The scales...home vs doctors

chelle3283

when i went to the doctors last week their scale said I was 219. but I went home and weighed myself and it said 215. my home scale and the doctors never match up. I told my nutritionist and she said to just go by the home scale. so that means ive lost 2 lbs since last week. my husband weighed himself naked and then with his regular clothes on and with his clothes on was 2 lb heavier. it was the same with me. has anyone came across this too? which scale do you trust more?

LeahT84

I go by my home scale because I want to use the same one every time I weigh for accuracy. That being said, my home scale and the scale at the gym are very very close, but the one at the doctor actually said I was 3 pounds less than my home scale says. I still go by the one I use all the time. I am not going to go to the doctor every week to weigh in, so as long as I can accurately gauge my loss, 5 pounds lost on one scale is still 5 pounds lost on another. :drinker:

omma_to_3

The Dr's scale will be technically more accurate but your wearing clothing when you're on it, so it will be overstated of your actual weight. My clothes weigh anywhere from 1 to 2 lbs. depending on what I'm wearing. One particular pair of jeans weighs 2 lbs. all by themselves!

I would go with your home scale for your weekly weigh-ins. Even if it's off from your actual weight a little, the loss/gain will be accurate. My scale, when accounting for clothing (and time of day as I've usually eaten something when I'm at the Dr's and normally I weigh before I eat), is 3 lbs. lighter than the Dr's scale.

shadow2soul

1) The scale can't tell whether you have clothes on or off. Clothes on will always make you heavier than if you were naked. Depending on the clothes I was wearing, I have seen an increase of up to 3lbs in weight. This is why the wii balance board asks how heavy your clothes are, that way it can subtract a little for your clothing to give you a more accurate weight.

2) Your most accurate (well lowest anyway) weight will be first thing in the morning, naked, after using the restroom.

3) Go with whatever scale is easier to track with. If your home scale says you are down 2 lbs then you will still be down 2 lbs on your doctors scale (even if there was a 10lb difference between the numbers). Either way you lost 2lbs which is great.

ChangingAmanda

I go by my home scale since this is the one that I use weekly for weighing. Even if it's off from my actual weight, it should be accurate with the loss/gain.

I'm actually going to the doctor this afternoon so it'll be interesting to see what I weigh according to their scale in the middle of the day after I've been eating & drinking and fully clothed.

SchroederNJ

my doctor's scale is always about 5 lbs heavier but again, wearing sneakers and clothes ... however, for the infrequency of which I go there - I just worry about what the home scale says