Unreliable scale?

blpope

Hey y'all,
This is my first time posting. I've been using MFP for about a week and it's been great with helping me keep track of food and exercise, but this morning I had an unpleasant surprise. According to my scale, I've weighed about 126 lbs (it doesn't count ounces) for about 3 days, including yesterday. I have been weighing myself every morning and this morning the scale said 121. I knew that couldn't be right, so I stepped on it again and it said 128. To bug me even further, it said 129 the next three times I stepped on it before calling it quits.

Does this sound like a scale malfunction to anybody? I weigh myself at the same time every day--right before my shower, after I use the bathroom. I haven't been deviating much from my normal food and exercise. And while I have been lifting weights along with my cardio, I don't consider myself doing anything too strenuous. On the other hand, my "floodgates of Hell" have opened up this week, so maybe I'm just bloated. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone else frustrated with their scale? Haha.

Ashalahn_LMT

First and foremost, there's no need to weigh yourself every day. You will see too many fluctuations from day to day, and it gets discouraging and frustrating. Pick one maybe two days a week.
I usually step on and off the scale 2 times when I weigh. If it comes back the same (or really close) I leave it alone. If you are getting multiple readings spread far apart within seconds/minutes of weighing yourself the scale might be bad. Make sure it's on a good solid firm surface and you are standing in as close to the same spot every time.

Texaganian

Yes, if you are getting significantly different readings within minutes then there is definitely a problem with the scale.

AND... many people will tell you -- loudly -- to weigh only weekly but that way led to madness for me. Only by weighing myself daily (and, actually, twice daily for a while) was I able to begin to understand the magnitude of normal weight fluctuation. You need to do what works best for you.

Daffydilly

Hi,

Just a thought, could the battery need changing. My scales become a bit unreliable when the battery's about to expire and many a time I've been tempted to recalibrate them by dropping them out of the window! only kidding.

Hope this helps,

Jackie.

jbucci1186

I agree with the above. I cannot tell you the times I have gone "scale crazy" and weighed myself multiple times in on day over the course of a few days. It's all good when it's reading what you want it to, but once it goes up... at least for me, i would lose my mind worrying. Now what I do is weigh myself once a week (or less if I can overcome my desire) and in between weigh-ins, put the scale away so I don't look at it every time I go into the bathroom. I also step on it twice, just to double check. Sometimes, if it looks like it's going to be heavier than I am expecting, I just get off before it can lock in the weight, assume it's water, and try again the next day.

Also, I have learned that it is possible to gain up to 10 pounds (my own experience) in one day. By the next, I was back down to normal. Water retention is annoying, but it happens to everyone.

Good luck!

AZackery

I can't tell a person when to weigh themselves, but I wouldn't weigh myself everyday or more than once a day. Fat loss is not easy to lose. A person can't lose fat fast. If a person is 150 pounds today and they step on the scale tomorrow and they are 148 pounds, it doesn't mean they have lost 2 pounds of fat.

I weigh myself once a month and I don't care about the scale weight, although, I do write it down with the rest of my recordings. I focus on my body fat percentage/pounds of fat and inches. Those lets me know if I am losing fat.

If you step on a scale more than once in a minute's time, you will get different reading, but in those reading, you should at least get two of the same reading. To see if your scale is accurate, if you have a weight, put it on it to see if the scale will register the weight's weight. If it does, take the weight off and wait a few seconds and put it back on the scale, if you get the same reading, there's nothing wrong with your scale.

The way you stand on the scale can cause a different reading as well. Make sure you are standing correctly on the scale at all times.

blpope

Thanks everybody! These are helpful.