Unreliability of Scales

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #1

Just to illustrate how inaccurate scales are:
I just weighed myself (3x) and got 119.8. Then I peed (not much) and got 115.4 (3x). There is no way I peed out 4.4lbs! :laughing: This was all over the span of about 2 minutes. So, yeah, scales are not always accurate!

(BostonterrierLvr) #2

I agree with you! I can weigh myself on 3 different scales at my 3 different jobs or the scale at doctors and they are often way off.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #3

When I worked at the vet we had a large digital dog scale. It was a running joke that if anyone had to have a BM we’d weigh ourselves before and after. Sometimes we’d die laughing when there would be a 7 lb difference and that person got to be the butt (no pun intended) of the jokes for the day. #funscalegames

#4

That’s only half a gallon. I know I’ve done that before! :wink:

Please redo the test with the actual weight of excreted materials. :grin:

(Marianne) #5

Maybe your pee was full of heavy metals (?) :laughing:

I detest the scale and don’t weigh myself. Sometimes I’d like to know, but not that much. If it were higher than I wanted it to be, that would mess me up.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #6

I’m trying make sure I don’t lose too much weight, so occasional weighing is good for me :slight_smile:

#7

Oh, you want to talk lying scales? Mine lies to me almost everyday. It just makes up some story about what I might weigh depending on its mood. @Sharon_E knows that her scale prefers certain spots on the floor and it she doesn’t put it in that spot it has a hissy fit.

I just try to laugh at it. Though I confess that this morning, I almost took a baseball bat to it. Though I did go out for lunch yesterday and I’m not a 100% sure what I ate, so it could have been my fault. There’s no telling really.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #8

If your scale is upsetting you, why not give it to someone you don’t like? :grin:

My scale is wildly variable. If I step on it five times in a row, I will get five different readings, over a 20-lb. range. I can influence the reading by how I stand on it. I have occasionally weighed myself before and after a shower, during which I apparently washed off 5 or 6 pounds of dirt. Go figure!

When I want to know my true weight, I go to the local gym and weigh myself on the balance scale there.

(John) #9

I usually gain a couple of pounds by taking a shower. :man_shrugging:

I can also get my weight to vary about 2 to 4 pounds just by how I stand on the scale.

I have a set place on the floor I put it when I weigh in the mornings, and I try to stand on it the same way every time. But it certainly has its little variances. That is why I really only count significant changes in the weekly high-low variations. Usually in 5-pound increments. Only when I stay below a particular 5-pound mark for a week, do I claim that particular hurdle as achieved.

#10

My old scale was being crazy like that. The springs underneath had started to rust and just couldn’t move reliably. I finally bought a new one that is very consistent.

I think the truth (ssshhhh) is that it the human involved here that is really doing crazy things like fasting an entire day and still weighing the same the next day. I just like to blame it on the scale when my body does something illogical.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #11

I don’t really care about what the scale says, as long as I’m not losing too much weight. I just thought it was funny :slightly_smiling_face:.

But all these responses are great for others to see, so they won’t get stressed.

(Bob M) #12

That is unusual. I usually lose 3-5+ pounds the first day of fasting.

(Raj Seth) #13

My newer digital scale cheats. If I weigh myself and get a number - say 222.4, then if I re-weigh several times, it will remain 222.4 - EXACTLY. I have to pick up something heavy (gallon jug) to knock the reading off to 230. THEN, if I re-weigh without the jug, I do NOT get 222.4 again - I will get a reading near 222.4. SO, the only way to get a real average weight - I would have to alternate weighings with and without the jug.

Instead, I just stand on it, look at the number, and don’t worry about it too much…

Some patterns - I often show a 7-10 lb gain the morning after I break a fast. I also have as much as a 8-12 lb weight loss for a 2-3 day fast. My day to day variation is 5-8 lbs. I average my monthly weighings to gauge trends. Then, I see how my pants fit to figure out what is actually happening :grinning:

(Bob M) #14

Yeah, now I just use my pants. My wife buys my pants without me being there, which means I have a wide range of 36 inch waist paints – some are too big and relegated to the back of the closet. The ones I used to not be able to wear are now looser on me. I hope to keep moving toward 34s. We’ll see. Oh, belts are nice too. Most of mine are on their lowest hole, though this changes with the pants too.

I used to use waist measurements, but I found this to be error-prone also. I easily had a 1/2 inch to one inch error.

#15

Oh, well, I never lose more than a couple over two days anyway.