Which scales are right help!!

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kimuk18
kimuk18 Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
I have been using digital scales for 45 days straight but yesterday I had a doctors appointment and she weighed me on a mechanical scale and weighed 8lbs less, I decided to buy a set of mechanical scales for myself and it matched the weight of the doctors scales. The question is which scales should I go by the mechinal ones like the doctors or the digital ones thanks guys :D x

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  • ldalvarado
    ldalvarado Posts: 16 Member
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    Have you calibrated your digital scale? There should be instructions for how to reset it to actual 0 if that makes sense.
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
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    - Grab the weight of something you know the weight of (let's say a 2kg dumbbell etc).
    - weigh yourself
    - weigh yourself again holding the dumbell.
    - if your scale reads 2kg heavier when you're holding the dumbbell then your scale is accurate.
  • ScrAgnX
    ScrAgnX Posts: 368 Member
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    .
    ldalvarado wrote: »
    Have you calibrated your digital scale? There should be instructions for how to reset it to actual 0 if that makes sense.

    my first thought was also calibration; If you don't leave your scale in the same place then every time you put it down you have to recalibrate. Mine I have to tap the scale to turn on, and then leave it alone off until it reads zero and shuts itself off; afterwards I can step on to turn it on and weigh. Some you have to tap on, let it zero, then hop on before it shuts itself off.

    I had a digital scale that weighed me the same every week (I think it had a memory built in to prevent minor fluctuations) and that annoyed me so I bought a second digital. The second scale weighs consistently 1-1.5 lbs heavier; I worried over how to approach this (because I wanted to use the one without a built in memory, but didn't want to "put on" 1.5lbs) then after worrying with it I decided it didn't matter.

    In the end it helped me to realize my goals are to lose weight, and once I'm happy to maintain there. The numbers can be off by 1, 1.5, 8, or 1,000lbs as long as they are consistent (if you're losing then it shows you going down). I had a correction day in my weigh-ins (weighed with the old and new scale and plugged in the old scale on the day before), and it looks funny on my weight loss chart; but I've grown to be okay with that.

    As far as precision, the only way to really know would be for you to weigh something approximately your weight (because scales may have more or less error at 20lbs than 200lbs), and weigh the same object in the same conditions on a calibrated scale (shipping scale maybe). I would like to think a mechanical scale would be more accurate, but it's all in the assembly; also would like to think your doctor's scale would be more accurate
  • kimuk18
    kimuk18 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your help I'll try and calaborate the digital scales and see what it says

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