Digital scales vs. real ones?

So.. I know that weight changes thru the course of a day.  

But with my digital scale.. it literally changes 2 lbs in 3 seconds.. step on.. 155 step off step on 157.. etc

do doctor scales do this as well?.. does your digital scale do this?

 

 

Spring scales change based on how you stand on them. Shifting your weight a little can result in change. So from that point of view, digital scales are better.

Doctor scales - the ones with the balances on the top where you slide little weights up and down - are less sensitive to that kind of thing but they still are spring based and not as accurate.

My digital scale is the best thing I've managed to come up with, and it regularly changes 1 pound or so when I step off and back on again. I take my weight each day as an average of three weighings.

thanks lion, that makes sense!

Original Post by lionpaw:

Spring scales change based on how you stand on them. Shifting your weight a little can result in change. So from that point of view, digital scales are better.

Doctor scales - the ones with the balances on the top where you slide little weights up and down - are less sensitive to that kind of thing but they still are spring based and not as accurate.

My digital scale is the best thing I've managed to come up with, and it regularly changes 1 pound or so when I step off and back on again. I take my weight each day as an average of three weighings.

I agree with  lionpaw and do the same except I use the weight that shows up twice.  If I weigh  3 times and do not get the same # twice, I keep on until I do.  I really try to have my feet placed on the scale the exact same every time also as I found this can make a huge difference.

I have used the same scale for the past 2 years and as long as it keeps going down and is pretty close to my doctors scale, I am happy.  BTW with the difference in clothes and time, I weigh 6 pounds heavier at the dr, yep every time.

I contacted my scales manufacturer when I noticed it went up by 2lbs if you weighed within 15mins or so. They told me (in techie speak, but this is what I gathered) that they accurately weigh the first time, but it can take up to 20-25mins to 're-calibrate' (or something like that) before they'll weigh accurately again? So now I weigh ONCE, first thing in the morning, after the bathroom and log it...then forget about it until the next day. I HATE spring & calibrated scales!

I am hoping to get a digital scale.  I have a 4 year old spring scale and while it does work. Its precise. I am guessing its off by as much as 7 pounds, it will give me the same weight OVER AND Over again. I have been around 175 for nearly a month.

 

Denise

I LOVE my digital scale. It's one made by Weight Watchers (even though I don't use their diet, their scale is awesome). It weighs in .1 increments, which is great.

So instead of my old-fashioned scale not showing a change for at least 2-3 pounds, my digital scale tells me if I've lost even 1/10th of a pound. LOL. Sounds crazy, but it really is a good thing. Oh and I've never had a problem with it showing different weights. It's pretty much right on all the time.

My digital scale also can give different readings if I get on repeatedly. I try not to obsess about weighing and weigh once a week at the same time of day (after the bathroom first thing Monday morning) As long as the trend is down I'm happy. The tape measure is fairly brutal!

mine doesn't do that.  unless it needs to self-calibrate, it gives me the same weight to the tenth of a pound.

Original Post by bethw1984:

I LOVE my digital scale. It's one made by Weight Watchers (even though I don't use their diet, their scale is awesome). It weighs in .1 increments, which is great.

So instead of my old-fashioned scale not showing a change for at least 2-3 pounds, my digital scale tells me if I've lost even 1/10th of a pound. LOL. Sounds crazy, but it really is a good thing. Oh and I've never had a problem with it showing different weights. It's pretty much right on all the time.

 I use this one too.  The thing I REALLY like about it, is that it shows if you are standing on it unbalanced, so I think you get a much more accurate read!

I also like how it keeps track of your cumulative weight loss.  I like seeing how much I've lost since I bought the scale (which was 40 lbs this weekend!).

I hate scales so much! I have one scale in my apartment, my sister has one in her apartment, and then I've weighed-in at the doctors before. My sisters and mine are 3 pounds off, the one at the doctor was 8 pounds off! I remember I was really upset, I have no idea what I really weigh. I stuck with my scale since it was the lowest number in weight, lol. But I shouldn't look at it like that, it's not really what you weigh, it's noticing the change overtime, and I have, so I am happy.

But I think that scales at the doctors are calibrated every so often, so I actually think my true weight is closer to the one at the doctors, but, I was also wearing clothes and my shoes and I probably had eaten before I left.

Who knows!

I have a really cheap spring scale that I'm using right now. I would say that as long as the numbers are basically going down each week, dont worry too much about it

I do not trust my scales at all. But that's because I bought them from Poundstretcher. I was really asking for crap scales.

I had been using an old spring scale, which was pretty accurate after years of calibration trips to the doctor's office. The new digital gave the same numbers some of the time. If I weighed myself at night after dinner and the following morning, the readings were usually the same, even though I lose 2-3 lbs while sleeping.

I found that I have to force the scale to recalibrate on a weight considerably different from my own in order to get it to read accurately. I'll weigh myself holding a cookie jar, then reweigh without it.

Lol, I have an old spring scale that came with the house I rent, and my weight on it varies by up to a stone.  It weights me in at over a stone more than my mums very accurate scales do (she spent a lot on hers and they match up almost perfectly with her doctors scales).  I'm going to buy a digital set this week, as its depressing to be so unsure - if I have definately lost/definately not lost I can be stricter/go on as I am/feel a sense of acheivement, but if I don't know I just worry.  I think I'll try the weight watcher scales as they sound really good.

by the way the doctors office scales may use springs, but its just a large balance. This means that its perfectly accurate, balances, as long as they are calibrated properly, will give you the most accurate weight.

keep in mind that if you usually weigh with clothes off, and depending on the time of day, your weight will be different at the doctors office.

I have a digital scale and an analog scale. My digital sometimes tells me that I weigh somewhere between 154-158 (depends, you know) and my analog tells me the same thing except it's not set on zero when no one is standing on it, it's set somewhere between 7-10lbs (it changes on it's own at random). One day my digital told me I weighed 235lbs and I was like !@#$%^?!?! I am not that large and at the time I weighed about 163lbs so I'm somewhat skeptical as to if it works properly or not. My analog one is just retarded; luckily I do math for fun sometimes. Good luck to everyone trying to find an accurate scale.

i have a scale thats knocked off about 21 pounds lol. so it says im 20 pounds heavier than i really am. O__o but i comapred my -20 weight from my scale to that of the doctors digital scale and it was the same! amazing lol

to fix that you move the wheel thingie back 7 pounds to get an accurate weight

Original Post by ijiwaru_shizuka:

. One day my digital told me I weighed 235lbs and I was like !@#$%^?!?! 

LOL :)

Original Post by lite_brite:

to fix that you move the wheel thingie back 7 pounds to get an accurate weight

lol, I figured that out about 2 hours ago.  I figured it had something to fix it with but I hadn't looked until today.