Question for UKers

So many times I read about how many STONE someone weighs. Just curious if scales over there measure in just lbs and stones?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

9285851.png
«1

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,935 Member
    yeah, somebody post an image!
  • SLL1803
    SLL1803 Posts: 49 Member
    Manual scales teens to show stones and pounds and kilograms.

    Digital scales probably have a setting that allows them to flip between the two. Mine are set to kg because stones are outdated and not really used much any more
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,322 Member
    KG is the standard unit now, but if you’re old enough you still think in stones and pounds, or ounces for cooking. I weigh all food in grams for MFP but still bake using ounces as it’s how I was taught 🤣
  • Walkywalkerson
    Walkywalkerson Posts: 453 Member
    I find it difficult to think in kgs it confuses me - I have to calculate it in to pounds and then tge pounds into stones 😅
  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    I can set my scales to kg, pounds or stone.

    I weight myself in kg but if anyone was to ask my weight I would give it in stone as, like a American might automatically be able to picture what 150 pounds looks like, most Brits can do the same but with stones.

    Americans tend to do height in inches where as I would do it in feet and inches - same thing that I can picture 5 foot 6 inches but tell me someone is 70 inches high and it is meaningless and I have to do a conversion.

    Just depends on what you have grown up with I think.
  • swimmom_1
    swimmom_1 Posts: 1,302 Member
    When you ask an American their height, they say 5, 4. Not 64 inches. Inches aren't used that much, as we would have to convert that also, to visualize.
  • KNoceros
    KNoceros Posts: 324 Member
    I’m a UK’er and in healthcare. We use kilos and metres at work.
    I chose to use kilos for my own weight because I was less likely to get fixated on a particular number/ target.
    My height I do either.

    Exercise (running / cycling / weights) is in km / kilos.
    I cook in lbs and ounces.

    (I don’t think of myself as THAT old - 43)
  • swimmom_1
    swimmom_1 Posts: 1,302 Member
    I'm in healthcare also, an RN. I do dialysis on patients. We weigh them in Kilos. As 1 Liter of fluid removal weighs 1 Kilogram.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    edited September 2021
    Pretty sure most body weight scales will show all forms of measurement (Kg, lbs, st&lbs). Mine has a setting to switch between all relevant metrics.

    Like others have said, I think in stones for body weight - it just works mentally for me - I know what a weight in stones looks like - and sure, I can figure out pounds (14x tables anyone? 😂) but it’s not as easy to picture and kilos - wtf! I’m 53kg but what the heck does that look like! 🤷‍♀️ I’m clueless!

    In the rest of my life I use an eclectic mix of metric and imperial. Some of the 100’s of recipes that live in my head are in ounces, some are in grams. I have no issue converting one to the other.

    Miles are my standard distance measurement. Again, I can mentally convert to Km but why would I bother! I have no more appreciation of what 100 yards looks like than I do of 100 metres! Height is feet and inches. I can ‘ready reckon’ in both imperial and metric fairly well when it comes to most things.

    Don’t get me started on the insane craziness of ‘American Cups’ or ‘Australian Cups’ though…that way madness lies! 🤯
  • I2k4
    I2k4 Posts: 179 Member
    The Cdn chart is a laugh. When I came from the US gasoline was still sold in Imperial (UK) gallons, about a fifth larger than US. Then came Litres, another headscratcher for calculating "mileage" or talking to Yanks. (As to scales, don't own one.)
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,959 Member
    freda78 wrote: »
    I can set my scales to kg, pounds or stone.

    I weight myself in kg but if anyone was to ask my weight I would give it in stone as, like a American might automatically be able to picture what 150 pounds looks like, most Brits can do the same but with stones.

    Americans tend to do height in inches where as I would do it in feet and inches - same thing that I can picture 5 foot 6 inches but tell me someone is 70 inches high and it is meaningless and I have to do a conversion.

    Just depends on what you have grown up with I think.

    No, Americans do not tend to do height in inches. I have never heard anybody in the U.S. do that. We give our height in feet and inches.
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,365 Member
    When we moved from the UK we brought an analogue scale that measured in stone. It's probably still in the basement of my dad's house. His favourite practical joke when visitors used the bathroom and, of course, hopped on this weird scale was to tell them a stone was 15 lbs.

    We may be metric here in Canada but I weigh myself in lbs. I don't think in kg for big weights, just for food. All my food is weighed in grams.

    I drive in km/hr and measure distance in km except when I walk. I use MapMyWalk's default of miles. I express relative distance in feet, like something being 200 feet away.

    I use Celsius for temperatures in winter but Fahrenheit for summer, and for cooking. My home's thermostat is in Celsius, however.

    Clearly my life is a schizophrenic mishmash of metric and Imperial, but fortunately weighing myself in stone is long gone.
  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    edited September 2021
    freda78 wrote: »
    I can set my scales to kg, pounds or stone.

    I weight myself in kg but if anyone was to ask my weight I would give it in stone as, like a American might automatically be able to picture what 150 pounds looks like, most Brits can do the same but with stones.

    Americans tend to do height in inches where as I would do it in feet and inches - same thing that I can picture 5 foot 6 inches but tell me someone is 70 inches high and it is meaningless and I have to do a conversion.

    Just depends on what you have grown up with I think.

    No, Americans do not tend to do height in inches. I have never heard anybody in the U.S. do that. We give our height in feet and inches.

    Okey Dokey, my mistake, sorry if I inadvertently offended you. :#
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,959 Member
    freda78 wrote: »
    freda78 wrote: »
    I can set my scales to kg, pounds or stone.

    I weight myself in kg but if anyone was to ask my weight I would give it in stone as, like a American might automatically be able to picture what 150 pounds looks like, most Brits can do the same but with stones.

    Americans tend to do height in inches where as I would do it in feet and inches - same thing that I can picture 5 foot 6 inches but tell me someone is 70 inches high and it is meaningless and I have to do a conversion.

    Just depends on what you have grown up with I think.

    No, Americans do not tend to do height in inches. I have never heard anybody in the U.S. do that. We give our height in feet and inches.

    Okey Dokey, my mistake, sorry if I inadvertently offended you. :#

    No offense.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    ythannah wrote: »
    When we moved from the UK we brought an analogue scale that measured in stone. It's probably still in the basement of my dad's house. His favourite practical joke when visitors used the bathroom and, of course, hopped on this weird scale was to tell them a stone was 15 lbs.

    It’s early, and I may not be properly awake but can someone please explain the joke here? A stone is 14lbs rather than 15 obviously but I can’t see that the difference is enough to make it practical joke worthy. 🤔
  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
    ythannah wrote: »
    When we moved from the UK we brought an analogue scale that measured in stone. It's probably still in the basement of my dad's house. His favourite practical joke when visitors used the bathroom and, of course, hopped on this weird scale was to tell them a stone was 15 lbs.

    It’s early, and I may not be properly awake but can someone please explain the joke here? A stone is 14lbs rather than 15 obviously but I can’t see that the difference is enough to make it practical joke worthy. 🤔

    Well, I guess it's because average weights are anything from 8 stone upwards. If you thought you weighed 140lb (to keep the maths easy) and hopped on the scale to find it said 10 stone you would be pretty annoyed to find that you weighed 150lb.

    Maybe this had the useful practical effect of stopping the visitors eating all the chocolates and drinking all the wine!