Why does my weight fluctuate during the day?

If all you did was drink tea, it shouldn’t be more than what the tea weighs. That’s interesting.

I usually lose two pounds overnight, so logically I’m gaining two pounds during the day, but I never tested just drinking a beverage and weighing again right after in the morning.

You can gain a pound or two from one day to the next just from salt intake, and your body holding onto more water. That still doesn’t explain what you are talking about though.

I’m going to test it also.

From one day to the next weighing at the same time.

Edit: maybe a minor amount of moisture is from humidity in the air? I don’t think so though. The humidity didn’t change in your house from one hour to the next.

Do you weigh yourself after showering and later when clothed? That’s all I can think of.

You are not the only one. I can do the same. Anywhere from 1 pound to 2 pounds. And for tose wondering, I have even gone as far to just weigh myself to 3 hours after waking up and I would not drink or eat anything and the scale can go up a pound or two. Wearing the exact same pjs.
At first I thought maybe my muscles relax at night and as I walk around they tighten up. Then it should also work after a nap, but it didn’t. And I have had more than one scale over my life and it does it every time. I still think it must have something to do with muscles but I’m not sure. I know something smaller and denser can seem to weigh more but it’s not like you grow muscles awake or you overflow the scale in the morning. It’s also not like I actually pee a pound of pee in the morning either. But then again I don’t get how tiny little calories can make you actually put on weight.
Taking 12.5 tablespoons of sugar can equal 2000 calories. The weight of that sugar is .11 grams yet I bet if I did that I would probably put on at least a pound.
Another idea is maybe gravity pull from the moon, but I looked that up and its like a millionth of your weight., so really not enough to make a difference. Its just weird.

I weigh myself first thing in the morning in my pajamas. Then I go about my morning drinking tea, meditating, etc. Then I weigh myself again, and I invariably weigh 1 or 2 pounds heavier. Then I shower, etc. It’s completely bizarre. If I weigh myself later, I will again weigh 1 or 2 pounds heavier still (allowing for clothes). The next morning, I’m back down to a similar weight that I was the previous morning.

@SnipSnip Your answers are consistently unhelpful.

@JLeslie Thanks.

@flutherother I make allowances for clothes.

@Pandora it’s very weird. Thank you for validating my experience.

@Hawaii_Jake

“Then I go about my morning drinking tea, meditating, etc. Then I weigh myself again, and I invariably weigh 1 or 2 pounds heavier.”

1 pint of most potable liquids weighs about a pound, so that could at least be part of cause.

Try weighing a hard, solid object (a barbell plate if you have any) or an unopened container of liquid at the same times, to see if there’s any fluctuation in their weights.

My guess is the effect of gravity changes from the moon and the sun over a day. Being at Hawaii next to the equator might enhance gravity.

It’s actually much more simple, in my opinion.
Food is fuel.
Your body uses this fuel as energy to work (to move, think, operate).
Some goes in, some gets used.
More goes in, less gets used.
Little goes in, excessive amounts gets used.
Fluctuation.

You constantly burn calories by living and breathing. The carbon you take in as fat, carbohydrates, and proteins is continuously being expelled as you breathe. Water is taken in with food and drink and is expelled through your skin and your bladder.
A 16 ounce drink is a pound. That is easily measurable if you stand on an accurate scale. A full bladder is will hold about the same. You might get it to 24 ounces if you try.

I would test the scale with a known solid weight. I would also see if the scale is located near a heating or cooling vent that turns on tin the morning. Temperature can have an effect on the scale.

Water is very heavy.

Try waiting a couple hours and weigh yourself again before consuming anything. You’ll you weigh the same. Water is indeed heavy and I’ll also wager you have a digital scale. Most of them only register in 0.2–0.5 increments so just a little weight can push it over the line. an 8oz cup of coffee is about a half pound so if you start your morning with three 10–12oz cups of coffee like me 2 pounds on the scale is not surprising.

@Hawaii_Jake It is normal for your weight to fluctuate during the day. It is recommended you weigh yourself once a day at approximately the same time of day. Such as first thing in the morning. Period.

When you get up in the morning, you tend to empty your bladder. I can easily lose a pound or 2 first thing in the morning. Then as your day progresses, your body replaces those bodily fluids so you gain that 1–2 pounds back. I wouldn’t worry unless you’re actually gaining 1–2 pounds per day as it should balance itself out by the next morning, The human body is an amazing thing

Here are some good, rule of thumb numbers for you.
If you are sedentary you will burn about 150 calories per hour while you are awake.
If you eat nothing, just breathing, in 2 hours you will burn about 300 calories or 31 grams of fat. You will also exhale about 30 grams of water vapor. If you had an accurate enough scale, (I do, by the way. It is another Mettler) you will weigh about 4 ounces less after 2 hours. If you are well hydrated, your bladder will fill about 100–150 ml during that time so you will lose an additional 4 ounces when you decide to pee. Don’t believe me? Pee into a cup and weigh it. You will see I am pretty close. Let us know the results.

I needed numbers like this for a project I had a couple of years ago that involved a rebreather and someone burning many more calories per hour than a sedentary person like you or me.
We truly are thermodynamic machines.

^fascinating

@LuckyGuy So, why would his weight go up so much from a cup of tea? How many ounces is your tea @Hawaii_Jake? I was a assuming a mug around 8 oz. Are you drinking a large iced tea?

^An ordinary mug of hot tea.

All the above, plus, how you carry yourself. When we are tired, we weigh a bit more than when we are alert, and in motion.

I’m testing it. My scale is only to the .5, but so far I weighed myself, then I drank about 8 oz of tea.

I’ll check it again in 50 minutes. I’m just lying here watching TV, not doing any exercise or anything that might affect things.

An hour later no change, so the liquid weighed less than a pound for sure (that makes sense since 8 oz of water).

@JLeslie 8 oz. of tea is 0.5 pounds. Maybe your scale will see it, or maybe not.

The average, well hydrated adult will produce urine at the rate of 1 ml / hour / per kg of body weight.
Example:
A 70 kg person will produce 70ml per hour. (Of course this varies for all sorts of reasons but it is a great starting point. 0.5 pounds, 8 oz, is 227 grams or 227 ml. so figure 3 hours to reach 0.5 pounds of pee.
Use your own numbers.

If you are interested it is easy to find the chemistry involved. I just did a quick search and found this article: Majority of weight loss occurs via breathing. (I didn’t check the numbers but they seemed about right.)
.

@LuckyGuy Yeah, on my scale it won’t always detect the ½ pound, because I think it depends where I was to begin with, meaning the scale is rounding so I’m somewhere between the numbers.

The scale seems to be pretty good though, I’ve had it a long time. Two pounds would definitely show up.

I was in a comfortable environment so not losing much by sweating or anything like that.

So @Hawaii_Jake
Did you check the numbers on your scale? Of course there’s no need since the laws of physics are hard to beat.
Rounding and making assumptions you should see: 4 ounces per hour, loss.
2 ounces of pee, and 2 ounces of fat/carbs from your chemical reactor.
(Obviously you should ignore the pee loss if you don’t go.)

As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans sang: “Happy Scales To You!”

@LuckyGuy I’ve kind of not been paying attention to it. You gave great information. Thank you.