Scales: digital vs. analog

katie1318

I weighed myself Tuesday morning on a digital scale. It said I was up from 114.4-117.4, which is understandable after 2 thanksgiving dinners, desserts, and parties. I was likely holding some water weight and a little extra fat from so much overeating. However, I got back on track Tuesday and, out of curiosity, weighed myself Monday morning. The digital scale said 118.8! This was surprising so I compared it to the analog scale, which said about 116. Problem with the analog scale is that the needle moves whenever u shift your weight. Any thoughts?

soapsandropes

This is part of the reason that I stick with one scale and try to weigh myself only once a week or so.

jemhh

It is very likely that, had you stood on a different digital scale, you wold have had a third weight reading. Very few scales are calibrated in a way that they exactly match each other. My suggestion is to pick one scale and stick with it. Don't scale hop.

senecarr

Different scales are going to get slightly different values. Even moving what part of the floor the scale is on can nudge the weight a bit. If two different scales read different weights, it doesn't mean you lost weight in between switching from one to the other, so why try to mentally game the system?
The thing to do is try to use the same scale at the same spot, at the same time of day and same hydration level.
Personally I'd stick with the digital scale as the machine is designed to read the scale the same way every time, while you eyeballing an analog scale is prone to parallex errors.

katie1318

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

siluridae

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

But it is water weight. Or waste.
Unless you consumed 4900 excess calories in one day.

jemhh

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

Your body is not a factory working with a just in time inventory system. Forget the idea of one day of good dieting being reflected in the next morning's weigh-in. It doesn't work like that.

senecarr

siluridae wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

But it is water weight. Or waste.
Unless you consumed 4900 excess calories in one day.

^ This. You have to keep in mind, even for a person at maintenance, you're going to be taking in about 9.2 pounds of water a day and spitting out 11 pounds of water. It is pretty easy to have a flux of 1.4 pounds temporarily.

steph2strong

For me it usually takes a few days for the scale number to return to normal after a sudden jump from overindulging. Ex. In August I went to a wedding and seriously overindulged, scale weight up 2 lbs the next day, got back on track with diet and exercise that day, however the following morning the scale was up another lb! So I seriously got on track with diet and exercise that day yet still the next morning the scale was up another friggin lb!! However, on the third morning scale weight was down 5 lbs! so 1 lb less than pre-wedding, then on the fourth day I was up a lb back at the weight I was before the wedding. Really, don't get caught up in day-to-day variations, follow weekly trends and even then expect some variation.

katie1318

Thanks everyone! I u ser stand it takes time, I was just confused that it went up again, and by so much, rather than just maintaining or changing by 1/2 a pound or so. But the body is a complex thing I guess

robertw486

katie1318 wrote: »

I weighed myself Tuesday morning on a digital scale. It said I was up from 114.4-117.4, which is understandable after 2 thanksgiving dinners, desserts, and parties. I was likely holding some water weight and a little extra fat from so much overeating. However, I got back on track Tuesday and, out of curiosity, weighed myself Monday morning. The digital scale said 118.8! This was surprising so I compared it to the analog scale, which said about 116. Problem with the analog scale is that the needle moves whenever u shift your weight. Any thoughts?

Use the same scale, and accept that your weight will go up and down day to day and even hour to hour at times. I completely agree with the others in that it's a matter of the trend and a weight range, not an exact based on what you did the last day or even couple of days. At times I eat more than I should and my weight goes down, at other times I eat great and the weight goes up some.

There are programs and apps such as Trendweight, Libra, Happy Scales, etc, and many of them will help people understand the trends and fluctuations more if they chose to weigh more often.

senecarr wrote: »

siluridae wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

But it is water weight. Or waste.
Unless you consumed 4900 excess calories in one day.

^ This. You have to keep in mind, even for a person at maintenance, you're going to be taking in about 9.2 pounds of water a day and spitting out 11 pounds of water. It is pretty easy to have a flux of 1.4 pounds temporarily.

Though personally I think that might be a bit skewed in how they broke down the inputs and outputs, it is a great example of how much water weight can affect scale weight at any given time. When the basics of hydration are combined with all the variables, there is a huge amount of fluctuation even in a day for many people.

senecarr

robertw486 wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I weighed myself Tuesday morning on a digital scale. It said I was up from 114.4-117.4, which is understandable after 2 thanksgiving dinners, desserts, and parties. I was likely holding some water weight and a little extra fat from so much overeating. However, I got back on track Tuesday and, out of curiosity, weighed myself Monday morning. The digital scale said 118.8! This was surprising so I compared it to the analog scale, which said about 116. Problem with the analog scale is that the needle moves whenever u shift your weight. Any thoughts?

Use the same scale, and accept that your weight will go up and down day to day and even hour to hour at times. I completely agree with the others in that it's a matter of the trend and a weight range, not an exact based on what you did the last day or even couple of days. At times I eat more than I should and my weight goes down, at other times I eat great and the weight goes up some.

There are programs and apps such as Trendweight, Libra, Happy Scales, etc, and many of them will help people understand the trends and fluctuations more if they chose to weigh more often.

senecarr wrote: »

siluridae wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

But it is water weight. Or waste.
Unless you consumed 4900 excess calories in one day.

^ This. You have to keep in mind, even for a person at maintenance, you're going to be taking in about 9.2 pounds of water a day and spitting out 11 pounds of water. It is pretty easy to have a flux of 1.4 pounds temporarily.

Though personally I think that might be a bit skewed in how they broke down the inputs and outputs, it is a great example of how much water weight can affect scale weight at any given time. When the basics of hydration are combined with all the variables, there is a huge amount of fluctuation even in a day for many people.

That illustration originally comes from NASA for estimating how to keep a human alive on Mars.
It is used as a demonstration in "The Hacker's Diet" which is what Trendweight uses as its weighting method - it uses the rolling average that The Hacker's Diet recommends.

robertw486

senecarr wrote: »

robertw486 wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I weighed myself Tuesday morning on a digital scale. It said I was up from 114.4-117.4, which is understandable after 2 thanksgiving dinners, desserts, and parties. I was likely holding some water weight and a little extra fat from so much overeating. However, I got back on track Tuesday and, out of curiosity, weighed myself Monday morning. The digital scale said 118.8! This was surprising so I compared it to the analog scale, which said about 116. Problem with the analog scale is that the needle moves whenever u shift your weight. Any thoughts?

Use the same scale, and accept that your weight will go up and down day to day and even hour to hour at times. I completely agree with the others in that it's a matter of the trend and a weight range, not an exact based on what you did the last day or even couple of days. At times I eat more than I should and my weight goes down, at other times I eat great and the weight goes up some.

There are programs and apps such as Trendweight, Libra, Happy Scales, etc, and many of them will help people understand the trends and fluctuations more if they chose to weigh more often.

senecarr wrote: »

siluridae wrote: »

katie1318 wrote: »

I figured as much, thanks. I think I'll stick with the digital since it's easier to read. However a 1.4lb "gain" after a day of good dieting doesn't seem accurate..?
It shouldn't be water weight after the day of good eating and drinking water

But it is water weight. Or waste.
Unless you consumed 4900 excess calories in one day.

^ This. You have to keep in mind, even for a person at maintenance, you're going to be taking in about 9.2 pounds of water a day and spitting out 11 pounds of water. It is pretty easy to have a flux of 1.4 pounds temporarily.

Though personally I think that might be a bit skewed in how they broke down the inputs and outputs, it is a great example of how much water weight can affect scale weight at any given time. When the basics of hydration are combined with all the variables, there is a huge amount of fluctuation even in a day for many people.

That illustration originally comes from NASA for estimating how to keep a human alive on Mars.
It is used as a demonstration in "The Hacker's Diet" which is what Trendweight uses as its weighting method - it uses the rolling average that The Hacker's Diet recommends.

My point being that I simply felt the emphasis was on water and simplification rather than the total picture. Such as the air we breathe having humidity (as well as being more than just O2), as well as the foods we eat having moisture.

Space travel recycles the vast majority of all waste water outputs, so the use by NASA would account for throughput in different ways. AFAIK everything other than moisture in solid waste, just about every other form of moisture or water is recycled in space travel.