Being weighed at the doctors...

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  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I don't think it matters. The GP is trying to establish whether you're a) within healthy parameters, which you almost certainly are, and b) how/if your weight changes over time. I always weigh heavier at the doctor's, due to food/shoes/my glasses/how much coffee I've chugged/any other silly example.

    The gym scale, however, weighs me at 11lb heavier wearing less/lighter clothes than I wear in everyday life and on an empty stomach at 6am. That IS a conspiracy :D
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,024 Member
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    I think that the doctor knows that your clothes have some weight, and that you will weigh less in the morning naked than you might in the afternoon fully clothed especially if you are wearing shoes. Unless your weight is the issue that you are seeing your doctor about I don't think a few pounds one way or the other makes a difference. As far as people being honest, I don't know that I agree with that. I would probably give an honest weight now, but before I lost 43 pounds I probably would have told them I weighed 5 pounds less than I really did if they asked and didn't weigh me.
  • alyssa0061
    alyssa0061 Posts: 652 Member
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    Pam_1965 wrote: »
    I just went to the doctor last week and refused to be weighed on their scale. I just told them that I seriously dieting and had weighed myself that morning. The nurse used rhe weight I gave her.

    Why is it that big of a deal? Who cares?
  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Our medical techs/nurses adjust for our clothes. So if I walk in with shoes/socks/jeans/top/jacket, they deduct a full 5 lbs off. If I'm in shorts, sandles, tank top, they take off 3lbs. Sometimes when I'm in ALL THE TIME, they just ask me what my weight is cuz they know I track every day. if they have me step on theirr scale & I tell them what I weighed in the morning, they look at their scale & what I've said & say, "yep, you're scale is right on the money" and put my home scale weight down.

    I think I'd be pissed to see them write 140 if I was 135. We work so freakin' hard to get where we want to be that seeing an accurate number is a victory.
  • Shells918
    Shells918 Posts: 1,070 Member
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    I often used to refuse to get weighed at the dr. My weight is a sensitive subject, and if I am there for a sore throat I don't think my weight is relevant. Now that I'm losing, I'll tell my primary care dr what I weighed at home, but I don't like getting weighed on multiple scales.
  • shellen007
    shellen007 Posts: 23 Member
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    If it really bothers you, maybe next time bring your personal scale with you to the doctor's office. That way you can rule out out any discrepancies between your doctor's scale and yours. Might give you peace of mind.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    kimdawnhayden wrote: »
    I think the Doctor's offices have a conspiracy with their scales. I always weigh more there. Just shake it off.

    If there isn't a discrepancy between your naked morning weight at home and your clothed, presumably fed weight at your doctor's, one of the scales is wrong.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    The frequency with which you are weighing yourself at home along with your reaction to being weighed at the doctors office seems OTT, in my opinion. Maybe it's time to think about how much value YOU are placing on that number.
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
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    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    Some of you are reading judgment in to where none was meant. The reading is what it is.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    But where is she even writing this? If the nurse wrote it in her chart, did she take the chart and change it? For a couple lbs? Seems like there is information missing here...
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    OP, I think you are placing way too much importance on a number which is completely ephemeral. I don't know that there is any such thing as your "actual weight" - it's going to vary so may times during the day, due to your activity, your eating and drinking, going to the bathroom and all the processes that happen in your body. Seeing a trend over time is very useful to track changes, but day to day - it's a pretty unimportant number.

    I fully expect that different scales are going to weigh slightly differently, and I'd very surprised if there wasn't a difference in weight at a different time of day and different situation (after breakfast, in clothes etc). I really don't know what you expect your doctor to do, open their doors at 6am so you can come in and use their bathroom and then weigh yourself naked?

    You should feel good about making changes that make you feel better and/or make you healthier, and a scale number is just one way to reflect that, but it's not the only way, and definitely not the most important.
  • Labyrinthine93
    Labyrinthine93 Posts: 46 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    But where is she even writing this? If the nurse wrote it in her chart, did she take the chart and change it? For a couple lbs? Seems like there is information missing here...

    When you fill out paperwork you have to give your weight. So, probably a new patient or updating their information.

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    Some of you are reading judgment in to where none was meant. The reading is what it is.

    I agree with @kshama2001
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Labyrinthine93 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    But where is she even writing this? If the nurse wrote it in her chart, did she take the chart and change it? For a couple lbs? Seems like there is information missing here...

    When you fill out paperwork you have to give your weight. So, probably a new patient or updating their information.

    Maybe, but why would the doctor say anything over a 5lb difference? It just doesn't add up (in my head).
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    Op- its five pounds. Not a huge deal. You seem to be really wrapped up in the five pound difference and that could be unhealthy.
    My gym scale weighs me +8lbs. My trainer records that weight. Its no biggie. All scales will have different weights . its normal. If your that upset over a five pound difference at the doctors then you may need to take a step back from this for a while. You shouldn't have that much emotion invested into a scale number. I actually weigh 135 also. My doctor says 141. My gym says 143. My moms scale says 133. Each scale will give a different reading and also add in the other variables like clothing and foods in your belly and its easy to see that all scales won't be the same and sometimes you will get higher readings.
  • Labyrinthine93
    Labyrinthine93 Posts: 46 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    Labyrinthine93 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    maxit wrote: »
    The doctor even commented saying " why would you have written down your weight as so much lower than the scale said?"

    That's the part that would bother me, OP, as it sounds judgmental.

    But where is she even writing this? If the nurse wrote it in her chart, did she take the chart and change it? For a couple lbs? Seems like there is information missing here...

    When you fill out paperwork you have to give your weight. So, probably a new patient or updating their information.

    Maybe, but why would the doctor say anything over a 5lb difference? It just doesn't add up (in my head).

    Beats me. I don't think it's a big deal. I think it's a weird thing to comment on really, I'm skeptical about it. I'm just saying when I see a doctor for the first time the paperwork always asks for height, weight, age, etc.

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