Bathroom scales - Dial v Digital

worldsbestauntie · May 2013

So I have been weighing myself on my old dial scales. You know the one with the printed screen that rotates and there is a little pointer that points to what you weigh? According to those I've been doing well and lost about 6 lbs in a couple of weeks. Last night I was out to Walmart and got myself some digital scales as I wanted something that was more accurate. I weighed myself this morning to see if there was any difference. Was there ever! In the WRONG direction! According to the digital scales, if I go by what my dial scales told me Tuesday morning, I"ve put on 3.6 pounds in four days! Now I know I had ONE day this week where I went over my calorie goal (my two bosses realized they missed Administrative Professionals Day two weeks ago and took me out to eat as a thank you for all the work I do for them on Thursday), and I haven't been getting in a lot of walking this week (Sorry, I don't walk in the rain!), but is really possible for the two difference scales to be that far off from each other? On the dial scales I do make sure that arrow is perfectly lined up with the 0 before I even step on. I weighed myself on both and the dial scales puts me almost 5 pounds lighter then the digital scales.

I thought my progress in only a couple of weeks was to good to be true and maybe it is.

Xiaolongbao · May 2013

Of course it's possible for scales to be that different.

In fact if you had 2 different sets of digital scales there's a good chance you'd notice at least some difference.

If you are going to start using the new scales that's fine. Don't feel like you've put weight on though just accept this as your new starting point and compare next week to this week. The losses recorded by your other scales (assuming you kept them in the same spot) should be correct even if the absolute weight wasn't.

beattie1 · May 2013

Different scales can easily differ from each other by several pounds. It's not uncommon to see threads on here from people wailing over the difference between their own scales, the gym's scales and the doctor's scales.

Don't stress about it! If I were you, I'd go with the weight result you get with your new scales, provided they are being consistent. Can you step on, step off, and step on again and get the same result from them? If you can then I'd rely on those.

You could always back-calculate what you would have weighed on your new scales if you'd had them a couple of weeks ago. Check what the difference is between old & new scales and edit your original entry or two by adding that on to the weight your old scales gave. Then enter today's weight as measured on the new scales and you're good to go!

If you think about it, it's amazing that any 2 scales get results that are anywhere near close to each other. Yours are using completely different technologies and they're only about 2% apart - that's an amazing feat of accuracy in my opinion.

kcaffee1 · May 2013

If it's only 5 pounds off, you're lucky. I transitioned about a month ago from a dial- type scale to digital, and there was a full 10 pound difference! The only thing that kept me using the digital at the time was that it agreed more or less with the doctor's scales, and the one at school - both digital.

To be sure your new digital are correct, however, you can try weighing a full gallon of water. It should weigh 8 pounds (+/- a few ounces because there may be human error in filling the jug), or a full sack of something that has a set weight (again with a few ounce difference due to slight variations accepted by the packing plant). You can also try this with your dial scales, to see if those might be a little off as well. I know the the old dial scale I used never did sit right at zero when it was "calibrated" to a 5 pound sack of flour)

anniemarianas · May 2013

You didn't gain weight, just one of the scales is slightly inaccurate or they're both slightly inaccurate.
Use whichever you prefer - if using the digital ones just accept the new starting point.
To be honest to ME it's not how much I weigh but more how I look and how I feel. Yesterday I felt like I had amazingly skinny legs and was sure I'd dropped 50 pounds overnight because it was miraculous how I felt, but my thighs measured up the same as the day before and my weight hadn't budged - I don't know what happened but I felt great.

I would rather be this weight and feel amazing about myself than be 20 pounds lighter and feel awful about myself - it's what i see in the mirror rather than what i see on the scales, the scales are just a point of reference to me.

worldsbestauntie · May 2013

Don't stress about it! If I were you, I'd go with the weight result you get with your new scales, provided they are being consistent. Can you step on, step off, and step on again and get the same result from them? If you can then I'd rely on those.

I can. I guess this means I weighed even more then I originally thought and have more to lose to get to my goal weight.

beattie1 · May 2013

Don't stress about it! If I were you, I'd go with the weight result you get with your new scales, provided they are being consistent. Can you step on, step off, and step on again and get the same result from them? If you can then I'd rely on those.

I can. I guess this means I weighed even more then I originally thought and have more to lose to get to my goal weight.

And EVEN MORE kudos to you when you get there! :-)

You're still the same person, with the same body, as you were before. It's just got a different "arbitrary number" labelling it. Who says you've GOT to be the weight you had as your goal weight? You could move your target upward as well if you don't want to lose more... They're only numbers, don't mean a thing on their own.....

kenorus · May 2013

throw away the scales! Best thing you could do for yourself!

Bathroom scales - Dial v Digital

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