Should I trust a grocery store scale?

iceycoldhot
iceycoldhot Posts: 72 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I went to the food store and saw one of those blood pressure machines. It has this new feature where it can weigh you at the same time. At home I weight around 136 lbs, but this was weighing me 145 lbs! Granted, it was the end of the day and I had my shoes on etc, but I just wanted to know if these scales are very accurate?

Replies

  • La5Vega5Girl
    La5Vega5Girl Posts: 709 Member
    I only weigh on my own home scale. if I have to weigh at the dr, I do not look to see what it is. the only thing that matters is CONSISTENCY. so If you ALWAYS weigh on the scale you found at the food store, then you can see if you're losing, but going from scale to scale isn't going to give you accurate results. (I also weigh first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking, after going to the bathroom, with nothing on. always keep everything as consistent as possible.)
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    So I went to the food store and saw one of those blood pressure machines. It has this new feature where it can weigh you at the same time. At home I weight around 136 lbs, but this was weighing me 145 lbs! Granted, it was the end of the day and I had my shoes on etc, but I just wanted to know if these scales are very accurate?

    Probably not, as it probably takes a lot of abuse from customers. However, your doc's scale should be accurate, and it is usually a couple of pounds heavier than home scales. I personally think home scales are made to be slightly off intentionally for the sake of vanity, like vanity sizing.
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
    Probably not, as it probably takes a lot of abuse from customers. However, your doc's scale should be accurate, and it is usually a couple of pounds heavier than home scales. I personally think home scales are made to be slightly off intentionally for the sake of vanity, like vanity sizing.

    You would THINK a doctors scale would be the most accurate scale of all, but actually that is not always true. I typically weigh about 10 lbs. less on the scale at my endocrinologist's office than I do on the scale at my family practitioner's office. FWIW---I use the higher of the two weights and actually ask the endocrinologist not to weigh me now.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    Probably not, as it probably takes a lot of abuse from customers. However, your doc's scale should be accurate, and it is usually a couple of pounds heavier than home scales. I personally think home scales are made to be slightly off intentionally for the sake of vanity, like vanity sizing.

    You would THINK a doctors scale would be the most accurate scale of all, but actually that is not always true. I typically weigh about 10 lbs. less on the scale at my endocrinologist's office than I do on the scale at my family practitioner's office. FWIW---I use the higher of the two weights and actually ask the endocrinologist not to weigh me now.

    I'm not sure if I would be really annoyed...or if I would go by that office every day to weigh myself again. :tongue:
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    i was weighed at my doctors while wearing clothes and shoes, and i weighed my clothes and shoes when i got home - they weighed 9 pounds total. that's why i not only don't worry about what scales say but i only weigh myself without clothes to take their weight out of the equation. btw, her scale had my weight perfectly as once i subtracted the 9 pounds, her scale got the same weight i get at home.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    My weight can fluctuate 3-6 lbs from morning to night. As in, at 7 am I might weigh 6 lbs less than when I weigh in at 9 pm. Shoes and clothes can also add another 1-3 lbs.

    Weigh yourself the same time on the same scale and collect that data to find trends. Anything else is adding other variables (scale calibration, clothes, water weight, food).
  • ukaryote
    ukaryote Posts: 850 Member
    IMO, accuracy is not as important as precision for personal weight. An analogy:accuracy is splashing the darts around the bulls-eye. Precision is getting them all to hit the number 3, when you were aiming for the bulls-eye.

    I care about the difference from one week to the next. Like others have mentioned, I use the same home scale each time. The home scale, 2 gym scales, and MD scale all give different readings.

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