Scale issues.

hellomynameiskat
hellomynameiskat Posts: 4 Member
in Getting Started
Hi

I've been weighing myself for the last two months on a set of analogue scales and each week it's been dropping slowly but surely.
I've just bought replacement batteries for my old digital scale and weighed myself on there and I'm 10lbs heavier on the digital scale! Help! I'm panicking have I really not achieved anything in the last two months? I've not noticed any real difference using a tape measure or in my clothes either so I'm thinking that I've been dieting and exercising and nothing has changed.

My analogue scale says I've lost 8lbs in two months. But according to my digital scale I weight 134lbs compared to the 124lbs on my analogue scale. My starting weight this time on the analogue scale was 132lbs. The digital scale seems to be implying I've put weight on.

Has anybody else had this? Should I start again using the digital scale? I've never been so demotivated in my entire life. :'(

Replies

  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,330 Member
    Use the same scale you started with.

    If you buy another scale bet you it will be different also.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    I would go try to get yourself weighed somewhere that has a better scale to see what your real weight is. But regardless of what it is, you haven't put weight on. You've still lost 8 pounds these last two months. If you had your digital scale when you started it would have said you started at 142 and gone down to 134. The number itself isn't what's important, the trend is. So regardless of what your real weight is, you have definitely made progress.
  • Bobble11
    Bobble11 Posts: 49 Member
    1 - make sure you're putting the scales on a flat (not carpeted) surface like the kitchen floor.

    2 - You have lost 8lb. It's just that your analogue scale says your starting weight was 132lbs. If you had used digital scales from the beginning your starting weight may have been 143lbs. The only way you'll know which one is correct is by finding a friend with another scale.

    Fingers crossed your digital scale is having an off day and you're really 124lbs x
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    any 2 sets of scales will potentially give you different readings.

    pick one, stick with it.
  • Keladelphia
    Keladelphia Posts: 820 Member
    Stop panicking and don't let that scale demotivate you!

    My scale always weighs 5 pounds heavier than my doctors scale; does that mean I lose five pounds every time I get on the doctors scale and gain five pounds every time I get on my home scale? Absolutely not! If the doctors scale showed 145 and my home scale showed 150 and I lost ten pounds the doctors scale would subsequently show 135 and my home scale would show 140. I'ts still a ten pound loss either way you look at it! The truth is your actual weight is probably located somewhere between the two numbers but the amount that you lost has not changed. If you had been using the digital scale the whole time it just would have reflected an initially higher number. The scale is just a tool to measure a trend over time, pick one scale and stick with it if seeing the difference between the two bothers you. Congrat's on the weightloss so far, just stick with what you're doing :)
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    Another way to check the accuracy is to put a dumbbell or something of a fixed weight on the scale and see what that reads out. As others have said, it's probably not a case of not having any progress you may just have been at a higher start weight than you previously thought.
  • hellomynameiskat
    hellomynameiskat Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks guys. That was just easily the most dramatic moment of my life. I'm going to keep powering through and hopefully at some point get weighed accurately to figure out which one is closer to the truth. It is just such a huge difference one of the scales must be so inaccurate.

    I tried to put my kettlebell on the digital scale but it wouldn't read it. It is obviously not heavy enough.

    I feel better now. I've been so upset over this. But thank you. You've all right I must have lost weight. I have noticed a physical difference in my body. I think. That number was just a huge shock I started to think I'd been imagining it.

    Thanks again!
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited February 2019
    20-30 lbs into a 70 lb weight loss, I bought a new scale that put me 12 lbs higher than my really old, banged-up one. That didn't mean I didn't lose 25 lbs (though it was sobering to think I may have started 12 lbs higher than what I already thought was my all-time high). At the doctor's office, fully clothed, I consistently weigh in less than I do at home, first thing in the morning, naked. Which scale is accurate? No idea. Does it matter? Not really. As far as weight management is concerned, it's only the trend from one scale under consistent conditions that matters.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    hellomynameiskat wrote: »
    Thanks guys. That was just easily the most dramatic moment of my life. I'm going to keep powering through and hopefully at some point get weighed accurately to figure out which one is closer to the truth. It is just such a huge difference one of the scales must be so inaccurate.

    I tried to put my kettlebell on the digital scale but it wouldn't read it. It is obviously not heavy enough.

    I feel better now. I've been so upset over this. But thank you. You've all right I must have lost weight. I have noticed a physical difference in my body. I think. That number was just a huge shock I started to think I'd been imagining it.

    Thanks again!

    Maybe work on not giving a number on the scale so much power, your weight doesn't define you as a person.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Some digital scales also go through a calibration phase when you move them and can give weird readings. You might check and see if you can find the manual/instructions for your model online to see if it needs any special treatment when you first start it up.
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  • LLoser
    LLoser Posts: 1 Member
    We had two digital scales and with both, if we got on 3 times, we got 3 different readings. I don't trust digital.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    hellomynameiskat wrote: »
    Hi

    I've been weighing myself for the last two months on a set of analogue scales and each week it's been dropping slowly but surely.
    I've just bought replacement batteries for my old digital scale and weighed myself on there and I'm 10lbs heavier on the digital scale! Help! I'm panicking have I really not achieved anything in the last two months? I've not noticed any real difference using a tape measure or in my clothes either so I'm thinking that I've been dieting and exercising and nothing has changed.

    My analogue scale says I've lost 8lbs in two months. But according to my digital scale I weight 134lbs compared to the 124lbs on my analogue scale. My starting weight this time on the analogue scale was 132lbs. The digital scale seems to be implying I've put weight on.

    Has anybody else had this? Should I start again using the digital scale? I've never been so demotivated in my entire life. :'(

    Think about this logically...you would have had a starting weight on the other scale of 10 Lbs higher. All scales are calibrated differently and are going to give you different readings even just moving them around on different parts of the floor. Use one and watch the overall trend. The actual number doesn't really matter.

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