Manual Scale vs Digital Scale

All scales are different, so only go by the one you use all the time. I prefer digital because it shows ounces, and seems more accurate. I've had many manual scales be way off, even by as much as 15 pounds. The digital scales always seems to be right.

Who knows. Id pick a scale and stick with it. Its the trend that matters and how you look. so.. if you stay with the same scale... it will likely be accurate that you lose say 5 pounds. The exact number might not be dead on... but ask yourself if it really matters.

I don't know. But the manual scale at my doctor's office always adds 2-3 pounds. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

I have both but use the digital scale. I was just thinking this morning how annoying it is that depending on how and where you are standing on the digital scale your weight can vary more than a pound!!

Anyone else have this problem?

As others say, you should probably use the scale you have the most access to.

However, at the gym, you can check the scale by putting a 45 on it.

When I started MFP I had an old manual scale...I decided that it was time for a new scale and with my new digital one the 1st weigh in BAM 10 lbs heavier!!! I was not happy, but then my husband had a Dr. appt. and his weight was the same at the Dr.'s as our new scale so I sucked it up and changed my weight on here...I am 3 lbs away from being where my manual scale told me I was(month in a half later)...I almost feel like I have to get to that weight to really start losing because I thought I was already there!
Digital all the way....manual ones can loose their 0 spot over time and get all messed up like my old one did.

I have both but use the digital scale. I was just thinking this morning how annoying it is that depending on how and where you are standing on the digital scale your weight can vary more than a pound!!

Anyone else have this problem?

Ugh! I have this problem as well! I have found that if I stand closer to the edge of the scale, I get a lower weight...haha. Today, my scale said anywhere from 124.6 (which I KNOW is not true) up to 125.8. What the heck!? Grr...

Anyways, I use a digital scale...I don't care what other scales say, I just go by the one that's in my bathroom because I use it daily!

Manual scales can usually be calibrated, whereas household digital scales rarely have that ability.

Here's a different perspective, in two parts:

1. We don't have a "true weight". Discard that whole idea. We have a current weight range, and a long term weight trend.

Body weight fluctuates with a day or between days for many reasons. One is increased digestive system contents at one time vs. another (not necessarily more calories - maybe just more high-fiber food on its way through the system). It's not fat. A second is water weight, in two forms. Guess what? Drink two cups of water, you'll gain a pound. It's not fat.

Beyond that, your body holds onto water weight internally beyond the stomach/bladder kind of thing. It needs extra water to repair muscles you used in your workouts, or to digest/metabolize extra carbs or sodium (even if it's a perfectly healthy amount of either one, within your calories). Pre-menopausal womens' body weight tends to fluctuate by several pounds through a full menstrual cycle, because of hormonal influences on water weight (the exact timing and amount can be individual). None of that is fat.

So, your weight goes up and down within a day or between a few days for these reasons, and it isn't fat. It's part of being healthy. Why would you worry about it? Think of your current weight as a few pounds' range.

If you're trying to gain, lose or maintain weight, what really matters is fat loss or muscle gain. Those are all very long-term things.

Fat loss can be pretty speedy, but shouldn't be too speedy. Someone under 200 pounds (ish) shouldn't be losing more than 2 pounds a week, and some over 200 shouldn't either (if close to goal), if they value their health. (We can only metabolize a certain amount of stored fat daily, and losing more will risk losing lean tissue, among other possible problems). Two pounds (or less) isn't going to show up as a loss of a few ounces every single day, because the larger day to day fluctuations (see above) mask it.

So, fat loss is going to show up in our long-term weight trend as a difference from week to week, or even month to month (remember that hormonal point above?). If you graph your weight loss (I did) you get a bumpily jagged line from day to day, but all those bumps are on a downward hillside. (Weight maintenance is a jagged but mostly horizontal line; weight gain is a jagged uphill slope. Jagged, bumpy, spiky, irregular. Not straight.)

Under perfect conditions, a weight-training woman might be able to gain a pound of muscle in a month. A man might be able to gain two pounds. It's slow, under the best conditions: Calorie surplus, well-designed aggressive and progressive training program, consistency, plenty of protein, relative youth. Muscle gain will show up on the scale, at best, over several months. Otherwise, it, too, can be masked by daily fluctuations.

Restating the point again: We don't have a "true weight". We have a current weight range, and a long term weight trend.

So, what you want from a body weight scale is consistency, so you can look at the long-term trend over time, and see whether it's heading in the direction you want. Accuracy (as long as it's in the ballpark) is much less important than consistency. Either a digital or analog, electronic or mechanical scale can be consistent. Use the same one every time as your "official record". Don't expect others to agree, even at the same moment.

Using a weight trending app to graph your weight can be helpful, too. (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight, etc.).

2. Weight can fluctuate 5 pounds in a day without any significant fat gain going on. At least mine can, and I'm a post-menopausal li'l ol' lady who's 5'5" and at a body weight in the 130s.

If you didn't eat roughly 17,500 calories above your maintenance calories, you didn't gain 5 pounds of fat. Don't worry about it.