When is it time to buy a new scale?

kkay3182
kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Ok so my scale is about 3 years old and I think it is accurate, well use to.
I have noticed for the pass 2 months my scale only gives me 3 almost consistent readings and all in the same day!!!
morning weight 302.8, mid day 305.(which is normal I assume) night 311.6!!! really?
Last night it said 310.8 this am 306.2??
This is really frustrating and discouraging now.
There is no way I am eating near 14000 calories/2-days to be gaining any weight, what is worse I am actually exercising something I did not really do when I started my journey.
I know my eating is not perfect but my logging is as accurate as I can make it when I eat out and at home everything is measured/weighed. And I log everything and I am just not hitting any of those projections on MFP!!! Not even within a few pounds!!
On the other hand I feel better, my knees don't hurt, my clothes fit differently, no more nightly heartburn or indigestion, but not seeing the numbers move is overwhelming, last night I felt like if am always gonna be this fat no matter what I do why bother!!! No I do not get discouraged easily, but this is frustrating so it got me thinking..DO I NEED A NEW SCALE??? and if I do any suggestions on brand/type. I currently have a basic digital one that has a 400lb limit at my heaviest I was 332lb
I ams eriously about to go to my grocery store and climb up on their produce scale:huh:

Replies

  • madhound
    madhound Posts: 14
    use common sense your weight fluctuates throughout the day... and your not ment the weigh yourself 3 times a day only once in the morning every week. dont blame your scale
  • brittaney0625
    brittaney0625 Posts: 268 Member
    It is normal... weight fluctuates a lot throughout the day.. and day to day... It is best to not weigh so much. I may weigh myself more than once a week on occassion.. but try to just do it once a week because day to day it changes up and down sometimes...

    I would start trying to weigh in on like Monday first thing in the morning, after you urinate of course.
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    Did you eat anything? That has weight. Did you drink anything? That has weight. Over the course of a day I can go up 10 lbs easily and be back to my "normal" weight in the morning. It isn't your scale, it is just natural fluctuations.
  • oedipa_maas
    oedipa_maas Posts: 577 Member
    Wacky fluctuations are super common, even over the course of a single day. I was so indignant at my scale that I went and got a 10 lb hand weight from the closet to test its accuracy. Scale was 100% accurate. D'oh!

    I stopped weighing myself more than once a day, and frankly, I hope to reduce it down to once a week. That will give me a more accurate picture of my loss/gains.
  • JeralynSh
    JeralynSh Posts: 139 Member
    On the other hand I feel better, my knees don't hurt, my clothes fit differently, no more nightly heartburn or indigestion, but not seeing the numbers move is overwhelming, last night I felt like if am always gonna be this fat no matter what I do why bother!!! No I do not get discouraged easily, but this is frustrating so it got me thinking..DO I NEED A NEW SCALE???

    If this is happening, then you're on the right track. I would stop obsessing over the scale & the numbers and go by how you're feeling. In fact, were I you, at this point I would throw out the scale, continue to exercise & eat right and not even buy another scale for at least a month.
  • azrubael
    azrubael Posts: 65 Member
    Depending on the intensity of your workout you could also have additional water weight. Muscles will store water weight after an intense workout. but this will usually drop off in 12- 24 hours (or at least it does with me). I would also agree with some of the posts above. My weight fluctuates by 5-7 lbs through the day, so I always weight in at the same time.
  • brittaney0625
    brittaney0625 Posts: 268 Member
    On the other hand I feel better, my knees don't hurt, my clothes fit differently, no more nightly heartburn or indigestion, but not seeing the numbers move is overwhelming, last night I felt like if am always gonna be this fat no matter what I do why bother!!! No I do not get discouraged easily, but this is frustrating so it got me thinking..DO I NEED A NEW SCALE???

    If this is happening, then you're on the right track. I would stop obsessing over the scale & the numbers and go by how you're feeling. In fact, were I you, at this point I would throw out the scale, continue to exercise & eat right and not even buy another scale for at least a month.

    She is right. The scale doesn't always change.. Check me out
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1339248-motivaters-needed
    This before/during picture is only about 19lbs but inches.. and my clothes size changing. Pictures help you see the change before the scale does. Esp if you are working out. I am working out and doing strength training.

    Don't give up.. you have to let to scale go. Put it up in a closet and forget about it for awhile.
  • kkay3182
    kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
    I understand that my weight fluctuates throughout the day!!! What I am actually frustrated by is that I have been at the same morning weight 302.8 for 2 months now despite eating well (most times) and adding exercise....
  • bethlaf
    bethlaf Posts: 954 Member
    personally if you dont trust your scale, get a new one .
    they actually ( the newer digital ones) are lifetime warranty, so nope i was not sticker shocked to spend 40.00 on a decent scale, but have had good luck on a 20.00 one too, some day i will spring for an aria that synch and all that jazz. but not today..
    scales are cheap , if it stresses you out get a new one .
    simple answer .


    now as to weigh variying through the day , yes yes it does , going up 5 lbs through the course of the day - PERFECTLY NORMAL-



    ETA - --- i Weigh EVERY DAY - for me it motivates me and keeps me on course, and concious of my decisions i make food and exercise wise
  • biddy249
    biddy249 Posts: 76 Member
    Weigh yourself once a week, same day, same time and don't get on the scale any other time. Otherwise you will go bonkers. If you your not losing weight then your not eating at a deficit even though you think you are. Make sure you log everything and eat clean. Hang in there and do the right things and the weight will drop.
  • emacb123
    emacb123 Posts: 254 Member
    I understand that my weight fluctuates throughout the day!!! What I am actually frustrated by is that I have been at the same morning weight 302.8 for 2 months now despite eating well (most times) and adding exercise....

    Oh! You didn't say that in your original post.

    Anyway, be careful about buying a new scale. I've had the same scale for EVER but it only measures in whole lb's.

    I really wanted one that showed .10 lb so I treated myself.

    Guess what? My new scale says I weigh 5lb more than my old!! What a buzzkill!!

    I stick with my old now because I'm familiar with its numbers and where I am relative to where I've been in the past.

    Sometimes a new scale isn't the answer.

    Just my $0.02
  • brittaney0625
    brittaney0625 Posts: 268 Member
    What are you doing for exercise? Maybe change it.

    I am not a professional by any means.. just what I have seen help me when I have been stuck.

    Are you eating a good breakfast?
    I try to have 6 meals and for my calorie goal they are 300-400 calories each.
    I have been watching my sodium because I was retaining a LOT of water. (swelling, pits even)
    I have been pushing to drink a gallon of water a day.
    I also work out 5 days a week, always.
    I haven't lost much on the scale over the last 2 months.. like hardly any really.. But.. I have went down in clothes sizes.
    Which leads me to know that I am building muscle.. and loosing fat.. So my weight isn't dropping.. and that has to be okay. It will start to at some point.
  • myfitnesspale3
    myfitnesspale3 Posts: 276 Member
    Weigh yourself once a week, same day, same time and don't get on the scale any other time. ...

    +1 . Drinking and ejecting water means that my weight moves +/- 3% all the time. If I eat a bunch of salt then I pickup 4-5 pounds in one day, easy. It means little. I measure every day but once a week is more indicative of any trend.
  • Komodo26
    Komodo26 Posts: 55
    I won't buy a scale for this reason....I wait for doctors visits or whenever I happen to be near one. The ones at the mall cost a quarter near the restroom. I've had a scale in the past and was so obsessive with using it that I believe it contributed to my failures every time. I also read something the other day that simply taking a weekly picture is one of the best ways to track weight loss...pictures don't lie.
  • kkay3182
    kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
    What are you doing for exercise? Maybe change it.

    I am not a professional by any means.. just what I have seen help me when I have been stuck.

    Are you eating a good breakfast?
    I try to have 6 meals and for my calorie goal they are 300-400 calories each.
    I have been watching my sodium because I was retaining a LOT of water. (swelling, pits even)
    I have been pushing to drink a gallon of water a day.
    I also work out 5 days a week, always.
    I haven't lost much on the scale over the last 2 months.. like hardly any really.. But.. I have went down in clothes sizes.
    Which leads me to know that I am building muscle.. and loosing fat.. So my weight isn't dropping.. and that has to be okay. It will start to at some point.

    I now eat breakfast never use to until I started on here, I eat enough and I drink a lot of water hardly juice or anything as for excessive retention, I have never had swollen feet or fingers etc, I walk on the treadmill at a 5.5% incline for minimum 22mins sometimes as much as 45/5 days a week, and do some strength training 2-3 times a week. Thank you, maybe I am building muscle I do not know size wise its hard to tell at 332lbs I wore 22w pants and 3x top which I was told is not average sized clothing for someone my weight idk
  • kkay3182
    kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
    Thanks everyone for the insight.... I will keep pressing on..:grumble:
  • earthboundmisfit
    earthboundmisfit Posts: 192 Member
    If you're clothes are fitting better you must be doing something right. Do you check your measurements? That's really helpful; relying on the scale alone doesn't give you an accurate picture of your progress.
  • kkay3182
    kkay3182 Posts: 90 Member
    If you're clothes are fitting better you must be doing something right. Do you check your measurements? That's really helpful; relying on the scale alone doesn't give you an accurate picture of your progress.

    Yes my problem area is my stomach and back fat..ewww...cant really measure my back but my waist has gone from a 52" to a 47/48 ish
  • GodMomKim
    GodMomKim Posts: 3,708 Member
    The inches is the truth! and 4-5 inches gone from your waist is HUGE ! We all gain and lose in different orders and schedules. I have a friend who has lost 40 lbs and not even 1 inch from her bust (and it is real not fake boobies) - you've lost inches and not the lbs... personally I would rather lose inches as that is what makes it noticeable to the world, and lets you find cute clothes... and the scale will come along when it is ready. You have done a great job of logging and exercising very regularly just keep it up!
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    If the problem is your scale the most likely culprit is that the batteries need to be changed. Otherwise I would assume that these are normal daily fluctuations.
  • LSinVA
    LSinVA Posts: 60 Member
    Weigh yourself once a week, same day, same time and don't get on the scale any other time. ...

    ^ this. I used to weigh myself several times throughout the day on previous weight loss attempts. I don't do it anymore. I weigh once a week, early in the am before eating or exercise. It's a strict rule for me personally or I obsess and it starts distracting me.

    Sounds like that is happening to you too. If after a month of weighing once a week, you still see no change, I would re-examine my calorie logs and/or exercise logs to see if I could change something. Barring a medical condition, the reason you would not be losing is because you are not at a deficit.
  • bonnt
    bonnt Posts: 171 Member
    How's your eating? You may be fine calorie wise, but there is more to it than that. With a quick look from your diary, it said that you are eating 5 pieces of chocolate for dinner? Anything else? There are several days that you went over on your fat intake. Change around what you're eating. Once I lost a certain amount of weight, I had to take a better look at my macros and that made all the difference,.
  • rosnz
    rosnz Posts: 91 Member
    You can just check how consistent your scale is. Get a medium-size box and put some books or something similar in it and weigh the box - say it weighs 20 pounds. Then you will be able to weigh yourself in the morning and if you want to weigh yourself again at lunchtime first weigh the box it should still be exactly 20 lb on your scale. Better still if you can weigh a large bag of flour or something you actually know the weight of you may be able to test its accuracy to a degree as well. We had an old set of scales not a digital one and we did check it in this way and found that they did fluctuate so I replaced them.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    You can just check how consistent your scale is. Get a medium-size box and put some books or something similar in it and weigh the box - say it weighs 20 pounds. Then you will be able to weigh yourself in the morning and if you want to weigh yourself again at lunchtime first weigh the box it should still be exactly 20 lb on your scale. Better still if you can weigh a large bag of flour or something you actually know the weight of you may be able to test its accuracy to a degree as well. We had an old set of scales not a digital one and we did check it in this way and found that they did fluctuate so I replaced them.

    Very good idea. Consistency in a scale is more important than absolute accuracy. If your scale always weighs a pound higher, so what? The important thing is seeing the trend.

    Of course, right now I want to throw my scale out the window. I am weighing 3 lb higher than last week but I KNOW it is water weight. Our weather is hot and sticky right now and my fingers are swollen enough that I can't get my ring off. As soon as a cool front moves in, all of that should go away. In the meantime, I am trying really hard to avoid the scale.
  • scolloby
    scolloby Posts: 22 Member
    Personally I've found digital scales to be very temperamental, giving differing weights within a few seconds, regardless of what I've paid for them. Now I have a good quality, if not cheap, non-digital scale. Much more accurate and no software to get messed up.

    Ref: fluctuating weight- did you know one mug of coffee can weight half a pound? More if the mug is larger. Meals can easily weigh much, much more - and that is not related to its calories at all. Think about a water mellon - the weight in that and it's nearly all water (water is one of the heaviest things there is). Going to the bathroom - that messes with your weight too. How long any food and drink is in your system - while it's there it weighs. Have an experiment with it all - you'll be amazed!

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