Basic Digital Scale Rec Please!

sivyaleah
sivyaleah Posts: 51 Member
edited December 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
I've come to the conclusion something is wrong with my scale. FYI I weigh myself daily because it helps me keep focus. I know some say only weigh yourself weekly but for me personally I find it more helpful to pay attention each day as part of my routine.

A few weeks ago, the day after a cleaning crew were at my home, it began acting oddly. I step on it, get a weight reading WAY too high or too low from the day before.

I'd step off. Get back on and get a totally different weight. Get off again and get a 3rd weight. None near each other; sometimes off by 1 or more pounds under or over from each other within seconds.

FYI I am allowing the scale to return to zero between each weighing.

I eat the same all the time, no deviation and use a scale to weigh my food.

I've tried moving it to other parts of the floor and other rooms. Same story. I eat pretty much the same all the time, no deviations and I weigh my food so I'm fairly sure that's not the issue.

Anyway - can anyone recommend a basic digital scale, no bells or whistles? I don't need it to hook up to apps. Just one that is reliable. Thanks!

Replies

  • sivyaleah
    sivyaleah Posts: 51 Member
    Dilvish wrote: »
    Unfortunately scales, digital or not can be inaccurate by as much as 2-5 lbs.

    The reason you shouldn't weigh yourself daily is because your body weight can fluctuate every hour due to food and water retention. Try it someday...weigh yourself every couple of hours using the same scale in the same spot. You'll be surprised at the results.

    Ideally the best indication of weight loss is using a measuring tape but if you insist on a scale try this link
    https://livestrong.com/article/184126-most-accurate-body-weight-scales/

    I'm aware of this, but thanks for the reminder!

    I do weigh myself daily the exact same time each morning; 5:15 am except weekends where I might skip the weigh in most especially if it's past several hours of my regular wake up time. I know the difference between first thing in the morning and later in the day is quite dramatic but, the scale itself shouldn't change within 30 seconds of getting on and off. That's the problem - not the change over the course of the day which is what leads to my suspicion something happened to the scale.

    Many thanks for the link to the scale article - that, is very helpful! I'll also invest in a measuring tape as that never occurred to me before. I know I'm still losing weight because my pants keep getting loser. This week I got the courage to try on the next size down and they fit finally, so obviously I'm still doing something right but it's just not being reflected on the scale right now.

  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    I bought a weight guru at Target. It’s Bluetooth so you have to have the app open to record your weight. It syncs with Fitbit which syncs with mfp. I believe they have WiFi and cheaper version as well. Works good so far.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
    need new battery?
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    There's nothing wrong with weighing yourself daily, so let's just get that out of the way. Weight trending apps like Happy Scale, Libra, and Trendweight are helpful for seeing overall trends and erasing the noise of fluctuations due to factors like fluid retention.

    Saying that, your scale might just need new batteries, or it might be sensitive to being moved. Do you simply need to reset it before weighing again due to it being moved? Can you look your scale up online and see if that's the case? For my scale, it's as simple as stepping on and off again quickly after moving before weighing myself "officially" to reset it after moving.
  • sivyaleah
    sivyaleah Posts: 51 Member
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    There's nothing wrong with weighing yourself daily, so let's just get that out of the way. Weight trending apps like Happy Scale, Libra, and Trendweight are helpful for seeing overall trends and erasing the noise of fluctuations due to factors like fluid retention.

    Saying that, your scale might just need new batteries, or it might be sensitive to being moved. Do you simply need to reset it before weighing again due to it being moved? Can you look your scale up online and see if that's the case? For my scale, it's as simple as stepping on and off again quickly after moving before weighing myself "officially" to reset it after moving.

    I tried resetting it but still doing the same thing. Could be the battery - I'm going shopping this morning and intend to p/u a new one before investing in a new scale. I'm hoping that's all it is. I've had this one for a couple of years so perhaps that will do the trick.

    And thanks for pointing out it's ok to weigh daily. Different methods for everyone. Seeing the number daily along with accurate food tracking helps keep me accountable with myself :smile: I've learned that I'm the type of person that will start to slack off if I don't have daily rituals built into my routine.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,939 Member
    I weigh daily too. My digital body weight scale acts the same way...but it acts that way regardless of whether or not it has a new battery.

    :lol: I just get on it, reset it to zero and then I throw away the very first weight. The second and/or third one is almost always lower.

    Yeah, I know. But it's what I do. I've been maintaining in a five-ish pound range for ten years, so I don't even know why I bother.
  • Ddsb11
    Ddsb11 Posts: 607 Member
    Weighing daily is a tool to understand normal fluctuations. It has been incredibly helpful to me, as well as watching the trend. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

    Hopefully batteries help! Much cheaper fix. My scale is Weight Guru, it’s been really consistent for me so far but there’s so many decent scales now with apps to keep track.

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