Bought a new scale, now my numbers are off

ticklepocket
ticklepocket Posts: 36 Member
edited January 12 in Health and Weight Loss
When I started mfp about a month ago I was using an ancient spring analog scale. After a few weeks I started to see results and felt real motivated and so decided to upgrade to a digital scale.

The new scale showed me to to be 5 - 7 lbs heavier than the old scale! :grumble:

This was depressing and I was busy so I just didn't deal with it. I kept weighing myself on the new scale and I finally lost enough to bring me to the point where I thought I was already at 10 days earlier. So now it shows me losing again and I am happy because I know it shows my actual weight.

So now my mfp stats show that I've lost 17 lbs but I know it is really somewhere between 22 and 24 lbs.

I feel that as long as I know the truth, the mfp stats don't matter. And I don't know how I would go about fixing it anyway. On the other hand, the stats part of mfp have been real important in motivating me and helping me learn about weight loss so they do kind of matter. All things considered, I think I should probably just forget about it and move on.

How do other people handle new scales or weighing in on different scales? What do you think I should do?

Replies

  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    Change your "starting" weight as well and it will show you lost the 24 pounds you lost. Same thing happened to me.
  • AnjaZ89
    AnjaZ89 Posts: 235
    first thing I did when I bought my scale was putting 11lbs (5kg)worth of dumbbells on it to see if it was showing me the right number. Of course it didn't, so I started moving the scale around the house until I found a spot where it shows me the correct number!
    Try finding something in your kitchen that weighs 1kg or so (if you don't have dumbbells on hand) and try it out to!!
  • ticklepocket
    ticklepocket Posts: 36 Member
    I know the new scale works properly. I tested it. I could tell the old one was off because it wasn't even consistent from one minute to the next.

    If I change my beginning weight, then won't my target weight be screwed up somehow? I am not sure what this will do to my slider...

    I think one part of me doesn't want to change my starting weight because I don't want to face up to how heavy I really was. It is just hard because that extra 7 pounds brings my starting weight up very close to a number that is scary for me to think about.

    But mfp is all about honesty, accuracy, accountability and being real so I am going to go ahead and do it.
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    I know the new scale works properly. I tested it. I could tell the old one was off because it wasn't even consistent from one minute to the next.

    If I change my beginning weight, then won't my target weight be screwed up somehow? I am not sure what this will do to my slider...

    I think one part of me doesn't want to change my starting weight because I don't want to face up to how heavy I really was. It is just hard because that extra 7 pounds brings my starting weight up very close to a number that is scary for me to think about.

    But mfp is all about honesty, accuracy, accountability and being real so I am going to go ahead and do it.

    she's right, i think. if you'd weighed yourself on those scales at the beginning you'd have been 5-7 heavier than you were on the other ones. WERE. not ARE. You lost that already, so type in the accurate weight, be proud of your loss, let go of where you WERE, be proud of where you ARE and be excited about what is NEXT xx
  • ticklepocket
    ticklepocket Posts: 36 Member
    I just want to thank you all for your help and encouragement.
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    I just want to thank you all for your help and encouragement.

    you're welcome. well done on your 24lb so far! you're doing amazing x
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