Looking for a reliable/accurate body weight scale.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

daniip_la wrote: »

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Why does it matter if the scale is inconsistant? Inconsistency would be random and in the form of +/- error, if you weigh yourself regularly that error would take the form of noise but the signal of your actual weight loss would stand out in the trend from that noise.

Lets say on a given day your scale was off by 4 pounds either too high or too low. As long as you continue to weigh yourself regularly on that scale over time you will still be able to tell with high accuracy when you have lost 5 pounds because your weight measures will go from X +/- 4 to (X-5) +/-4

There is no need for an "accurate" scale...weight is arbitrary anyways, it is the change that is important and even a hugely "innacurate" scale can still be used to accurately measure weight change over time.

That's your opinion, though I feel that precision matters more than accuracy when it comes to scales.

I understand how signal and noise works. But I still prefer to have a scale that gives me precise measurements, where I'm not filtering out noise from the number moving around every time I step on it.

It really isn't an opinion, its math.

If you have something that has a +/- range of error that error is inconsequential to the measurement of a trend over time. Weight loss is a trend over time.

If you measure your weight one week on a scale daily that is off by +/- 4 pounds and you measure 167, 171,175, 172, 169, 168 and then you measure yourself 2 months later over the course of a week daily and you measure 163, 165, 168, 162, 170, 167 then you can tell that you have lost 5 pounds just as well as if the scale was perfectly "accurate" scale that measured you at 171 the first time and 166 2 months later. Weight is arbitrary anyways, it is just a number. Scales can be off but the amount they are off is washed out in the use of repeated measurement over time, it that doesn't matter that they are "off" because when they are off they are off in both directions (+/-) and consistent measurement will wash out that noise same as with the use of any instrument.

What does it even mean to talk about your "true" weight? The number isn't that meaningful in and of itself...it is the trendline that has meaning, not the scalar values. That trendline will be the same whether it is a 5 dollar thrift store scale or a 250 dollar "precision" scale.

If your scale has high error you can just use a moving average to smooth out the error easily at zero cost and minimal effort.

This is easy to test in the real world so it doesn't have to be a matter of opinon. Get yourself a 5 dollar scale, get yourself a dumbell with removable plates of known weight. Measure that dumbell 10 times then strip off 5 pounds of weight and measure it another 10 times. The average change will be 5 pounds. An "accurate" scale won't do it any better and its not like you have to measure yourself daily 10 times its the multiple measurements over the course of time once per day that will wash out that error in the same way.

As for not "worrying" about filtering out the noise that pretends like you have some sort of "True" weight. You don't, your body is going to fluctate weight by a good 5 pounds on its own throughout the day and depending on the time of month or how much water you happen to be retaining. The only way to see your weight loss through that noise is repeated measurement anyway and that same repeated measurement will just as easily wipe out any error present in the scale itself with zero added effort.

This idea that you are a specific weight and you just need an accurate scale to see what that weight is is not panned out by reality.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Your statement that the concept that scale error will evaporate over time in the trend is laughable is exactly the same as saying the idea that weight fluctuations due to variations in water retention that naturally occur in your body will evaporate over time in a trend is laughable. It isn't laughable, it's true. Presumably you are using scale weight to measure fat loss and that fat loss is obscured by variations in the same way be it from water retention or scale inaccuracy and in the same way neither matter if you continue your measurements over time. What do you not agree with....explain with math.

It doesn't matter if it measured 2 pounds "too much" one day and 5 pounds "too little" the next due to my scale or due to water retention from sodium intake....over the timescale of actual weightloss for every plus 2 there will be a minus two and for every minus five there will be a plus 5 and that noise will cancel. If that isnt the case you'd have to explain why there would be a specific bias in the error rather than just noise and good luck doing that. The exact same is true for bodyweight fluctuations due to water retention or do you not believe that either.

Instrument calibration is inconsequential to timecourses, any laboratory science course will show you that.

Also I never claimed to be saying anything about what YOU "need" I was advising the OP based on the fact (yes fact not opinion) that regular measurement over time will yield the same result on a 5 dollar scale as on a 200 scale.

How would my trend line look different if I had your scale instead of the one from Target? Would I become healthier? Would I "know" my weightloss in a way that was somehow more accurate? No...I wouldn't.

If you have disposible income and it makes you feel better to have an expensive scale and that feeling better helps you stay on track then by all means get one....but don't delude yourself into thinking you are somehow more accurately tracking your weightloss compared to someone with a cheap scale because you arent...not in reality. But you are right, to you as an individual what goes on in your head is more important than reality (not even being facetious I do believe that) but the math does not support your belief that your scale is somehow going to track your weightloss over time compared to any other.