Inaccurate scales

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boots4409
boots4409 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What do I do to get the most accurate weigh in, and how often should I update my weight? I believe my scale at home is off.

Replies

  • Lewisg51
    Lewisg51 Posts: 220 Member
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    Weight yourself first thing in the morning, before everything, plus don't weight yourself after a binge or cheat day for a few days at least because of water weight. I usually weight myself every two weeks. Because weighing yourself everyday in my opinion demotivates you because you see the progress slowly.
  • KimmyJaneTD
    KimmyJaneTD Posts: 43 Member
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    I purchased a dial scale - I check it against my digital scale when I weigh in. Sometimes the digital scale can add up to 5lbs. I weigh daily because I don't mind the slow progress. I just like to see the trend.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Lewisg51 wrote: »
    Weight yourself first thing in the morning, before everything, plus don't weight yourself after a binge or cheat day for a few days at least because of water weight. I usually weight myself every two weeks. Because weighing yourself everyday in my opinion demotivates you because you see the progress slowly.

    Not everyone gets demotivated weighing daily, especially if they're aware of the natural fluctuations that occur. An app such as Happy Scale, Libra, or Trendweight will smooth out the fluctuations and look at the overall trend.

    OP, first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and before eating/drinking is the best time. How often is up to you.
  • Lewisg51
    Lewisg51 Posts: 220 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Lewisg51 wrote: »
    Weight yourself first thing in the morning, before everything, plus don't weight yourself after a binge or cheat day for a few days at least because of water weight. I usually weight myself every two weeks. Because weighing yourself everyday in my opinion demotivates you because you see the progress slowly.

    Not everyone gets demotivated weighing daily, especially if they're aware of the natural fluctuations that occur. An app such as Happy Scale, Libra, or Trendweight will smooth out the fluctuations and look at the overall trend.

    OP, first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and before eating/drinking is the best time. How often is up to you.

    Just speaking from experience. And nothing can account for the fluctuations, while not random they are seemingly near too.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    I weigh in at the gym right after I work out on the old fashioned counterbalance scale. I find I weigh lessafter a workout than I do first thing in the morning. Probably a combination of a more accurate scale at the gym than ar home and the little bit If dehydration after a workout.
  • tinywonder25
    tinywonder25 Posts: 148 Member
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    I'm a wierdo. I wake up early on Fridays and weigh in at the gym before water or anything and after I pee. Whenever I had home scales I always weighed more on the gym scale and it was so disheartening to see such different numbers. Also this way I am not on a rollercoaster of daily weigh ins which naturally fluctuate. I can see the bigger picture only weighing in once a week.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I think the most important thing to use the same scale each time.
    Even if your scale at home is weighing a bit more or less, that doesn't really matter because you can see the trend up or down over time. Unless of course it's way, way off each day, then maybe it's time for a new scale.

    There is no such thing as a perfectly accurate weight, a definitive number - it's going to vary throughout the day and the week and the month due to your normal body functions including food intake, exercise, going to the bathroom, hormones etc.
    For me that means that you shouldn't lose sleep over an exact number, weigh yourself as often or an infrequently as you like, and use other measures too - like how your clothes fit, your level of fitness and energy, or your waist (etc) measurements.
  • BeYouTiful94
    BeYouTiful94 Posts: 289 Member
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    For accuracy, try to keep your conditions level (like maybe in the morning after using the restroom before having water or breakfast, wearing similar weight of clothes, etc.). For how often, it's up to you. I personally weigh every morning and track on an iOS app called Happy Scale. I like to watch the trend so that if a weekly weigh in just happens to be on a day with an upward fluctuation, I'm not demotivated, feeling like my whole week went to waste. I just personally feel like if I only weighed weekly, I'd weigh on one of those off days and be irritated as all out. The trend line keeps me from getting upset about ups during the week as well, so hooray for the trend line! Haha but really, there's tons of options on that front though. You could weigh once a year if you wanted, or just do measurements and never weigh. It's whatever you want to and will consistently do

    For the scale maybe being off, find a known weight in your house and test it out. Like, if you've got some dumbbells or something. If a 5 pound dumbbell continuously weighs in at 7 pounds, your scale might be 2 off and you might want to adjust every reading accordingly. Of course, just making sure to always weigh on the same scale would be better because, even if it is off, it's consistently off, and therefore tells you if you lost any weight. Any two scales could give two different readings
  • boots4409
    boots4409 Posts: 16 Member
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    BeYouTiful94 wrote: »
    For accuracy, try to keep your conditions level (like maybe in the morning after using the restroom before having water or breakfast, wearing similar weight of clothes, etc.). For how often, it's up to you. I personally weigh every morning and track on an iOS app called Happy Scale. I like to watch the trend so that if a weekly weigh in just happens to be on a day with an upward fluctuation, I'm not demotivated, feeling like my whole week went to waste. I just personally feel like if I only weighed weekly, I'd weigh on one of those off days and be irritated as all out. The trend line keeps me from getting upset about ups during the week as well, so hooray for the trend line! Haha but really, there's tons of options on that front though. You could weigh once a year if you wanted, or just do measurements and never weigh. It's whatever you want to and will consistently do

    For the scale maybe being off, find a known weight in your house and test it out. Like, if you've got some dumbbells or something. If a 5 pound dumbbell continuously weighs in at 7 pounds, your scale might be 2 off and you might want to adjust every reading accordingly. Of course, just making sure to always weigh on the same scale would be better because, even if it is off, it's consistently off, and therefore tells you if you lost any weight. Any two scales could give two different readings


    Thanks! I'm definitely gonna test it out with the Dumbbells and see how much it's off by. I would probably want to take measurements as well... Good idea!
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited April 2016
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    My digital scale is always exactly 2.2 pounds under the beam scale in my doctor's office, it's uncanny.
  • bellabonbons
    bellabonbons Posts: 705 Member
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    I can't stand not knowing if scale is accurate. I invest in German engineering for accuracy. Expensive but worth it.

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