Why I Weighed Myself 23 Times in Three Days

We've all seen a post on social media celebrating the loss of a single kilogram in a couple of days. That kind of intense measurement of your weight is not only unhealthy, it's stupid. To prove my point, I weighed myself 23 times in three days.

Over the course of three days, my weight varied by more than 3 kg and fluctuated by an average of 2.5 kg every day. That might feel like a lot, but weight fluctuation is completely natural. Looking at the graph, my weight is generally lower when I first wake up (70-71 kg), and highest after lunch and dinner (72-73 kg). By far the biggest contributing factor is the food and drink we consume and the lovely stuff we produce when we go to the toilet.

Famously mass is neither created nor destroyed (putting my Chemical Engineer hat on here). So when you chomp down on your full English breakfast and down three mugs of tea - where else is that weight going but into you? You are literally walking around carrying those sausages and hash browns in your stomach, of course you're going to be heavier!

Fancy carrying this around with you?

A whole host of other things also contribute to weight fluctuation. Any form of exercise that burns calories will affect your weight. The type of food and drink you consume also has an impact; things that are rich in carbohydrates or salt cause your body to temporarily retain more water. This causes an increase in weight until the bloat passes. Girls will also experience some weight fluctuation due to their period. Your menstrual cycle can cause your body to increase water retention at certain times of the month. Generally, your base weight tends to be slightly higher on the first day of your period and should return to average after a few days.

Your weight naturally fluctuates by an average of 2.4 kg per day.

Now I'm not saying that this makes weight tracking completely pointless. Measured properly and at the right intervals, it can be a good indicator of whether your diet and lifestyle are right for you. Here's a few simple tips to help keep better track of your weight:

1. Weigh yourself at the same time of day, ideally in the morning before eating or drinking. Girls, also try to weigh yourself at the same time of every month ⏰

2. Take your clothes off! They weigh something too 👚

3. Stop giving a shit about the decimal place. If your weight varies by a couple of kilograms every day, don't get hung up on slight variations 🧮

4. Stop tracking your weight if it's having an impact on your mental health. Your brain is far more important 🧠

At nuumi, we believe there's nothing more important than your mental well-being. We think fitness and physical health play a vital role in maintaining it, but that they should never come at the expense of your mental health.

We're currently in the process of adding weight tracking (along with other exciting stats!) to nuumi, and are designing this feature to encourage healthy attitudes towards weight. For those who find thinking about weight affects their mental health, we've built a 'well-being' setting to hide all body-weight content from the app. For those who do want to track their weight, you can get push notifications (no more regularly than weekly) that come at the same time of day to help you measure it accurately.

The social feed on nuumi - a powerful motivator.

For far too long, toxic gym culture and unhealthy attitudes towards weight have made fitness content on social media damaging to many people's mental health. We believe that the right kind of content can have the opposite effect.

That's why we built nuumi, a social fitness app for you to track and share your workouts, runs, hikes, cycles and swims with your friends. Seeing positive fitness content provides healthy motivation to exercise, whilst likes and comments on posts make us feel good about ourselves and encourage us to go again. If you want to know more, check out our blog post about the motivating power of sharing your fitness goals and progress.