Scales that don't work! - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

horsechic310 · 06-21-2009, 05:38 PM

I started my diet a week ago and was so proud! I had lost 3 pounds. To commemorrate I bought a digital scale. When I stepped on boy was I supprised. I had only lost 1.5! I checked my old scale to make sure it was on zero before I got on and everything. I'm so deppressed now. I'm just wondered if this is common or I'm a fluke of nature. Comments or support is appriciated.

*~*horsechic310*~*

zinkemomx2 · 06-21-2009, 05:45 PM

1.5 pounds for someone of your weight is excellent. That is more than 1%. I would focus on what kinds of things you did right for the week and take the focus off the scale.

Did you make a good food choice while you were tempted?
Did you exercise according to plan?
Did you drink all your water?

Obviously what you did worked. You lost weight. Keep doing what you are doing and the pounds will continue to come off.

CountingDown · 06-21-2009, 05:51 PM

Ah, the new scale - YUP, most of us go through that pain. And I would LOVE to know why the new scale ALWAYS weighs me higher than the old - never lower

But, here's the deal.

You lost 3 lbs. The new scale doesn't change that. You would have weighed 3 lbs higher on that new scale if you had weighed yourself on it when you started.

So, adjust your start weight accordingly!

You LOST 3 LBS!!!!

dragonwoman64 · 06-21-2009, 05:56 PM

yes! I was using a spring scale, then bought a tanita digital scale (this was years ago). the numbers were several lbs different, I can't remember exactly how many, I'm probably blocking out the trauma.

nakedmango · 06-21-2009, 05:59 PM

I am very close to your stats and would be delighted with 1.5 pounds lost this week! I lost my last 10 pounds before goal very slowly--about a couple pounds a month. I had "stalled" a little with weight loss and wanted to focus on healthy eating. I did, and the weight still came off, but slowly. I went to see a trainer at my gym for my assessment (when I was around 123 pounds or so), and he was very impressed that someone of my size was losing that much every month. For you to lose that in a week is fabulous--celebrate your success! For someone of our size, losing 1.5 pounds in a week means restricting/burning off a significant portion (like a third) of the day's calories. Let me assure you--you are doing very well. Congrats!

Samantha100 · 06-21-2009, 06:01 PM

Many of the "bathroom" scales have a sweat spot where you exactly need to stand in order to work correctly. Shifting your weight can often throw them off. I am convinced that the "hospital" scale with the weights you have to slide from side to side are the best. The problem is they are big, ugly, and expensive.

Jacque9999 · 06-21-2009, 06:04 PM

I use a digital scale at home...that is the only scale I go by....I was weighed at the doctors office the other day. All that had changed from the time I weighed myself at home and on their digital scale was the following:

I was naked at home, not at the doctors office
I had not eaten anything but did drink some water

I weighed 3 lbs heavier on the doctors scale....so now that you have the new one, stick to that one. Don't worry about any other scale. It is only a number anyway....when you feel good, look good and wear the clothes that you want to wear, that is success.

You did still lose 3 lbs.

horsechic310 · 06-21-2009, 06:05 PM

well for the past 5 days i have cut back on my calories by about half. i didnt realize i was eating so much! i replaced bacon with egg whites and so forth. but these past few days ive overeaten majorly.=/ but ive been biking about 14 miles a day too so thats helped=). thank you all for your support. lets hope i reach my goal before school starts.

Niecy · 06-21-2009, 06:08 PM

Samantha:

Yes, those ARE the best. I HAD one but threw it out. Reason being? It was BIG, UGLY but it was FREE!!!! lol I found it beside the road and brought it home and it was spot on. I had the dial type that was about 4 lbs off (lower, like everyone else, haha) I then bought a digital and I HATE it. I have to "recalibrate" it by lugging into the bathroom my 10 lb handweight and then stepping back on it. It will usually give me an accurate reading, but only if I do that. They put them in those boxes in the stores and you don't really know what to expect until you get it home.

bargoo · 06-21-2009, 07:31 PM

Adjust your staring weight and continue to weigh on your digital scale. You have still lost 3 pounds.

Palestrina · 06-21-2009, 09:09 PM

Maybe all the scales are wrong.

I went through this twice a few weeks ago. I was sitting on 200 on my scale and was scared by the number so I started exercising because I was NOT going to go over the dreaded 200. I lst 11lbs and thought to myself "189?? I don't remember 189 feeling like this,shouldn't I feel skinnier!" So I got off and adjusted the scale to 0. When I got back on it said 197!!!! That means that I wasn't 200lbs to begin with, I was 211, the heaviest I've ever been and a real wake up call.

The following week I bought a digital scale. By this time I had gotten down to 194 on my old adjusted scale, which means I had lost another 3lbs. But on my new digital scale it now showed 198!!! Oh the trauma, oh the heartache, I don't wish it on my worst enemy.

I figured out that I originally weighed 215 when I thought I weighed 200. Don't fret about it, the pounds have been coming off even though the scales are crazy!

sassybangs · 06-22-2009, 03:50 AM

yep. i experienced some scale cooky-ness on saturday. i weigh on a cheap digital scale, cost me 20 or 30 bucks. and it gives me what i think a reasonable reading for my weight would be. then sometimes right after ill weigh in on my wifit, since it tracks it, and it will always weight 3-4 lighter, i chalk it up to the wii fit being on carpet, even though i have the risers on it. this week i lost 1 lb from last, totally excited! i get on the wiifit and it says i gained 1.2 lbs from last week! but this time the two number actually kinda match. so im not gonna care about the discrepancy. im going with the 1 lb loss. try not to let the scale voodoo get to you.

RubyGuggenheim · 06-22-2009, 07:10 AM

I have one of the giant hospital scales with the weights you move across. Love it.

It's a billion years old and it works perfectly. And I don't find it ugly, I actually think it looks really cool.

forestroad · 06-22-2009, 11:40 AM

I weigh myself at the gym, where they have a doc's office scale, and so I base my "official" mental weight on that, even though I have a cheap crappy bathroom scale too. It is never zero'd properly and I think my linoleum floor is a little uneven anyway, plus the numbers are so close together on it that who can really tell? I always hear the ladies at the gym talking about how the gym scale makes them about 4lbs fatter than they really are, lol.