Scale at Doctors vs. My Own

Nysportsred

My doctor’s office got a new scale about a year ago that you hold the handles, put in your height, age, etc and it tells you your weight, muscle, visceral fat, water weight, etc. on his scale I am always 223-225. Obviously it’s a “high tech and very expensive” (he says this 3-4 times each time he weighs me) scale. He tells me the machine adjusts for clothes on and sneakers on and doesn’t matter what time of day a person is being weighed. It is “scientifically proven to never be wrong”.

At home mine always says 215-217. Not a huge difference, but I was wondering why it is different. I put a 15 pound weight on mine and it weighs it as 15 pounds so it’s not off. It’s on a level floor, not carpet. I weight myself once a week in the AM right after I wake up.

I’m not an obsessive numbers guy at all, but was curious after I saw him yesterday.

L1zardQueen

Have you tried weighing with clothes and shoes at home?

janejellyroll

I have no idea what it means for a scale to be "scientifically proven to never be wrong." Scales, like any piece of machinery, need calibration. Of course it can be wrong in certain circumstances and of course it is relevant if you eat a huge meal or drink a bunch of water before weighing in (as opposed to weighing first thing in the AM) and I don't know how it could possibly tell the difference between your actual weight as opposed to some unusually heavy shoes and a coat.

It's not at all abnormal for someone to be heavier mid-day than they are first thing in the morning. It's also very normal to weigh more fully dressed and shoed. And it's also possible that you would receive different weights from scale to scale even if you stepped from one to to the other without any changes -- this is why it's generally recommended to choose one scale for recording your regular weights instead of just combining values from different scales.

What I personally do: I use my weight on my home scale for the purposes of tracking. My weight on my doctor's scale is just for them to input into my medical record. I don't pay much attention to it.

csplatt

I am about 5 lb heavier at the doctor and don’t really worry about it 🤷🏻‍♀️

qhob_89

His scale must be high tech and very expensive if it can accurately adjust and accommodate for each individual’s shoes/clothing. I mean, this technology can figure out if you’re wearing Doc Martens or flats, if you have keys, phone, etc in your coat pocket... that’s rad!

I never trust the scale at the doctors office! Lol

Nysportsred

qhob_89 wrote: »

His scale must be high tech and very expensive if it can accurately adjust and accommodate for each individual’s shoes/clothing. I mean, this technology can figure out if you’re wearing Doc Martens or flats, if you have keys, phone, etc in your coat pocket... that’s rad!

I never trust the scale at the doctors office! Lol

Out of nowhere he turned in to this weird high tech guy lol.

sakurablossoms82

Last time I went to the doctor he checked my weight too. It turned out I was 3kg heavier on the scale then when I checked earlier that morning. I blamed the difference on my clothes and breakfast. My doctor doesn't have a hightech scale though. Just a basic scale most doctors have here since forever.

I check in the mornings before breakfast and my clothes are most likely heavier then my pyjama.

spiriteagle99

We have checked our scale vs. the doctor's by weighing at the clinic then going home and weighing on the home scale, wearing exactly the same clothes, without eating or drinking in between. That was what let us know that it was time to get a new scale.

sijomial

Nysportsred wrote: »

My doctor’s office got a new scale about a year ago that you hold the handles, put in your height, age, etc and it tells you your weight, muscle, visceral fat, water weight, etc. on his scale I am always 223-225. Obviously it’s a “high tech and very expensive” (he says this 3-4 times each time he weighs me) scale. He tells me the machine adjusts for clothes on and sneakers on and doesn’t matter what time of day a person is being weighed. It is “scientifically proven to never be wrong”.

At home mine always says 215-217. Not a huge difference, but I was wondering why it is different. I put a 15 pound weight on mine and it weighs it as 15 pounds so it’s not off. It’s on a level floor, not carpet. I weight myself once a week in the AM right after I wake up.

I’m not an obsessive numbers guy at all, but was curious after I saw him yesterday.

I think your Doctor has been either raiding the drugs cupboard or should stick to low tech, all the things your Doctor believes to be true measurements are estimates and may well not be good ones.

At least you can compare weight between the two machines by wearing the same clothes and shoes on both.

lorib642

I weigh more later in the day than first thing in the morning, Can you try weighing in the same clothes, similar time of day, on home scale? For your own knowledge. Good you are not obsessed with the numbers.

cwolfman13

There is no such thing as a scale that can account for your clothing, shoes, etc. How would a scale actually do that?

Luke_rabbit

The most important thing to remember about doctors is that they are not scientists! Sure they took a few science type classes (chemistry, for example), but most of medical school is memorization, not "scientific method".

This is why my very good retina specialist can tell me with a straight face that he "lost weight by giving up diet sodas". 😜 And why most treatment from your doctor follows the try-this-and-see-what-happens method rather than the "detective" method popular on TV shows.

Don't get me wrong, doctors are often excellent at their job and, most of the time, guess right about your issue. They just aren't scientists.

The point being, your doctor is repeating what the scale salesperson told him.

Note: My current doctor first got an electrical engineering degree and then later became a doctor. She's the closest to a scientist of any doctor I've ever had.

Redordeadhead

cwolfman13 wrote: »

There is no such thing as a scale that can account for your clothing, shoes, etc. How would a scale actually do that?

Exactly. How would it know if I'm wearing jeans, boots, a jumper and a jacket or shorts and a t-shirt?

MercuryForce

qhob_89 wrote: »

His scale must be high tech and very expensive if it can accurately adjust and accommodate for each individual’s shoes/clothing. I mean, this technology can figure out if you’re wearing Doc Martens or flats, if you have keys, phone, etc in your coat pocket... that’s rad!

I never trust the scale at the doctors office! Lol

Not only that, it knows if I ate a sodium heavy take-out meal the day before, or had an extra difficult work-out or where I am in my cycle, or....

I weigh myself at my dietitian appointments. For some reason my meetings with her are always on heavy days. It's not uncommon for me to be like "so today I weighed in at 155, but for the last 3 days it's been in the 153s". But, that's we use it as a general trend indicator and she usually asks what I weighed at that morning and other measurements I've had. If she suddenly started telling me it was super accurate and impossible to be wrong and used it as the only indicator, I would quit going to her!

And, I appreciate my doctor. She just checks in that I'm staying at least somewhat active and feeling good. She leaves the weight stuff to me and my dietitian.

Strudders67

Thankfully my GP doesn't have anything so high tech. The scales are in a side room, so I usually pop in there whilst the doctor is updating notes, take off my shoes and most of my clothes and hop on the scales. Even so, I typically weigh 1kg (~2lb) more on their scales than I do on mine. As someone said above, my scales are what I track my weight with; my doctor's scales are what goes on my medical records, approximately once a year.

I'd question a difference of 5-10lb though, unless you were wearing a lot of clothes and your shoes at the time of being weighed. I certainly wouldn't believe most of the doctor's claims about this fabulous machine adjusting for anything.

L1zardQueen

I weighed in 4 pounds heavier at my doctor’s office this morning. Damn boots.

qhob_89

Nysportsred wrote: »

qhob_89 wrote: »

His scale must be high tech and very expensive if it can accurately adjust and accommodate for each individual’s shoes/clothing. I mean, this technology can figure out if you’re wearing Doc Martens or flats, if you have keys, phone, etc in your coat pocket... that’s rad!

I never trust the scale at the doctors office! Lol

Out of nowhere he turned in to this weird high tech guy lol.

I’m thinking he should stick to medicine! 😂

spyro88

I find it very weird that the scale can adjust for clothes and the time of day you are weighed at. Those things fluctuate so much (a light summer dress vs. two layers and thick boots on a winter day - how on earth does it know?) I'm not sure I completely believe it.

ninerbuff

The machine CANNOT distinguish clothes or shoes. If they put a ream of paper on there only and you held on with your hands, it would show that papers water % and muscle. How do I know? Because we have an InBody scale at our gym and I've done it to prove it to peers
.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

suzij27

I have an expression “scale relative weight” that I live by. The number is always going to vary between scales, so I use mine at home as my guide. It keeps me from second guessing.

I’m not sure why your doctor believes that nonsense about his new scale. It is not possible for it to be that “smart”. As long as his advice about your weight doesn’t vary based on this “reliable data”, I would just take it with a grain of salt. But it does make me question his ability to distinguish reliable information and information sources from hype.

Zimm7

No.... He's just giving you a story to deflect your questioning the weight. I always go with my digital scale at home. I weigh myself under the same conditions, at the same time of day (morning) ... for each time I weigh.
I pay little attention to the scale at the doctors office.

Luke_rabbit

Certainly it is possible for a scale to take information into account to make an educated guess about clothing weight. Examples of data that could be used might be gender, height, weight, age, day of the week, time of day, season, location, and current weather. This would still just be a guess, but could possibly be more accurate than the classic "subtract 5 pounds for clothes and shoes". Not sure it would be worth the effort to create such a program, but companies make stupider products than that every day.

PAV8888

I'll own the "technical issue" hug disagree❣️

I can only go as far as "companies make equally stupid products"!

I mean stupider would need to come with an extra cake to take 😉

ythannah

I always weigh a bit more at the doctor's office because I get weighed by the receptionist fully clothed, including coat or jacket, prior to going in for my physical. The scale is out in the hallway in full view of the waiting room and there isn't even a chair to put stuff down on if you wanted to take off your jacket.

One time I was a little shocked at the weight shown. If I'd gained that much, shouldn't my clothes feel tighter? Then I realized I was still carrying my purse, put it down, and instantly lost 8 pounds.

Count me in as another one who doesn't believe in magical high tech scales that account for clothing.

Safari_Gal_

Nysportsred wrote: »

My doctor’s office got a new scale about a year ago that you hold the handles, put in your height, age, etc and it tells you your weight, muscle, visceral fat, water weight, etc. on his scale I am always 223-225. Obviously it’s a “high tech and very expensive” (he says this 3-4 times each time he weighs me) scale. He tells me the machine adjusts for clothes on and sneakers on and doesn’t matter what time of day a person is being weighed. It is “scientifically proven to never be wrong”.

At home mine always says 215-217. Not a huge difference, but I was wondering why it is different. I put a 15 pound weight on mine and it weighs it as 15 pounds so it’s not off. It’s on a level floor, not carpet. I weight myself once a week in the AM right after I wake up.

I’m not an obsessive numbers guy at all, but was curious after I saw him yesterday.

217-223 is just a different of 6 lbs. could you have been holding water weight or have had a heavy breakfast?

jdhcm2006

Whenever I weigh in at the doctor, the nurse normally subtracts like 2 pounds for me bc typically I’m wearing combat boots lol. Add the boots, clothes, and the fact that I’ve had food and water, I’m bound to weigh more there than at home. I’ve always thought of the scales at doctor’s offices as just another scale.