Old Fashion Scales or Digital?

justme81

What is the best scales to use? The old fashion kind or the digital kind? On my last two weigh-ins I have used the old fashion bathroom scale, but I was wondering if it was accurate. I was given a Digital Scale (The Doctr's Scale) today from a friend and was wondering if it was more accurate.

Pandorian

Every scale has the potential to be off, what you want to do is weigh using the same scale in the same spot, in the same situation (for me that's first thing in the morning, pre-breakfast, pre-shower post bathroom stuff)
To "check" your scale grab something you know the weight of.... a 10lb dumbbell or the like and see if the scale registers the 10 lbs itself, then try it at the higher end with you on it first with the weight and without it, to see that the difference is 10 lbs.
Just use the same scale, a 2 lb loss on a calibrated scale will be a 2lb loss whether it's "accurately" showing your overall weight properly or not.

Driagnor

I don't think it really matters too much as long as you're using the same scale and weighing yourself at the same time under the same circumstances.

If you do decide to switch scales, weigh yourself on the two directly after one another so that you can see what the discrepancy is so that you don't immediately become demotivated if it looks like you've put on 5lbs because the other scale weighs differently.

StaceyL76

Every scale has the potential to be off, what you want to do is weigh using the same scale in the same spot, in the same situation (for me that's first thing in the morning, pre-breakfast, pre-shower post bathroom stuff)
To "check" your scale grab something you know the weight of.... a 10lb dumbbell or the like and see if the scale registers the 10 lbs itself, then try it at the higher end with you on it first with the weight and without it, to see that the difference is 10 lbs.
Just use the same scale, a 2 lb loss on a calibrated scale will be a 2lb loss whether it's "accurately" showing your overall weight properly or not.

Well said. I agree.

SMarie10

I have both the old kind and a new digital scale - I definitely like the accuracy of the digital readout, plus it gives more than a round number so I can see how close (or far) I am from the next pound off. Agree that you should weigh in the same spot, same time otherwise you get obsessed with the scale and can have quite a difference in weight from a.m. to p.m.

makena78

I just did this test on my digital. Thank goodness it passed the test to the T. I don't have a cheap digital but it cost under $50.

Spayrroe

I used to use an old fashion rotary scale, but I had a hard time reading it since between every 10lbs it only has hash marks. At 5' 7" it gets a bit difficult to see what number you're on, not to mention having to find an angle to be able to see the window clearly without shifting your weight in a way that gave you a bad reading. I've owned four digital scales over the years, and three of them were utter disappointments. Then I found this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032TNPOE. It is fantastic! Very accurate, easy to read, not too expensive, and all around nice. When I read through the reviews on the product, the few people who gave it terrible reviews later updated their review because the company contacted them and sent them a new scale since obviously the one they got was defective. So, not only is the scale awesome, but it seems like the company really stands behind their product. I can't really comment on that because mine had no problems and I gave it a stellar review.

Onesnap

Target is the best place to buy a scale.

RBXChas

I would go digital. I used to have the old-fashioned scale, but it was hard to read while you were on it, and it's not like it saves the reading so you can crouch down to read it! Plus the digital scales give you readings in fractions of a pound. I used to have one that read in .5-pound increments, and now the one I have reads in .2-pound increments. It's encouraging to know I've lost even .2 lbs, so I stuck with that one. My only complaint is that it reads differently, sometimes varying as much as 2 lbs, based on the way I stand and/or how I have it situated on the floor in my bathroom. (I have 12"x12" ceramic tiles, which seems to fit my scale exactly, but they're not 100% even.) I have to get the same reading 3x before I will count it!

LeonaB17

I recently threw away my cheap dial scale b/c it was so bad - if i leaned one way it said more, leaned the other way it said less. If i scooted it around on the floor it would vary as much as 5 pounds depending on where I put it on the floor! I had bought a digital scale too - but it had the scoot around variances too - and within weeks it broke - not sure why. So now i only go with the one in our fitness room at work - which is a doctor's scale with the clunky thing you stand on and the big things you slide across. It's the most accurate and reliable. It's not as "forgiving" as the cheapo home scales I had been using - but being honest with myself - my highest weight of 327 was recorded at a doctor's visit - on a big clunky scale - so I'm best off using the same thing anyway.

eeeekie

I like Digital only because I can see how close/far I am to my next goal or solid #. I like seeing that it's 20.8 instead of 20...because 21 sounds way better lol. To each their own though

justme81

I think I will stick with the new Digital scale. I weighed on both and the Digital is 6 pounds more. So I made adjustments in my starting weight from 195 to 202. I still have lost 7 pounds so I now weigh 194 (as of my last weigh-in on May 4).