Your weight can vary up to five pounds throughout the day due to water retention or loss. Remember that each pound of fat or muscle gained or lost means a difference of 3500 calories of intake or exercise.
Tracking Weight
Weigh yourself weekly at the same time of day in the same clothing to get the most accurate weight. Weighing yourself later in the day will produce a higher reading.
Eating and drinking
Weighing yourself after eating a meal or drinking a large amount will give you a falsely high measurement. Weighing yourself after you sweat a lot, such as after working out, will give you a falsely low reading.
Sodium intake
The large amount of sodium in a fast food or pizza meal leads to water retention and a falsely high weight.
Carbohydrates
A meal high in simple carbohydrates will also cause you to hold water and temporarily raise weight. Similarly, high protein and low carbohydrate diets give a false impression of weight loss when the body is simply losing carbohydrate and water weight.
Hormones
Water retention, and therefore weight, fluctuates with a woman's menstrual cycle.
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