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1seekspie
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 Jan 2008 11:52 pm |
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I've been weighed on various scales for various reasons (random doctor's appointments, school evaluation, and for my own curiousity) and each time I've been given a different result. Yes weight tends to skip around due to water retention and some uncrontolled changes in eating habbits though it would be nice to get a consistent reading with most scales .
Recently I went in for a physical and the doctor's scale measured me weighing at 110. My home scale says I weigh 104. Which one is more accurate? At the doctor's office I had my clothes on and had drank some water 20 minutes prior to the appointment. Though my home scale is a needle-measured one which are slightly out of date I suppose.
Which one is more accurate ? I know it's not a huge difference but this has been bugging me for a while .
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 2008 04:00 am |
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After I would weigh myself at my doctors every year or so -- assuming it to be more accurate -- I'd go home and set mine so it gave me the same weight. Of course you can't change your clothes or take the change out of your pocket or anything else.
Sometimes it would be discouraging... when I found out my home scale was off and I weighed more than I thought. But not really, because it's how much fat you have that matters. And I could have just gained muscle as I work out regularly.
I write this in the past tense because I don't really care anymore. For me, the value of a scale is to see relative changes. I use it as a guide to see how I'm doing. Doing that, it doesn't matter too much if it's off a little. Though the difference you note is quite a bit!
Peter
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EJ33
New Member
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Posted: 16 Jan 2008 05:34 am |
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I have a digital scale at home that is plus or minus .5 pounds in accuracy. For many years, everytime before going to a doctor's appointment I'll will weigh myself at home. I've found that my weight on the doctor's scale would be within plus or minus 1 pound but usually about 1/2 pound difference. I have weighed myself on at least 4 different doctor scales so I have found doctor's scales to be pretty accurate.
My doctor has more than one appointment room and have found there is up to a 2 pound variation depending on which appointment room/scale I get weighed on. At my last doctor's appointment I commented on my scale weight and he said the scale in that room reads about 2 pounds high.
At work they had a doctor's scale and it was reading about 5 pounds higher than the scale at the doctor's office so unless a scale is calibrated it can be off by quite a few pounds. I don't know how often a doctor chooses to get a scale re-calibrated.
Why not just ask your doctor how accurate his/her scale is? A doctor is only interested in knowing if your weight has increased or decreased by a large amount between visits. A large weight gain or loss usually signals a medical problem.
Years ago I would weigh myself on a mechanical scale. I found that if I got on the scale 5 times in a row, over a minute or so, my weight would vary by 2 pounds.
EJ33
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 16 Jan 2008 12:52 pm |
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EJ33 wrote: A doctor is only interested in knowing if your weight has increased or decreased by a large amount between visits. A large weight gain or loss usually signals a medical problem.
Exactly.
And when my eating disorder was at its worst, it used to really bother me that the doctor never noticed. I could go in only two months since my last visit, weight 20 lb more, then two months later weigh 20 lb less, and they always weighed me but never noticed! 
I didn't say anything because I was there for a different problem, but it told me a lot about medicine in the US.
Peter
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qwan
New Member
| Joined: | 9 Jan 2008 |
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| Posts: | 21 |
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Posted: 18 Jan 2008 01:16 pm |
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NO.
I have faced this very same problem. I was checking weight at my doctors which like many I though was accurate. But it was wrong, I was under the impression that I had lost around 15kgs in 20 days(which is obviously imppossible) then I realised that it was only 7 kgs.
I will tell you the foolproof method I use.
Weigh yourself at the grocery shop. Yes that is the most accurate because every month or so there are random checks by Govt. Officials who check the scales to see if any grocer is manipulating the scales.
I dont know about USA if such shops still exist(Walmart must have killed em all), but I am sure you could manage to weight yourself at your local market.
These scales are very accurate. These are the scales that are like a trolley. You have a small rod from which the weights hand on the side and you have to slide a thingy on a ruler which will tell you the weight.
It is better you ask someone from the market for help as it might take some time to figure out how the thing works.
This is the most accurate. You can then set your home scales to this.
But every month or so keep checking it at the market, because home scales may tend to fluctuate for no reason(or reasons that are too scientific and no one ever bothered to release a paper on Home scales :-P)
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qwan
New Member
| Joined: | 9 Jan 2008 |
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| Posts: | 21 |
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Posted: 18 Jan 2008 01:21 pm |
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Peter wrote: EJ33 wrote: A doctor is only interested in knowing if your weight has increased or decreased by a large amount between visits. A large weight gain or loss usually signals a medical problem.
Exactly.
And when my eating disorder was at its worst, it used to really bother me that the doctor never noticed. I could go in only two months since my last visit, weight 20 lb more, then two months later weigh 20 lb less, and they always weighed me but never noticed!
I didn't say anything because I was there for a different problem, but it told me a lot about medicine in the US.
Peter
I really think your doctor was noticing it. He was just happily thinking to himself when you gained weight "wow here comes some business, i better not tell him anything hope he keeps eating this way and then I can make some money" :-P.
I bet he was dissappointed when you lost it.
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