which scale should i believe?

for years i've had the dial scale and would record my weight by that scale. last week i got a new digital scale an the readings are sometimes the same as the dial one (i have been weighing on both) and sometimes lower by 2-3 pounds. which scale should i believe?

weight fluctuates by many lbs throughout the day, because of food and water. its temporary. weigh butt naked in the morning once weekly on the digital; if the batteries are new its more accurate than the dial.

personally, my digital scale is a piece of junk. the thing quit working altogether - i put new batteries in it and still get nothing. But even before it died, it would give me different weights - I could get on it and it would read one number, step off and get back on and get another number . . oh, and if you moved the scale a foot either way it would read something entirely different. I am sticking to the old fashioned kind!

I've had the same experience with using two scales in a short period of time.  When it comes down to it, I believe how my clothes fit and body feels over the numbers any day.  If one scale says I'm heavier than normal but I need to take in my bra band by another level or wear a belt, then I'm probably losing weight (likely fat, yay!) and still on track.  I tend to just adopt the "main" scale's reading as the "real" weight and work off of that without being too concerned with pound by pound total accuracy. If it's in the ballpark, then it's good enough for me.

yea i have that issue too. i own 2 different digital scales and for a little while was weighing on both. eventually though, i just picked one (the one with the lower number of course haha) and stuck with it. i figure it's just about consistancy, try to leave it in the same spot & weight on the same scale every day or every week, whatever you choose. that way you can still gage your progress & see the trends despite whether or not a different scale would give you  the same number.

I've also noticed that the weight can change depending on where you stand on the scale.  Have you ever been to the doctor's office where the scale gives you a live reading, whether it is digital or the slide weight kind?  Your reading will wobble as you stand there.  Pick the scale that gives you the most consistent reading five times in a row, and stay with that one.  Just focus on the trend, and not the weight so much - and if the scale bothers you, try using another method of measuring your progress as well.  I use a weekly average of daily weigh-ins, body measurements, and exercise logs in combination so that if any one of them seem to stop moving, I've got the others to give me motivation.

we use the old dial scale, our digital scale would give different weights (up to a 4 lb difference) depending on where you place the scale. Our dial scale always matches up to the Drs scale.

50begone

I have to move my digital scale to a hard surface every day before I can use it. I step on it briefly to tell it to calibrate and set itself to zero. Sometimes, it will self-calibrate to 2 or 3 pounds, so I wait a few minutes, and try again. It's a bit of a pain, but the truth is that scales need to be calibrated and moving them around will cause them to lose that calibration.

I usually weigh myself 3 or 4 times, spaced a minute or two apart until I get a consistent reading. The scale sometimes just needs to "settle" and I find that I get pretty consistent readings if I give it that time.

As for the old dial scales, they're probably more inaccurate than you realize. They have springs that don't behave exactly linearly, and over time the performance of the springs will change. Not to mention, there's more moving parts and any movement can throw them off.

However, the most important thing is to be consistent. Stick with one scale and measure your progress relative from the number on that scale.

What a bummer for me.  I've been using the scale at the gym and recording those figures here on CC.  I just bought a digital scale at Target and it shows that I'm 4 pounds more than I thought I was.  This is almost depressing cuz I've been working really hard.  It's a bubble burster for sure.

I'm sure I lost weight but seeing this makes me feel I gains 4 pounds. 

Now what am I suppose to do with my weight log here on CC?  Just delete them all?  Start all over?

Original Post by pokerdawg:

What a bummer for me.  I've been using the scale at the gym and recording those figures here on CC.  I just bought a digital scale at Target and it shows that I'm 4 pounds more than I thought I was.  This is almost depressing cuz I've been working really hard.  It's a bubble burster for sure.

I'm sure I lost weight but seeing this makes me feel I gains 4 pounds. 

Now what am I suppose to do with my weight log here on CC?  Just delete them all?  Start all over?

 I have had the opposite experience of everyone else - i used a dial scale forever, and couldn't lose anything - went to the doctor's office and weighed 3 pounds less (and they had just had their's calibrated) - went to my dad's and used his digital - 3 pounds less. Bought a digital (Weight Watcher's brand) and weiged 3 pounds less. Because the digital matched all the others, I went with it, and it has given me consistent weights all along - but the important thing it to keep it on a hard surface, not a rug.

In answer to the question about what to do with the weight log - once I was confident I would stick with the digital scale, I recorded that weight and made a comment in the comments section "used new scale" - then I could see why the trend was interrupted. No biggie. The most important thing is how you feel - if your clothes continue to get looser and you can start to feel bones you didn't know you had - you are losing, no matter what the scale says.