How much do you trust your scale?

I understand that weight fluctuation can get really dramatic sometimes..

When I weighed myself on my roomate's $100 digital scale the other day, I was 119.6lb (This was during the morning, before I drank/ eaten anything)

Then throughout that entire day, I had about 3500 calories (which I attribute to eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk and a 1.5lb Cheesy Sausage Calzone at late night]

When I weighed myself the next morning.. surprisingly I was 116.8lb

Not really sure how that's possible.. so I'm kind of starting to lose faith in that scale. Maybe I should get a non-digital one? I'm not trying to diet at all, but it's nice to just keep track of my weight sometimes. 

I trust mine! Its a digital. Was maybe $30 though.

Overnight you can lose a lot of weight through water loss. You breathe out water, you sweat out water... and then you don't consume any for the time you are asleep...

Did you eat all that food before or after your first weigh in? Judging by your high salt content meals you were probably retaining a lot of water so you had a false high weigh in yesterday.

I weighed 134 yesterday and 132 today. You can gain/lose 2 lbs (or more!) between daily weigh ins. You'll get more accurate representation if you weigh daily and then average the results.

The scale is probably fine if it is on a level surface and gets 'zeroed' every once in a while.

Funny i think a lot of people would love to eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk and a 1.5lb Cheesy Sausage Calzone and loose almost 3lbs. The numbers are wrong because of the fluctuations if you wait one or two days your weight maybe higher. (Only once a week is recommended)

I weighed 185.5 this morning, stepped off, stepped back on, and weighed 189.  I went with the 185.5, of course.  Scales do not give us the absolute measurement you might think they do.  If you've ever been to a dr. office that had a digital scale that changed dynamically, you'll see it change between a couple of pounds while you are standing on it - never giving an absolute number.  The same with the old fashioned scales where you move the weights.

HOWEVER,  what really matters is consistency.  Weigh on the same scale, at the same time of day, in the same clothing (or lack thereof) every time to help the numbers remain consistent.  The same scale ought to give you a relatively consistent feedback.  Back up your weight with a journal of your measurements.

And different people recommend different weighing schedules.  I like daily, because I'm focusing on the trendline, not so much on the daily weights.  There have been studies (someone quoted some of them, but I didn't save it) that have shown weighing daily can actually help weight loss.  BUT, some people get really frustrated with the numbers, so weighing once a week might be best for them.

It was probably a bad idea in general for me to weigh myself the morning after a night of pigging out. I think I'm only going to use the scale once a week from now on..

I totally don't trust the scale I own which is why I rarely weigh myself (it certainly gives me more sanity too)... I remember one day I weighed myself and it was an outrageously high number and the next day I "lost" 6 pounds - yea not so sure what the heck happened there~!

i trust mine, but there's no percentage in using different scales.  they rarely agree, and you'll just make yourself crazy trying to figure out which one is "right."

that said, the last time i was at my parents' i stepped on their scale, which i can guarantee is the cheapest piece of crap my dad could find, and it agreed perfectly with my fancy, shiny digital {shrug}.

I think the key is weighing yourself once a week at the same time. Pref. in the morning before you have ate or drank anything for the most accurate results. My weigh fluctuates all through the day.

i swear my dr's scale is just there to torment me! i had an appt last week, after struggling to lose at least an average of about 2lbs a week, i was so happy after one month, monitoring my own weight loss with my scale at home (digital of course) and to my surprise losing a total of about 10lbs then i get on his 1945 non digital scale and it shows me 11lbs heavier then the last time i weighed! i almost screamed n broke down in front of strangers... it was so weird so next day at the gym my personal trainer weighed me and it showed a 9lb weight loss so idk what to think anymore, just not going to let their inconsistencies stop me from accomplishing my goals! i HATE scales, and hate being weighed!

Original Post by jjcakes:

I think the key is weighing yourself once a week at the same time. Pref. in the morning before you have ate or drank anything for the most accurate results. My weigh fluctuates all through the day.

 Weight fluctuation is exactly why I weigh every day, then pay attention to the trendline.  Otherwise, if I happen to be having a bad day on the weigh-in day, it would set off my feeling of progress for a whole week.

But, there are lots of people who don't like to weigh everyday, and that's fine too.  Some people don't even weigh at all, and measure themselves for their progress.

So, let me get this straight. You weigh 117 to 119 pounds, you eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a one and a half pound calzone but you're "not dieting"?

Why are you here?

Really, if you're not here to maintain, gain or lose weight then why?

Just curious.

Well I used to be really active on this site when I was dieting about 6 months ago. And I really needed advice recently so I posted a topic on the Lounge forum, and had this quick questing so I decided to ask!

A few months ago, I decided that I should just listen to my own body and eat when I want, what I want. Some days I won't be hungry, some days I'll pig out. For example, last night we went to a Mexican restaurant and I ordered the Super Meat Quesidilla.. still felt hungry after and ordered the "Extreme Steak Burrito." I like doing this because I don't ever feel guilty about eating anymore. Because I have been so hardcore at dieting in the past, I can't help but to weigh myself once in a while to see my fluctuations. It's just for personal reference, not about dieting.

I have two scales. One a 15 year old spring type, and
the other a modern digital. The old one weighs correctly,
and the digital agrees with the old one after about five
minutes of getting on and off, and coming and going.
At least I get some additional exercise testing it out.

I can fluctuate by 3-4kgs of fluid in a day thanks to cyclical oedema.  So, I don't worry about my scales too much per se.  I figure whether it is reading 85kg or 185kg (ie inaccurate) if I have lost weight it will go down, if I put on, it will go up.  Therefore although I know my old spring scales are "fairly" accurate, i don't worry too much about the actual number (although if it goes over 85 I am going to be a) p*ssy and b) worried) so much as whether it is going up or down by and large.