New Scale, Now I'm confused!

Diamondbbw

I have been weighing myself in our local walmart pharmacy because the scale I had at home is terrible, the walmart scale is generally on par with my doctors scale, but I haven't seen my doc in months. I just bought a new scale but it's reading 8 pounds heavier than the wally world scale.... So now I have no clue what my starting weight really was and no clue what I really weigh now... Any suggestions? According to the walmart scale my starting weight was right at 311, current weight is 285. My new scale says 293.2

rheddmobile

Is this at the same time of day wearing the exact same clothing? Eight pounds is a pretty large discrepancy. If you have reason to believe the Walmart scale is accurate, maybe you should return the other scale.

JeromeBarry1

At your size, a body can swing 10 pounds up and down with food, water, sweat, waste, and respiration during the day. Different scales can be different by 2%, easily. Just allowing for differences in the scales, at your size, is 6 lb for range of uncertainty.

Here's what you do. You have a new scale. It's yours. Use it always and only. Don't use Wally's again. At your size, the precise weight of you at this day or tomorrow means nothing. At my size, today's precise weight means nothing to me, also. What you and I want from a home scale is trend awareness. Your scale is imprecise. My scale is imprecise. What we hope for from our scales is consistency. They'll both be consistently wrong, but if your wrong scale is showing a number 20 lb lower after 30 days than your wrong scale shows today, you can confidently say you've lost 20 lb.

DebLaBounty

I had one doctor's scale reading 6 pounds heavier than my other doctor's, which was 4 pounds different from my gym's scale. I bought a digital scale and it registers me about 3 pounds off from the gym scale. Just go with your new scale from now on. You can weigh yourself first thing in the morning every day, without clothes. As for choosing what is your "true" starting weight, you can just go with the 311 and go on from there. The discrepancy really can't be corrected. You probably didn't really gain 8 pounds, so don't be discouraged.

Old_Cat_Lady

Do you have 4 or 5 lb weights at home? Put them on your home scale and see what they weigh. If you dare, you can even go to walmart, go pick up a couple of 5 lb weights and put them on that walmart scale.
Did you know a gallon of milk weighs about 8.6 pounds? I bet you the walmart scale is not calibrated correctly.

Bluetail6

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

At your size, a body can swing 10 pounds up and down with food, water, sweat, waste, and respiration during the day. Different scales can be different by 2%, easily. Just allowing for differences in the scales, at your size, is 6 lb for range of uncertainty.

Here's what you do. You have a new scale. It's yours. Use it always and only. Don't use Wally's again. At your size, the precise weight of you at this day or tomorrow means nothing. At my size, today's precise weight means nothing to me, also. What you and I want from a home scale is trend awareness. Your scale is imprecise. My scale is imprecise. What we hope for from our scales is consistency. They'll both be consistently wrong, but if your wrong scale is showing a number 20 lb lower after 30 days than your wrong scale shows today, you can confidently say you've lost 20 lb.

I think this is excellent advice!!

jjpptt2

This is probably an outdated analogy, but...

If you have 2 watches, what time is it?

The same idea holds true with scales. Different scales will read differently. It doesn't mean they are wrong, it just means that some variation is to be expected. Pick a scale and use that one as your primary scale. I don't care which one it is, just be consistent. Use the same scale under the same conditions as much as possible (same time of day, same level of dress, etc). Then, when gauging progress, don't worry so much about the number, worry about how that number changes over time.

Yes, I know there is an emotional connection to weight for many, so I know this can be easier said than done. But it really is important to try.

Additionally, consider using a trend weight app like Happy Scale or Libra. They can help take the edge of weight swings.

DX2JX2

Test your home scale. Weigh a known quantity (as stated above, a gallon of water weighs exactly 8 pounds because a pint is a pound the world around) and see if it's on or off. I recommend that you stick with the scale you have at home since it's yours forever, though if it really is 8 pounds off you probably want to return it for a model that isn't defective.

vivelajackie

I avoid using multiple scales for this reason. They're not going to weigh the same, nor is your body going to weigh the same during different parts of the day. There are many variables that can jump the pounds up and down dramatically (even on the SAME scale) at different points of the day. I have seen some fun youtube videos of people weighing throughout their day... one guy bounced 13lbs just doing his thing.

Whatever you do, just do it with a healthy mindset. Don't become obsessed with a number on the scale. Worry instead on continuing with your plan and watching change over time. (Totally just downloaded Libra for fun experimentation time re: weight fluctuation.) Good luck!

RachsLosses

Had this exact same thing, I've always been taught to only use one scale to measure weight and always do same time of day same clothes etc as others have mentioned.

I was away with work and jumped on the scales at the hotel, read 6lbs lighter then my scales at home, while it'd be lovely to say id 'lost' 6 lbs it know that isn't true, its just the variation in conditions.

amtyrell

I had this problem. When I hit 199 lbs I rewarded myself with a digital scale instead of my old manual one. It said I was 206.2. I held mymfp data constant till I lost back to 199 on the new scale. I assume however my old scale was 6 .2lbs off so I count those 6 lbs in weight I have lost.

waltzingmom

I have the same problem with my own crazy home scale. It sometimes shows me at 5 different weights in the space of 5 minutes, dressed exactly the same way! Usually the range is about 1.5 to 2 pounds apart, but sometimes it's more. One day, it showed weights 8 pounds apart. Lately, I just sort of average out what it says, and I throw out any "statistical outliers" that I know couldn't be true, and laugh about how weird this is.

cb2bslim

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

You have a new scale. It's yours. Use it always and only.

100% agree. This will show your true trend and will never have you second guessing your number. When I toured a gym, I asked if they had a scale. If I remember correctly, she told me they didn't have one because it would need calibrated all the time. I personally would not trust public scales. Kids tend to jump on them like they will win a prize at a carnival or something. lol Stick to your own scale and have a blast losing. Weigh yourself in the mornings after bathroom use and in your birthday suit.

Taking measurements is another fun way to see your results. Take a monthly progress photo of yourself. It's really fun to look back on your accomplishments to keep your head in the game.

Penthesilea514

cb2bslim wrote: »

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

You have a new scale. It's yours. Use it always and only.

100% agree. This will show your true trend and will never have you second guessing your number. When I toured a gym, I asked if they had a scale. If I remember correctly, she told me they didn't have one because it would need calibrated all the time. I personally would not trust public scales. Kids tend to jump on them like they will win a prize at a carnival or something. lol Stick to your own scale and have a blast losing. Weigh yourself in the mornings after bathroom use and in your birthday suit.

Taking measurements is another fun way to see your results. Take a monthly progress photo of yourself. It's really fun to look back on your accomplishments to keep your head in the game.

I agree with this too. Consistently use one scale, weight at the same time of day and just use those numbers. Also use other measurements to track progress.

DananaNanas

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

Here's what you do. You have a new scale. It's yours. Use it always and only. Don't use Wally's again. At your size, the precise weight of you at this day or tomorrow means nothing. At my size, today's precise weight means nothing to me, also. What you and I want from a home scale is trend awareness. Your scale is imprecise. My scale is imprecise. What we hope for from our scales is consistency. They'll both be consistently wrong, but if your wrong scale is showing a number 20 lb lower after 30 days than your wrong scale shows today, you can confidently say you've lost 20 lb.

This.

After about 10 years of having a crappy scale with weight fluctuations between 2 and 4 pounds within 5 minutes... I finally replaced mine over the summer. It was annoying because it made my check-ins appear to have a lower loss than if I kept the crappy scale. I just have to mentally add 2 pounds to my start weight and I feel better lol

But yes.. use YOUR scale and no one else's. That's why you bought it right?

hesn92

Just start using your new scale and not the Walmart one ever. If you're concerned about it not being consistent step on and off a couple times to make sure it's reading the same. If you use the same scale each time it will be consistent and show you your trend.

rheddmobile

hesn92 wrote: »

Just start using your new scale and not the Walmart one ever. If you're concerned about it not being consistent step on and off a couple times to make sure it's reading the same. If you use the same scale each time it will be consistent and show you your trend.

This isn't quite right. All digital scales are inconsistent, but many new ones hide it by refusing to register small changes in a short amount of time, thus appearing consistent when they aren't. You can get around this by weighing yourself, weighing yourself holding something at least two pounds, and then weighing yourself again. Variations up to about three pounds are normal.

Tacklewasher

rheddmobile wrote: »

hesn92 wrote: »

Just start using your new scale and not the Walmart one ever. If you're concerned about it not being consistent step on and off a couple times to make sure it's reading the same. If you use the same scale each time it will be consistent and show you your trend.

This isn't quite right. All digital scales are inconsistent, but many new ones hide it by refusing to register small changes in a short amount of time, thus appearing consistent when they aren't. You can get around this by weighing yourself, weighing yourself holding something at least two pounds, and then weighing yourself again. Variations up to about three pounds are normal.

Easier to step on the scale with one foot, get a reading and then step on normally. Don't have to fuss with having a weight nearby and it does the same thing. I was doing the weight for a while on my last scale when I saw the above suggestion and it was easier. I found mine wouldn't change for up to about 3/4 a lb. As I weigh daily, understanding the variations was better than having them hidden.

Tacklewasher

To the OP, besides using only the new scale, assume your start point is 320 so you can say you lost those 8 lbs.