Different numbers on different scales?!

Caitlin42490
Caitlin42490 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone,

I had been using a cheap scale from Ikea to track my weight for MFP for the past couple of months, and had generally accepted this to be my real weight. Last week I had a medical examination, and the scale at the doctors office read as 5 KILOS LESS than my scale at home. I have heard that some scales can vary slightly, and that's fine, but 5 kilos is alottt and now I am wondering how much I really weigh. I know for sure that I haven't lost those 5 kilos, but the difference of 82 kg and 77 kg could be the difference between a healthy weight and an unhealthy one.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks!

Replies

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Doctors scales are often different than what your reads. Essentially, most scales are not calibrated the same, so they will read differently. While you were 5kg heavier at the doctor's office, at your heaviest, it likely still would have been higher than what you read at home. Also, there's differences in what you're wearing, how much you've had to eat/drink, etc. Pick one scale, weigh at the same time each time you weigh and in consistent clothing. Look for trends, and don't let the scale rule your emotions. It often lies.
  • aperrillioux
    aperrillioux Posts: 115 Member
    I use the scales at the gym I go to, the problem is that I go to two different gyms. Generally, I prefer the scale at the one closest to my home, it looks newer and is less wobbly so I feel that it is more likely to show my correct weight. However! It's been broken. So, at the other gym, closer to work, I decided to weigh myself this week (bad sentence, I know. Passive voice, always a no-no). Anyway, there are two scales there, both of which look iffy. I opted for the one in the dressing room first. 144 pounds. WOW. Seeing as I had weighed in (on yet another scale) only the day before at 149...So, I decided to give the one in the main lobby a chance. 152!! Wow.

    Would I believe I weighed 152? yes, my diet has been full of sodium (and sugar) for the last two weeks. And no, I do not typically weigh myself everyday, but I was trying to figure out if the first scale had been correct. Point is, SCALES SUCK. Measurements are the way to go.
  • olso4415
    olso4415 Posts: 2
    Scales may weigh differently but they give you a relative idea of weight loss or gain. What is x on one scale may be y on another but you still weigh z. If you gain or lose weight x and y should behave appropriately even if they are different readings.
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,264 Member
    I think the only real accurate weight scale will be the old style balance slider ones, where you stood on a pad and weights were slid along a bar at the top. When the bar was level you, and weights were equal

    I have not seen them around for years, guess too labour intensive these days
  • dawnna76
    dawnna76 Posts: 987 Member
    I think the only real accurate weight scale will be the old style balance slider ones, where you stood on a pad and weights were slid along a bar at the top. When the bar was level you, and weights were equal

    I have not seen them around for years, guess too labour intensive these days


    My gym has one in the changing room :smile: it's my favorite scale.
  • kbanzhaf
    kbanzhaf Posts: 601 Member
    I changed scales partway through my weight loss, and my new one (which in reality is probably more accurate) showed that I weighed about 5 pounds more. Am I concerned about that, a couple of years down the road? NOPE! I just figure that my starting weight was actually 5 pounds more as well! :wink:
    Just chose ONE scale and use it to base your weight loss upon.
    Like a previous poster said, there is x, there is y, and the truth is probably z.
    Kaye
  • dgljones
    dgljones Posts: 89
    We have one in the break room at work but I like to weigh naked and that might cause issues.
  • charmarbobar
    charmarbobar Posts: 251 Member
    I think the only real accurate weight scale will be the old style balance slider ones, where you stood on a pad and weights were slid along a bar at the top. When the bar was level you, and weights were equal

    I have not seen them around for years, guess too labour intensive these days

    We have one at work (I work in a hospital) in one of the bathrooms....but someone always plays with the calibration (it's a children's hospital lol) so I never like to weigh myself on that one anymore...way too iffy!
  • theskinnylist
    theskinnylist Posts: 286 Member
    While you were 5kg heavier at the doctor's office, at your heaviest, it likely still would have been higher than what you read at home.
    But she said she was 5kg LESS at the doctor's office.... which to me is odd!

    I'm always heavier at the doctor (a: because I'm wearing clothes, and b: because I've usually already had a meal and water some time in the day, vs when I weigh myself naked in the morning at home).

    I'd invest in perhaps an analog scale (not a digital one).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    This is one of the many reasons why measurements are so important and trump anything a scale tells you. You need to do both.

Categories