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MyFitnessPal Community

[Help]Tips on Weighing In/What Scale do you use?

aeviescas

Hi everyone,

I have a problem: my scale does not weigh consistently. I am trying to figure out what the problem is. Some observations:

When the scale is off, it's off for everyone in my household. Today it registered 2 lbs higher for me (compared to yesterday) and a whopping 4 lbs for my mother (compared to 5 days ago).
My mom and I eat the same things with the same portion sizes. We are both on MFP and consistently eat at the recommended deficit every day BUT Saturday.
My mom is unsteady on her feet (she usually leans against the wall while weighing), so optimally we should have a scale that accounts for those fluctuations.
Moving the scale on the bathroom floor always makes the reading change a lot on the first weigh-in, and even when it "settles" it is often off. I don't know if it has to to with the vinyl tiles or not.
No one in my household is more than 200 lbs
Everyone weighs as soon as they get up, before breakfast.
We have a Homedics Bamboo Electronic Scale.
This is our third scale. The rest were even less consistent than this one, displaying massive weight changes each weigh-in (even when they were mere minutes apart).

I am trying not to obsess over numbers; I do not normally weigh myself every day. However, gaining 4 lbs in 5 days seems unreasonable enough that I am worried that weighing once a week will also introduce bad, discouraging data when the scale is so off.

Does anyone have any scale recommendations, preferably for scales under $100?

Or is there some other factor that might be accounting for the uneven weigh-ins? Floor tiling, food composition, uneven calorie intake schedule...?

Replies

snarlingcoyote

Currently, I'm using a $11 scale I got at CVS. It weighs consistently and when I weigh things with a known value, the weight is accurate.

Your weight will vary, you know. It varies a LOT from day to day and even within a few hours. I weighed this morning first thing as soon as I got to the office (we have a fitness club and I am Keeper of the Scale.) and then weighed 3 hours later - after I'd eaten some chicken bites, several cups of coffee and had an atkins pizza. . . surprisingly, my weight was up! I am going on a very long, very challenging hike tomorrow and already know my weight will go up crazy high the next day. That's not the scale. . .that's what I will weigh!

acceberd

The scale has to be level to weigh accurately. Check it doesn't wobble or tilt in the corners before weighing.

If your vinyl tiles are quite thick it will affect the reading.likewise if you weigh on carpet.

use the scales on a hard floor and weigh in the same spot each time for accuracy.

If your mum is leaning against the wall she's going to weigh lighter than her actual weight.

snarlingcoyote

acceberd wrote: »

The scale has to be level to weigh accurately. Check it doesn't wobble or tilt in the corners before weighing.

If your vinyl tiles are quite thick it will affect the reading.likewise if you weigh on carpet.

use the scales on a hard floor and weigh in the same spot each time for accuracy.

If your mum is leaning against the wall she's going to weigh lighter than her actual weight.

Ooohhh. Good point. I didn't even think about that. I always get a thick wooden board and put my scales on that. Shelves out a book case are perfect for this.

aeviescas

snarlingcoyote wrote: »

Currently, I'm using a $11 scale I got at CVS. It weighs consistently and when I weigh things with a known value, the weight is accurate.

Your weight will vary, you know. It varies a LOT from day to day and even within a few hours. I weighed this morning first thing as soon as I got to the office (we have a fitness club and I am Keeper of the Scale.) and then weighed 3 hours later - after I'd eaten some chicken bites, several cups of coffee and had an atkins pizza. . . surprisingly, my weight was up! I am going on a very long, very challenging hike tomorrow and already know my weight will go up crazy high the next day. That's not the scale. . .that's what I will weigh!

One thing I forgot to mention before: we always take measurements before breakfast. I hadn't actually heard about exercise throwing you off. We don't do anything too strenuous but we do exercise every other day. I'm mostly just worried that if day to day the fluctuations are as much as 4 lbs, week to week it could be even worse.

aeviescas

acceberd wrote: »

The scale has to be level to weigh accurately. Check it doesn't wobble or tilt in the corners before weighing.

If your vinyl tiles are quite thick it will affect the reading.likewise if you weigh on carpet.

use the scales on a hard floor and weigh in the same spot each time for accuracy.

If your mum is leaning against the wall she's going to weigh lighter than her actual weight.

Okay, I was hoping vinyl would be as good as hardwood but I think that might be some of the issue. There's no room in the bathroom and everything else is carpeted. The scale constantly gets kicked around because the kitchen is a highly trafficked area. I will try the board trick and see if that helps--and hopefully doesn't unbalance the scale.

snarlingcoyote

Oh yeah, you can gain weight after you exercise because your body is retaining water to repair muscles and/or your body is storing glycogen and water to fuel aerobic activity.

aeviescas

Ok, thanks for the tip.