Scale Question

jhuff

The first week of January I stood on my dad's digital scale and the scale would say I weighed 137 or 138 depending on the time of the day I weighed myself. Then I went to my gynecologist and stood on their digital scale (the digital kinds that you only see at the doctors...I've only been on them once...) and it said I weighed 142 lbs that morning when all I had was a small breakfast bar for and a glass of Ovaltine that morning. Now, a month later, I've just started dieting a week ago (thinking I weighed around 142 lbs) but the manual scale (where you have to move the bar across the top and all that) and my college's gym says I only weigh 136!

I doubt I went from 142 to 137 after no diet and exercise, and then I lost that one pound after this week. Sorry if this is confusing, but does anybody know which scale I should trust?? The manual one is the kind that you would stand on at the doctor's and they move the bar across the top before they went digital. I have no idea what its called, haha.

catherine1979

I don't know if there's a "right" answer to this but I would say pick one and forget the rest... only weigh yourself on one scale. They may not be calibrated accurately, they may need a new battery, there are many reasons why there may be such a difference. Just pick one scale and stick with it, and ignore the numbers on the other scales.

pkgirrl

Definitely the manual one, because they're adjusted every time, and not electronic, its easy to spot if they need to be calibrated, and a dying battery never causes wonky results. Hope this helps

mworld

so the manual one is the most accurate one imo. however, to make sure its accurate you calibrate it at zero. If you aren't standing on it, it should be 'balanced' and not leaning...if it is, the beauty of the manual one is there is a weight (usually on the left) with a screw through it, and you just twist the screw to manaully move the weight left and right...you want to make sure you get the scale to balanced, then step on it and move the other weights.


maybe tmi, but hope it helps.

EmilyStrick

if i were you, i would throw out the doctor's scale reading! it told you that you were 142, but you had 2 other scales put you in a 1-2 pound range......if you got 136, 137, 138...i bet you're there and not at 142! when you were at the doc's on the scale, did you have your shoes on or were you holding a purse or wearing a jacket or something? those things could certainly amount to 3 or 4 pounds!

epj78

It doesn't matter. Pick one and stick with one scale. They all read a bit differently due to various factors. If you REALLY care about the number (IMHO, you shouldn't, it should be about your health level and how you feel with the number just being a guidepost), than I would go with the manual one as long as it is calibrated at zero.

kellygirl5538

Who really cares...........as long as you don't jump up too much and u are watching what you eat and exercise. It would drive myself crazy worringf about what each scale says what. Go by clothes!