Bad scale?

patricia1179

Hi everyone! Ive been seriously working on myself since June of this year and need to lose 100 pounds or so. While my mobility has greatly improved,(a goal) inches have been lost, clothes fit or fall off now YAAAAYYYYY! However, I weigh myself at home and it says 235, I get weighed at my doctors office and also at the gym and it's a 7-10 pound difference!!! I've been working so hard! I'm a female, 37 and need to lose before I jump on baby train number two. What should I do? Toss out my home scale? Buy a recommended one from you guys? My starting weight was 247, but ballooned to 312 two and a half years ago during a very scary pregnancy due to weight. Any thoughts? I'm new.

iris2811

did the scales at home show the same loss as the ones at the gym/docs if so it does not really matter as long as it records the loss and you must have for clothes to fit etc
is your scale at home on a hard floor - squishy carpets make scales inaccurate
Good luck

nutmegoreo

Did you change the batteries in it? Calibrate it? Are the other scales higher or lower? Most (not all) people weigh themselves at home in the morning before they eat or drink anything, typically after the bathroom and without clothes on. I presume you aren't doing this at the doc's office. So if those scales are higher, that could be the difference.

patricia1179

Unfortunately, the scales elsewhere do not reflect the same loss, so I'm at a loss

iris2811

nutmegoro - may have answered that though?

patricia1179

My scale at home vs the scale at the gym, and the one my trainer uses on me, is a 14 pound difference. ☹️

nutmegoreo

patricia1179 wrote: »

My scale at home vs the scale at the gym, and the one my trainer uses on me, is a 14 pound difference. ☹️

That doesn't answer any of my questions. So I can't really help you.

patricia1179

Sorry nutmegoreo! I weigh myself at home doing just that, first thing in the morning after the bathroom etc. Today I'll be changing the batteries out on the scale. It's just frustrating when you work your a** off and the numbers or BF do not reflect that hard work.

nutmegoreo

So the other scales are higher or lower? If you are getting your BF % off the scale, be aware that they are quite unreliable for that metric. Change your batteries, and find out how to recalibrate the scale. There are many times along the way you will be frustrated. The important thing is to keep working toward your goal while you figure this out. There was also the question about carpeting. What type of surface do you have your scale sitting on.

patricia1179

The other scales, doctors and gym, are higher. I have my scale on a tile floor in the bathroom. Thank you for helping me by the way.

zorander6

Weight can vary throughout the day. If you are weighing first thing in the morning in your skivvies and then going to the doc's office carrying a 20lb purse and a heavy winter coat you'll weigh different. If you've eaten you will weigh different.

While looking at the things nutmeg suggests also keep in mind that weight measurement can be affected by various things (including time of day and water weight.) Is your scale on a flat surface with no lumps, bumps, or other areas that are not uniform? When are you going to the gym vs weighing at home? If you can calibrate your scale using a known weight (on a flat solid surface) it will let you know if your scale is inaccurate as well. Small weights may not show a difference but if you have a 30lb kettle ball or weight you can get an idea. If it doesn't say 30lb on the scale then you know it's off.

nutmegoreo

patricia1179 wrote: »

The other scales, doctors and gym, are higher. I have my scale on a tile floor in the bathroom. Thank you for helping me by the way.

So the other scales will also be picking up the weight of your clothing and food you eat, and any liquids you have consumed that day. The scales at the gym may or may not be calibrated regularly. Same with the docs office. I would just stick with your home one. Make sure that the feet aren't sitting in any tile grooves. It's the trend over time that is more important. Still change the batteries and recalibrate.

vingogly

My old scale (can't remember the brand) would give different readings if you stepped on it several times in a row. I replaced it with an EatSmart scale based on the Amazon reviews (20USD) and it's completely consistent. Accuracy is another matter -- you're not going to get the accuracy of the scales at your doctor's office without spending a lot of money.

Spliner1969

A few things to think about.. first, your home scale is never going to be as accurate as a doctor's scale. A gym scale.. maybe. Here's the difference for me though.. at home I weigh in after my workouts, after I've had a shower, and in the nude. At the doctor's office I am wearing clothes, have my wallet in my pocket, my car keys usually, my shoes.. blah blah.. you get the picture. It's added weight, and can easily be an extra 2-3 lbs or more. Also, I generally eat breakfast after I weigh in, so there's going to be that added weight, plus water I drink between the time that I ate breakfast and went to the doctor for a weigh in. I always expect the doctor's office to weigh me in 5 lbs higher because of this.

So is my home scale still off a pound or so.. maybe. Here's the deal though, I weigh in regularly with it. So whatever it says is what I go by. If I lose a pound next week it'll be because that scale read a pound lower than it did the previous week. I still lost the pound no matter how different it reads from my doctor's office.

Your weight can fluctuate +/- up to 5-7 lbs at any time usually do to water or waste retained. My suggestion.. use the same scale to judge your weight loss, ignore what the doctor's office reads if obvious reasons can tell you why it's different. Weigh in only once a week on the same day at the same time. For instance I weigh in on Thursday mornings after my workout and shower, and before I eat breakfast. It's the most accurate time for me because I eat (usually) extra high sodium meals on the weekends and expect to retain water the first few days of the week. As the week progresses I do my early morning workouts, drink more water, and do my best to keep my sodium under control (doesn't always happen lol). Then, when I weigh in on Thursdays I can expect my weight to be mostly accurate without too much water being retained.

Hope all that helps. If you want a new/more accurate scale, I say go get one. Mine is a $40 digital scale and when it dies I'll toss it and get another, it's not that important for me to have a fancy expensive one that likely still won't be as accurate as a doctor's office.

johnnylakis

home = naked, doctor = clothed. 7 to 10 lbs of clothes easily

vingogly

Weigh yourself at home fully clothed and unclothed before going to the gym or doctor's office. Let's say you get the following measurements:

Home unclothed: 235
Home clothed: 245
Doctor's office clothed: 250

This tells you your clothing weighs ten pounds, and there's an additional five pound discrepancy between your home scale and your doctor's scale due to difference in accuracy. So subtracting 15 pounds from your clothed weight at the doctor's office should match your home unclothed weight.

As I pointed out, you can find an inexpensive scale that's consistent -- but you're not going to find one that's as accurate as a professional model costing hundreds of dollars/pounds/Euros. The other thing to bear in mind is that accuracy on a cheap scale is likely not to be linear; it might for example be reasonably accurate within a certain range, but increasingly inaccurate outside that range.

Tacklewasher

vingogly wrote: »

My old scale (can't remember the brand) would give different readings if you stepped on it several times in a row. I replaced it with an EatSmart scale based on the Amazon reviews (20USD) and it's completely consistent. Accuracy is another matter -- you're not going to get the accuracy of the scales at your doctor's office without spending a lot of money.

Just be aware that some scales are set up to repeat the prior weight if the difference is not that large. Mine seems to only show a different number if the changes is about .75 pounds. Great to be consistent, but I'd rather have it not do this.

patricia1179

Wow!!!! Thank you everyone!!! I really appreciate all of your comments and will apply them accordingly. Thanks again everyone!!!