obsess!

Weighing once a week keeps you from freaking out over normal fluctuations.

It's the heat that did it. Some people actually gain after a workout where as some lose, not to be too graphic but some people actually gain weight after using the bathroom. If you were to weigh again after your temperature goes back to normal, you would be at your actual weight again.

I used to believe the nonsense that weighing more than once a week was obsessive or a sign of "unresolved issues."

Now, I know better. The scale is just a tool, and your use of it depends on the information you're seeking and how you're using it. If you're using the scale to to stress and worry, then you're misusing the tool. If you're using it to understand weight fluctuations, there's nothing wrong with that.



A few years ago, I decided I wanted to understand the fluctuations on the scale, so I experimented with weighing myself in various situations and recording (or at least observing) the results. Before and after dressing, undressing, bathing, eating, going to the bathroom...

I wasn't judging myself or getting upset over the results, I just wanted to understand why the scale fluctuated so much even when I was eating virtually the same diet every day. I knew about TOM/PMS weight gain, but I didn't understand all the possible sources of fluctuation.

Now I weigh myself twice daily, occasionally three or four times. And yet, it's not as obsessive as when I was weighing once a week, because I think and worry about the scale far less often. I weigh in the morning and record that weight. The only reason I weigh at bedtime is so that I can see a loss the next morning (even though it's not a real loss, it gives me a little emotional boost to see the drop. It's silly, but it's comforting).

Then if I eat something off plan, I might weigh immediately to prove to myself that one bite cannot logically cause any more weight gain than I happen to see on the scale immediately after eating it (because the laws of physics still apply - I can't gain more from a food than the weight of it, unless I continute to overeat). Getting on the scale gives me the "starting fresh" point. When weighing only weekly, if I ate off-plan I would be convinced that I had blown it and might as well keep eating at least until tomorrow morning (or if it's Wednesday or later, Monday morning).

I remind myself that there is no starting over, just moving on, but stepping on the scale helps me move on without obsessing all week as to whether the slip was going to show on the scale.


Heat can cause you to retain water, only if you're drinking water or eating before getting on the scale again. If you gain a significant amount of weight, yet have not consumed food or beverages and haven't been sumerged in water - it's time to get a new scale.

You gained weight for the same reason your fingersand toes prune in water (look it up). The outermost layer of the skin swells when it absorbs water.

It's temporary, and will disipate after a few hours.