Doctor scale, 20lbs in two weeks??

pagophagia

This question has been asked ad nauseam probably, but heres the deal:

I'll be honest, since the pandemic I definitely have not been working out. Like, seriously. I've been completely sedentary with scattered workouts and such. Its drained the life out of me, but I have always been conscious of my eating habits still, maybe I've indulged a bit but I never really stray outside of 3500 cals, which is a lb of fat.
Anyway, I went to the doctor two weeks ago just for a check up, and they weighed me and it looked pretty accurate, I had to go back to the doctor three days ago and the scale showed that I somehow gained 20lbs? They use those typical balance beam scales at the doctor, where as at my home I have a scale thats almost 2 years old and is a digital one. When I weighed myself today it showed what the original weight would have been when I went to the doctor two weeks ago (minus the clothes and shoes).

I didnt wear anything heavy really to the doctor the second time, either. But my problem is now I don't know which one of these weights is correct, on top of having body dysmorphia (I shouldn't really be weighing myself anyways because of my mental illness), I have no idea if I've truly gained 20lbs. I've considered even buying a new scale.

panda4153

It’s unlikely you gained 20lbs in two weeks you would have had to overeat by more then 3500 calories every single day on top of your maintenance calories. I’m surprised the dr office didn’t take your weight again on a different scale or check to make sure it’s calibrated correctly with such a big swing in such a short period of time.

My best guess is that the Dr’s scale needs to be calibrated, unless of course you actually did eat that much, or you were wearing an incredibly heavy outfit.


Here’s the deal, use whichever scale you want, your current one or get a new one you like. What you want to watch is your trend over time, does the number go up consistently, down consistently, or stay about the same after factoring normal fluctuations. Two years old is not that old for a scale, so it should still be good, but you could try replacing your batteries to make sure that’s not an issue with your scale at home.

sijomial

Part of the skill of trend analysis is in discarding obviously false data or at the very least verifying data that clearly looks erroneous.

I would go with the two weights that agree with each other and assume a bit of user or equipment error for the outlier.

callsitlikeiseeit

every scale will be different, sometimes drastically. I too am surprised that with such a huge discrepancy the doctors office didn't put you on a different scale.

honestly, for your data, I Would go by your home scale. Make sure the batteries are good (because that can cause inaccuracies), and look for the overall TREND. is it gradually going up, staying the same, or going down? don't go day by day but week by week or month by month (daily fluctuations especially for women can be fairly dramatic). I do weigh daily, out of habit if nothing else, but only log (on mfp) weekly. I do use a weight trend app on my phone for the daily numbers, but that is more so I can notice any patterns or irregular data, etc.

cwolfman13

Nobody is gaining 20 Lbs of fat in two weeks.

cmhubbard92

I also agree that the numbers are definitely inaccurate...

Was your first appointment earlier in the day? It could be that you had more food in your system, and later in the day than the first visit. That is the only way I could imagine a huge jump in the numbers, because the scales should be fairly accurate at the doctors office. Although, I still can't imagine 20 pounds...

I agree 100% with using a weight trending app-I use Libra on android and have been logging my weight for 2.5 years. I'm still not to my goal, but that graph really helps when i feel like I'm not getting anywhere in my progress.

Overall, I wouldn't put much thought into the difference in the two visits. Follow your home scale as you've been doing.

kshama2001

In addition to the scale, I can gauge my weight by how my jeans fit. If you wear jeans and they still fit, the problem is with the doctor's scale.

BTW, I always take off my shoes when getting weighed at the doctor. I can deal with a few pounds difference due to clothes and food, but shoes just add too much extra weight for my brain to handle.

springlering62

Totally stupid and embarrassing suggestion here: did you have a heavy winter coat or boots, or a purse etc during the second weigh in?

I used to not take them off to punish myself during weigh ins, and also, in my befuddled state of mind, to hopefully confuse the nurse into thinking, “oh she’s not that heavy, she didn’t take all that stuff off.” As if that would ever fool a nurse, lol.

gigius72

Pandemic screwed my family up. My wife developed type 2 diabetes. My daughter put on lots of weight. I went from 160lbs to 230lbs and put on statin (heart medication). We were all healthy eaters and jumped the bridge to meet processed food, frozen meals and chip+dip.
Last October we sat down and discussed how crappy we were living and changed lifestyle again. My wife is no longer diabetic and I'm down to 188lbs. We are definitely defeating the untold damages that pandemic is creating.
We have been at Dr office a lot for that reason and their scales are always different from our readings... Not 20lbs, but they are always off a few lbs.

ndj1979

that would mean you ate 49000 calories over maintenance in two weeks...

Theo166

What's important is your home scale does not support the trend of a significant increase.

The balance scales with a moveable weight require regular calibration and are more prone to user error. I too suggest throwing out the second Dr measurement as false due to user error.

LisaGetsMoving

You didn't gain 20 lbs. in 2 weeks. The majority of your weights recorded were close to what you thought and in close accordance with your home scale. So go with the lighter weight and let it go, like water off a duck.

lorrpb

It’s rare that the doctor’s scale agrees with your home scale. Pick one scale, one spot, one time of day to track your weight. Better yet, don’t weigh yourself since you said you’re not supposed to for mental health reasons.