So it's been a month that I've had a scale and been able to track my weight and work out. I've noticed that so far I seem to get my biggest losses over the weekend, and then a slight rise during the week. Here's a recent example:

Mon: 205.8
Tue: 206.0
Wed: 206.4
Thu: 206.2
Fri: 205.6
Sat: 203.4
Sun: 203.4
Mon: 204.6
Tue: 204.0
Wed: 204.2 (today)

I can post a graph which shows big dips over weekends, then rises and plateaus followed by big dips over the weekend.

So I think this is the result of scheduling. There's a lot going on in my life between the gym, school, and work. My days look like this:
Mon: Up @ 4:30, Work from 6:00 - noon, Class noon - 3:00, gym 3:30 - 4:30, bed anywhere from 9:00 - 11:00

Tue: Up @ 4:30, work from 6:00 - 4:00, class from 5:00 - 6:30, gym 7:00 - 7:30, bed anywhere from 9:00 - 11:00

Wed, Thu, and Fri are basically in the same pattern. Except on Fridays I don't get to the gym until around 6:00 PM.

Mon, Wed, Fri I do lifting (pecs/delts/tris, legs, back/biceps)
Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun I do cardio (increasing amounts of HIIT)

Obviously I get up pretty early and stay up pretty late. So I'm sleep deprived. On the weekends though, I get about 5hrs extra sleep (wake up around 9:00) then go to the gym and weigh myself.

Is it that extra 4 - 5 hours without food that's making the big changes, or the fact that my body's getting enough sleep? Believe me, I want to get more sleep, but it's pretty tricky.

Just how critical is sleep to fat loss? I can be a guniea pig and make sure I get 8hrs each day for the next week and see how that goes.

Anybody have similar experience or observations?

Anybody have similar experience or observations?

Funny you should mention this.
I too dont get enough sllep during the week due to my work.
I havent really weighed myself on a weekend day ( I usually do it on a Friday), but i DO notice that EVERY Sunday morning when I get up, I look thinner than the rest of the week.
Perhaps you have hit on something here Daveo.

I was curious about this myself, but I am in a little different boat, I am sleep deprived during the week and on the weekends. I would be very interested in hearing more information about this.

Funny you should mention this.
I too dont get enough sllep during the week due to my work.
I havent really weighed myself on a weekend day ( I usually do it on a Friday), but i DO notice that EVERY Sunday morning when I get up, I look thinner than the rest of the week.
Perhaps you have hit on something here Daveo. Yeah I weigh myself every day. I know I "shouldn't", but I like to have good resolution on my weight graph. All the spikes and valleys are interesting to me. I take an average over a 7 day period and call that my weight. For example, last week my weight averaged out to 204.7, so I'm not saying I weigh 203, even though that was the lowest.

If sleep is really that big a deal I'll do everything in my power to get more. I just want to hear from others who've had similar experiences. I really want to hear from people who've tried the sleep experiment!

I know there have been studies that state that a good night sleep is essential for successful weight loss. I will do some research and post where I read it.
Here is one article (http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/blsleep.htm)

Do you weight yourself at the same time every day? Or when you go to the gym each day? Or when you first wake up? This could have a major impact on your weight. Using what you said, lets say that you weight yourself at 10 every day, well on the weekends you might have had 1 meal and 16 oz of water, where as on a week day you have already been up for 3 and a half hours, so you might be on a second meal and 32 oz of water, just a thought. It could be as simple as you have less in your system on the weekends due to the difference in how much you have had to eat/drink/ and when your workout is. I hope this little ramble got my question/idea across.

I know for myself if I do cardio on an empty sctomach first thing in the morning and weight myself after, I can weight in at as low as 175, but if I weight myself at night after a busy day with a full stomach, I can push 183. That is a 8 pound swing, just because of what I ate/drank and how I trained before I steped on the scale for that day.

Do you weight yourself at the same time every day? Or when you go to the gym each day? Or when you first wake up? This could have a major impact on your weight. Week days: Before 5:30 AM after relieving myself and taking a shower. Wearing boxers and socks (scale's slippery). Nothing consumed except trace amounts of water.

Weekends: In the morning, after doing cardio, relieving myself, taking a shower. Wearing boxers and socks (it's still slippery). Nothing consumed except trace amounts of water.

Oh, both times I'm using my scale which is handled carefully, new, and shouldn't be miscalibrated at any point.

The time on the weekends varies, but let's say ~ 9:00 AM. I always wake up, get changed, and head to the gym immediately for cardio. Three times out of four I weigh less on the weekends (so that would be after cardio) than on the Friday morning before, or at any point during the previous week.

I've considered that the extra time without food means my body has had to consume extra (fat, muscle, who knows) but I don't expect it to be enough to cause such a swing in weight.

Daveo, the difference could be that you have performed your cardio workout before weigh-in on the weekends. I assume you are busting yourself, hence sweating, which can lose you a considerable amount of water. Up to 1kg (2.2lbs) per hour in a hot climate.

Andrew.

Yes, make sure that the weight difference is not the cardio sweat.

I try to measure myself before and after every harder ride (bicycle) just to make sure that I did not dehydrate. Sometimes I can easily see a 1-2 lbs difference.

Armstrong lost 8 lbs on a time trial stage in the 2003 Tour. Although that was way too much, it shows that you can sweat a lot of weight out.

The fact that the weight "comes back" on Monday also suggests that it is probably just water.

Yes, sorry, if you're looking for a good excuse to sleep more, you'll have to keep looking. Wait! I just thought of something! The three key elements to building muscle are: 1) weight training, 2) proper diet, and 3) rest. You need to sleep more to build more muscle! ;)

You weigh yourself after working out? That makes a huge difference! I lose 3-4lbs during my cardio through sweat and moisture in my breath. Don't fool yourself, it's only water weight.

Daveo, the difference could be that you have performed your cardio workout before weigh-in on the weekends. I assume you are busting yourself, hence sweating, which can lose you a considerable amount of water. Up to 1kg (2.2lbs) per hour in a hot climate. I expected some water loss, but not as much as you and others have pointed out (8lbs? mygod!). I was thinking maybe .5lbs, at most. Apparently it can be much more than that.

I'll do a pre and post-cardio weigh-in, just to be safe. That's probably where the difference is, so I'll make sure!

I have noticed i lose more at the weekend too. I tend to get 5-6 hours most week nights and up to 10 at the weekend (and that's my new improved better sleeping, used to be 4-5 and 12-15).

It may just be that extra time with out consiming anything, so you pee out more, take in less then weight yourself, but sleep definatly is important.

Anybody eat less on the weekends?

I find that if I sleep in, I don't need as much energy for the day. I usually just combine breakfast and lunch at about 10:30 instead of breakfast at 8:15 and lunch at 12:00.

I have a real problem when I travel.

It takes about 19 hours to get from here to my Mom's by plane, which I do once or twice a year. They serve you about every 6 hours or so on the plane, plus I eat in the airports on layovers. I end up feeling terrible afterwards (bloated, etc.) but every time they serve the food, I feel hungry.

Whenever my husbands stays awake past midnight, he has to have a snack.

So, I always thought that people who sleep more need to eat less. You burn more walking (and even sitting) than you do sleeping.

ya if you sleep more you're going to be less active, but it's small measures. Thery say the average inactive person burns about 500 cals a day actually doing things? obveously 1 cardio session makes all of that up, so the difference between sleeping and being awake and inactive isn't that much.

At the weekend i tend to condence my meals, but i still try to eat the same, i get up 11am-mid day so have breakfast, then maybe 2-3 i'll have lunch and my mid morning snack together, then just try fit everything else in.

most nights my last meal is around 7-9pm and my shakearound 9-11pm depending on the day, i don't go to bed till 1-3am but don't usually feel hungry at all after my shake.

I expected some water loss, but not as much as you and others have pointed out (8lbs? mygod!). I was thinking maybe .5lbs, at most. Apparently it can be much more than that.

I'll do a pre and post-cardio weigh-in, just to be safe. That's probably where the difference is, so I'll make sure!

Well when you do cardio, if you weigh yourself after WITHOUT the clothes you wore during cardio, you will weigh a good amount less. If you remain wearing your clothes, most of the sweat resides on your shirt and shorts, so the weight I believe is actually still mostly there.

I remember in HS in wrestling practice before practice I'd weigh myself and when I weighed myself after in just my boxers I was anywhere from 3-5 pounds lighter.

Well when you do cardio, if you weigh yourself after WITHOUT the clothes you wore during cardio, you will weigh a good amount less. If you remain wearing your clothes, most of the sweat resides on your shirt and shorts, so the weight I believe is actually still mostly there.

I'm trying to imagine someone taking off their t-shirt and wringing out 8 pounds of sweat. :p

I'm trying to imagine someone taking off their t-shirt and wringing out 8 pounds of sweat. :p You'd have to hold your nose while they did that, I think :nod:

"Whoooo, you got DA FUNK!"

I'm trying to imagine someone taking off their t-shirt and wringing out 8 pounds of sweat. :p

Come around to mine after a HIIT session :D

When i played roller hockey i'd sometimes go in goal, when i did the main problem i had was i sweat so much, the floor under me would be soaking after about 20 mins of the match and everyone would be slipping around lol

Well when you do cardio, if you weigh yourself after WITHOUT the clothes you wore during cardio, you will weigh a good amount less. If you remain wearing your clothes, most of the sweat resides on your shirt and shorts, so the weight I believe is actually still mostly there. Ding ding ding! This is about right. Below is what I did:
Woke up, bathroom, scale = 202.8
Went and did my cardio
Scale (same boxers & socks from cardio) = 202.6
Shower, scale (new boxers & socks) = 201.4

So somewhere between the shower and changing my clothes I lost about a pound :confused:

Of course I'm disregarding every measurment except the first one, those were just experimental. Now I know that I just need to weigh myself in the morning before cardio, easy peasy!

I weighed 203.2 yesterday morning after 6hrs of sleep. Todays weight of 202.8 after 9.5hrs of sleep is in the range of normal day-to-day loss for me. Sleep does not appear to be a factor.

Case closed?

I weighed 203.2 yesterday morning after 6hrs of sleep. Todays weight of 202.8 after 9.5hrs of sleep is in the range of normal day-to-day loss for me. Sleep does not appear to be a factor.

Case closed?

Not quite. When you sleep you sweat, I saw on a tv program they gave someone a matress to sleep on, after one week they put it in an air tight room with a dehumidifier in it. 2 litres of sweat came out of the matress.

Mabey when you sleep longer, you have sweated more, so you weigh less than when you slept for a shorter period