Hello everyone! Got a question.....How do you know what your REAL weight is when you get on the scale? I weigh first thing in the am after I go to the bathroom, then log it. Been trying to lose 5 pounds and it isn't going too well, very slow to be expected since it is the last 5. I drink a lot of water and been eating a very low to no carb diet and working out 3-4 times a week. Past couple days it was 115.3 (I am 5'1 and pear-shaped hoping to get down to 110). Then I get on the scale this am and it reads 117.4. What gives?

This could be the reason: Went to Costco last night and ate a hot dog minus bread, had some diet soda and one sample. Okay, I caved. LOL There isn't 3500 calories total in what I ate all day yesterday with my bfast, lunch and what I ate for dinner so why in the world did the scale go UP? Water weight? I just want to know when this happens, what really is your true weight to go by on the scale? I do know our bodies fluctuate all the time but just a little discouraging. Life goes on.

Your thoughts.

sounds like water retention. I only weigh once every day as soon as i get up and gone to the bathroom. Its sometimes the same or higher than the previous day but the overall trend line is downwards.

You don't really have a true weight; you have a true weight range. From a low when you are on the dehydrated side (usually first thing in the AM), not retaining any water (both from food and hormones: think ovulation and PMS), depleted glycogen and less food in the pipeline, to the opposite state.

The scale can easily vary by several pounds without any change in the amount of fat & muscle in your body. What matters is the trend on the scale and outliers will happen.

It's always more gratifying to see an outlier on the low side than the high side, and if you keep seeing higher and higher outliers, you should suspect you are actually gaining weight. But a salty hot dog and other snacks could easily cause some water retention. Throw in a few other variables and it's easy to explain your higher number. You should see it go back down over the next day or two.

Hot dog was probably high sodium, so that might've been part of it. Keep in mind that with a low carb diet people can end up eating a lot more meat and processed kinds like deli meats, sausages, hot dogs, etc. will all have fairly high levels of sodium. Also, how long have you been working out and what kinds of workouts are you doing? If you're lifting weights/your muscles are sore you're likely retaining some fluid there as well.

Sometimes when you're only losing the last 5 or 10lbs fluctuations can make a big difference. Weigh in once a week at the same time each day (the scale can fluctuate dramatically from day to day) and give yourself a good 3-4 weeks before you start making changes to your program.

Those Costco hotdogs are LOADED with salt(!) to the point where I can't even eat a whole one anymore without upsetting my stomach. I would say you have some water retention happening now.

If one day the scale randomly goes up, I just wait it out another day to make sure. Maybe the next day you'd be 114.5 - happened to me many times. You also can't kick yourself everytime you gain a little :) And true what the others said, sodium makes you retain water. Tbh, watching my sodium intake rather than my calorie intake helped me lose weight better.