Which do you trust an analog or digital scale more?

halloweengal
halloweengal Posts: 215 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Silly question: I have two new (inexpensive Walmart) scales, and they read different weights. The digital is approx. 3-4 lbs. more than my analog scale.

I'm recording my analog weight--should I be recording the digital weight instead?

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,256 Member
    If each is consistent with itself (when you weigh a short time apart without eating, drinking, using the bathroom or sweating bunches), then pick one and stick with it.

    Home scales aren't precision instruments, generally.

    My view that my exact scientifically precise weight isn't super important: The trend over time (4-6 weeks) is where fat gain/loss shows up (months and beyond for material amounts of muscle gain).

    During a day or over a few days, my weight will be up and down by surprisingly many pounds, but most of that quick variation is normal, healthy water retention shifts and differing amounts of food residue on its way to becoming waste eventually.

    Goal is more about fit of clothes, maybe how my body feels and looks.

    The consistency of the scale matters so I have good data to look at to figure out the multi-week (and beyond) weight trend. The exact number doesn't matter much. No one other than me even knows what it is, unless I tell them. :D

    YMMV. But I still don't think you can say as a generality that mechanical or electronic is more accurate, unless you can test them against a well-calibrated professional scale side by side at the same time when wearing the same clothing.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,229 Member
    Lol, the better one is always the some that shows less weight
  • halloweengal
    halloweengal Posts: 215 Member
    That's what I've been doing but still wonder what's the REAL weight.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    You could weigh on both then go weigh in on public scales eg in local gym or pharmacy or surgery, or at a friends house maybe?
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,229 Member
    It doesn’t really matter as long as you use the same scale all the time. The exact weight isn’t as important as keeping track of progress. TBH the digital ones can be fussy if you aren’t balanced on it correctly. I had one that would give an error code if you weren’t on it correctly.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,256 Member
    halloweengal wrote: »
    That's what I've been doing but still wonder what's the REAL weight.

    Radical thought: There is no "real" or "true" weight.

    Weight in the moment varies with food, waste, water retention, sweat, and who knows what-all.

    For fat loss, what really matters is the many-weeks' trend - down slope with bumps up/down, up slope with bumps, horizontal (maintenance with bumps).

    For muscle gain, it's more like many-months trend: At similar weight, smaller tape measurements , or same tape measurements at higher weight.

    The exact number on any given day, on any given scale? Meh.

  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,205 Member
    The “real” weight is elusive because you will weigh something else at the doctor, something else at a friends house. Just pick one scale and call that your number!

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