can the scales lie?

[Schoska]

Ok, I started going to the gym a little over a week ago, and have decided to weigh myself once a week and pay attention to how i'm feeling to see whether I'm on the right track.
However, on Friday I got on the scales and I appear to have lost half a stone. I thought this might have been an error... but checked today, and it says the same thing.
Is this possible in one week? And more to the point is it healthy?
ETA: I've actually been eating more too as I now eat a decent sized breakfast..
:worried:

[kat]

My weight goes up and down at different times of the month. Half a stone sounds a lot, it could be to do with water retention. Try and weigh yourself at the same time of day each time, I'd also try to go more by the feel of your clothes than your actual weight. Oh and keep your fluid levels up when exercising!

Sorry I can't help more.

[bethanie]

I've never believed the scales...if I did, I'd have killed myself long ago. I am what is known as 'large framed'...my wrist measure something like 6.5 inches around at their boniest...and I'm tall.

So the number 135 has been a distant memory for me since about the nineth grade since I started being really athletic. I had to make peace with the scale. Now I just try to be healthy.

I say stay away from the thing unless you are at the doctor. Eat well, exercise and be healthy instead. :)

B

[catswym]

I've never believed the scales...if I did, I'd have killed myself long ago. I am what is known as 'large framed'...my wrist measure something like 6.5 inches around at their boniest...and I'm tall.



wow...i just measured my wrist and it's nearly 8in! and there's no fat there...guess i'm extra-large framed. :)

but i agree... don't weigh yourself too much. it can easily become an obsession.

[RearViewMirror]

Is it a electronic scale ?

(batteries flat ?)

[Jinga]

The scale is a basic tool, but it doesn't tell the whole story. For example, today I weighed 1.5lbs more than yesterday at the exact same time of day. I didn't eat the extra 5250 calories it takes to put on a pound of fat, so its probably actually caused by water, food, full bowels, etc. I'd say take the scales reading with a grain of salt. If its consistantly going down, you are losing weight. An even better tool is recording how your clothes fit.

[zoebird]

scales at gyms are notoriously off. Also, depending upon the gym, sometimes they're set 'off' as to keep people working out.

men like to see that they're gaining weight (ie, gaining muscle). So, if the scale shows a little heavy, then they're likely to continue working out. Women typically work out to loose weight, and a larger number on the scale gets them to come more often. Therefore, a scale that's a little heavy motivates some women to work out harder--thus getting more gym use.

so, scales in gyms are notoriously high--with the exception of women-only gyms, where they're actually low (see! you're getting results!--is the subtext). so, it's not unusual to get a false reading.

the scales in most medical offices are well calibrated, but they don't care about dress or whatever else. once, when i had broken my leg, they insisted on weighing me. i had a cast on. It was winter, i was wearing a heavy coat and a boot on the other foot. I also had my book bag with me, which easily had about 50 lbs worth of books. they weighed me with all of that on. I was weighed at 240 lbs! lol double what i actually weighed! LOL it's still in my charts!!! no explaination, and so now doctors are like 'wow, you went through a major weight loss!' and all that--when it was really just the cast, book bag, heavy coat and boot on the scale! The nurse just didn't care!

home scales can be wonky too.

so, truthfully, you have to pick one scale as your 'base line' and let the others go. But, also recognize that this one, too, could be wrong.

it's why i deal with body fat percentage too--though those tests are also notoriously inaccurate. but whatever. :)

[JLRodgers]

One health club I interviewed at (won't say which), had some pictures of success stories.... one woman was at an average/atletic "before" and had her listed at 225 pounds... her "after" you could count all her ribs, and could see the bone outlines in her arms and legs were "off"... they said her final weight was 180 -- her height? 5foot 3-5 (somewhere in there). Those "readings" appeared to be 70-80 pounds heavy! Others were also on the wall, similar heights, but exact same weights - yet they were (not meaning as an insult to anyone) like 1.5-2x as big as she was width wise.

I so wish I was kidding... but I'm not. She looked so sick in the after picture, I almost told them that I wouldn't work for a company that would jeopardize a human's well being for a buck - but I stuck around, just in case it was a bad trainer, but realized that it was worse than I had imagined (glad I didn't get hired - I wasn't their type). They intentionally altered/"fixed" the scales playing on the patron's emotional levels to get more money from them.

Oh... anyway, my point being, it's possible that the place you went to does a similar thing. Perhaps they "altered" the scale for a person to get them to drop more money, and you just happened to use it before they reset it.

[Schoska]

Blimey, those gym-scales stories are freaky..
It was my personal (no batteries required) scales so no cheating go on haha.
Oh well, we'll see what happens.
Thanks for the help guys :)

[Hummusisyummus]

Try putting something with a known weight on it.

[pseudo_vegan]

zoebird..."scales can be wonky..."

"wonky"...such a fun word! :smitten:

:nigel: Cheers!

[Schoska]

right. I weighed myself on someone else's scales, and got other people on my scales. Apprently it is correct.
Beginner's luck maybe!

[crystalteacup]

I work out a college gym and the men's and women's scales are in separate rooms. I weigh about 155 at 6 feet tall but my home scale says I'm 150. I think I'd rather believe the electronic one at the gym when I need modivation and my one at home when I'm feeling low :)

[rainbowmoon]

GRR!!
I weighed myself on the scale at the vet office (where my bfs dad works) and I weighed 165...I didn't believe it was true so I went back and weighed myself at a friend's house, and it was 170. :( I hate that not all scales are calibrated the same!

[zoebird]

so, which one do you believe?

it's likely that the one at the vet's office is better calibrated, so perhaps you do weigh the lower amount. there's really no telling, is there?

so, scale weight *really* doesn't matter!

[rainbowmoon]

Yeah, I would think the one at the vets office was better- its a huge platform so dogs and cats can walk onto it, with a digital readoff thingie. Still, I was 170 before, so it leads me to believe that the other scale might have really been right, meaning that nothing changed.
Still, the scale is so deceptive. Its just that its the easiest way to measure changes in weight, and therefore, size...I guess measuring body fat % or perhaps even inch measurements would be more effective, with the latter being more practical?

[SeaSiren]

I put 50lbs (2-25lbs plates) on the scale at the gym to check it's accuracy and yes it was off. Bet they love me over there :D

[zoebird]

i think inches works well. body fat calibration can be difficult, and some people dont' give a crap about how they measure you. so, inches is probably best.

i mostly watch how my clothing fits.