Which scale to believe?

MVY_

I have a scale at home that I have in my bathroom. My bathroom has tile floors. There is a scale at my work place that is on carpet floor. After weighing myself at home only I decided to try the scale at work and there is a 10 lbs difference. Which should I believe?

jamebb

The one on tile. A scale should always be placed on a hard level surface for the greatest accuracy.

LunaInverse

The one on tile. A scale should always be placed on a hard level surface for the greatest accuracy.

^^^ This ^^^

YorriaRaine

sounds weird but you could bring a 10lb dumbell into work and in your home and test both

they are right though, typically harder surfaces are better

SezxyStef

Agreed on the hard surface as long as the scale doesn't move...

I would test them both...put a 10lb weight on them and see which weighs correctly.

joyfuljoy65

The one on tile. A scale should always be placed on a hard level surface for the greatest accuracy.

This - the carpet distorts the weight distribution somehow on the scales.

Though to be honest, if its weight loss you are looking at, as long as you use the SAME scales as your benchmark each time, either would do.....

arrseegee

Tiles. I weighed on a scale on carpet over Christmas and it gave me a number 12kg less than when I moved it two metres sideways onto a flat floor.

Boogage

I second weighing something like a dumbell. Depending on the scales you might not be able to do that, so you might want to try weighing an object on it before you go lugging dumbells around. My scale only seems to weigh humans. It's like it can sense whether feet are on it or not. Weird.

Commander_Keen

So wait.. your at home and you weigh your self naked.
YOu go to work while you are fully clothed and after you eat.. that would explain why there is a 10lbs difference.

MinnieInMaine

Agree, tile is better. Also, there's no way to know if the scales are calibrated unless you test them with a known weight as was also mentioned. If you're willing to check it out, weigh a 10 pound hand weight on both to see what they say.

Something a lot of people forget is that the scale is only a judge of what you put on it. I would assume you're weighing yourself at home first thing in the morning before breakfast without clothes after using the toilet. Then at work, you'd be dressed, possibly wearing jewelry, carrying cell phone, money, keys, wearing shoes and you'd have food and water/coffee/tea in your belly. All of that can very likely weigh up to 10 pounds.

morethanthis0

always the one on tile/hard floors. I put my scale on my carpet and weighed like 130 lbs (I wish) haha but im 215. Hardfloors...no carpets

GoMizzou99

The one on tile. A scale should always be placed on a hard level surface for the greatest accuracy.

^^^This^^^

At my work (a specialized testing laboratory) we have a lot of testing equipment including scales that can weigh to a 1/100th of a gram. All equipment is calibrated and inspected and some requires daily checks. In order for the scales to pass inspection and meet the calibration requirements, every scale must be on a hard level surface, including our big boys. If the surface is not level, these high end scales actually have adjustable pads to make sure they are level.

Too much info?

MVY_

So wait.. your at home and you weigh your self naked.
YOu go to work while you are fully clothed and after you eat.. that would explain why there is a 10lbs difference.

WHOA! How you know I was naked? What if I wasn't? Lol.

I am clothed the same way I am clothed working out at work.

Also, I didn't state I gained 10 lbs weighing myself at work.

MVY_

Thank you everyone. I shall test this out with a dumbbell!

FredDoyle

Neither.
All measurement devices have a margin of error.
Pick one and stick with it so you can monitor the TREND in weight.
That said, I agree that it should be on a flat hard surface.