Wii fit

ThePersnicketyOtter
ThePersnicketyOtter Posts: 147 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys!

Well, I've been weighing through my Wii Fit because my scale was unreliably off-balance so I never knew if it was accurate or not, but I assumed the Wii was. But, now it says I'm at 230, while the doctor's-office-like scale at my college's gym says I'm still 243. I don't know which one I should be believing as the Wii has been what I've always used, so I don't know if I'm not losing weight, or if I really have lost the weight that the Wii says I've lost, just maybe starting about 14 pounds higher than I thought?

I measure inches as well, and I haven't seen much change there (one jeans size down), but it doesn't make sense to me for the Wii Fit scale to say I'm losing if I'm not.

What do you guys think?

Replies

  • healthy4heidi
    healthy4heidi Posts: 113 Member
    I weigh myself once a week on my Wii fit. I went to the doctor's office for a physical last week and my weight was almost identical to what my Wii fit said at my weigh in, there was about 4 days in between but it seems to be accurate.

    Is your Wii on flat, hard surface?
  • jazzalea
    jazzalea Posts: 412 Member
    I weigh myself daily on the bathroom scale and use the wii fit ( formally known as the mii fat) weekly as my control... it appears to be really consistent. are you on a carpet or bare floor... that does make a difference :)
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    are you weighing yourself naked at home and clothed at the doctor? Did you eat or drink anything before weighing at the doctor? Were both times at about the same time of day?

    All that makes a difference. I can easily be about 10 lbs higher at the doctor's office.
  • ThePersnicketyOtter
    ThePersnicketyOtter Posts: 147 Member
    I'm weighing on carpet on my Wii now, I used to be on wood floor or a rug. Does it really make that much of a difference?
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    I'm weighing on carpet on my Wii now, I used to be on wood floor or a rug. Does it really make that much of a difference?

    yes. you need to be on a hard surface to be accurate.
  • ThePersnicketyOtter
    ThePersnicketyOtter Posts: 147 Member
    I'm weighing on carpet on my Wii now, I used to be on wood floor or a rug. Does it really make that much of a difference?

    yes. you need to be on a hard surface to be accurate.

    Will I at least get comparable results on carpet, even if the actual weight is off? There is nowhere in the house I can put my Wii that's not carpeted, and I don't care so much what I weigh when I weigh at home, I care if I lost or not.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    I can't say. You could put something hard under it for weighing.

    Its been a while since I have looked at how a wii fit is made, but the problem is that the carpet tends to be squishy, so the legs sink into the carpet and some of your weight is supported by other parts of the scale and transferred to the carpet without going through the load cells in the scale, thus making your weight measurement lighter than actual. As far as being repeatable, you can test it by weighing yourself 5 or 10 times and see how it does, but over time as you lose weight and it sinks into the carpet less, the accuracy might be off between measurements (like comparing an actual 10 lb loss might only register as 5 lbs because you would be "heavier" the lighter you get)
  • ThePersnicketyOtter
    ThePersnicketyOtter Posts: 147 Member
    I can't say. You could put something hard under it for weighing.

    Its been a while since I have looked at how a wii fit is made, but the problem is that the carpet tends to be squishy, so the legs sink into the carpet and some of your weight is supported by other parts of the scale and transferred to the carpet without going through the load cells in the scale, thus making your weight measurement lighter than actual. As far as being repeatable, you can test it by weighing yourself 5 or 10 times and see how it does, but over time as you lose weight and it sinks into the carpet less, the accuracy might be off between measurements (like comparing an actual 10 lb loss might only register as 5 lbs because you would be "heavier" the lighter you get)

    At first I was like "wait, what?" but that actually makes sense. Thanks for the help and info. :)
  • LottieLou13
    LottieLou13 Posts: 574 Member
    I weigh myself daily on the bathroom scale and use the wii fit ( formally known as the mii fat) weekly as my control... it appears to be really consistent. are you on a carpet or bare floor... that does make a difference :)

    This is exactly what I do too. My wii fit comes in at 2lbs lighter than the bathroom scales but I log what ever the wii says because I have logging it since the very start. Its the consistency of the method you are using that matters more than the actual device you are doing it on :smile:
  • PJ_73
    PJ_73 Posts: 331 Member
    I'm weighing on carpet on my Wii now, I used to be on wood floor or a rug. Does it really make that much of a difference?

    I put my scales on the carpet last week to weigh myself and was about 45lbs lighter than when I weigh on the hard bathroom floor! Certainly made a difference to me.

    Maybe I should weigh on the carpet more often!!
  • Human7024
    Human7024 Posts: 1
    The Wii Fit comes with extensions to add to the bottom of the "feet" if you use it on carpet (thick carpet). These extensions will help with the accuracy if your carpet is plush or has a thick pad. I regularly use the Wii Fit on thick carpet and bare floor--and compare the two measurements. The extensions do help the accuracy with a thick carpet. However, if your carpet is thin, the extensions are not always necessary. Using the extensions to the Wii Fit "feet," the difference in my weight between the bare hardwood floor and the thick-padded area rug are always less than one pound.

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