Is a Home Scale More Accurate than a Doctor Scale?

There are two great moments in life. One is that you have bought something you have been looking forward to for a long time, and the other is that the moment you stand on the scale, you find that your weight has become lighter. And this time you are determined to make an appointment for a physical examination, but you find that although the "formal diet" does not deviate from your healthy eating and exercise habits, your weight has increased by five to ten pounds. It not only defeats all your previous excitement and happiness, but will also leave an indelible record on your medical record. what happened?

Consistency is the Key

To be sure, the doctor weight scale is more accurate than your weighing machine for home. If you use the scale as a measure of your loss or gain, the most important thing is to maintain consistency. This means you need to use the same weight scale and wear the same type of clothing at the same time of the day. There can be many differences from one weighing to another. Therefore, measuring with one scale at noon and measuring with another scale at night may show a huge difference, so the weight you test may not be accurate.

Most people who are losing weight have very specific routines to track their weight by the home weight scale. For example, you might start measuring your weight every day after you wake up. But in the doctor's office, you may not be able to take off your clothes for the last shot or postpone eating.

Dr. Caroline Apovian, at Boston Medical Center, director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management, said: “Before eating, weighing without clothes in the morning may be more accurate than wearing more clothes in the office every day.”

Other Causes of Weight Change

Due to various reasons and environmental factors, weight fluctuations throughout the day are normal, which can lead to differences in weight scales. The higher readings during the examination may be due to many factors beyond your control. It is expected that weight fluctuations will be due to the consumption of salty foods, monthly hormonal fluctuations, strength training, and the weight of clothes.

5 Tips to Ensure Scale Accuracy

Try Before You Buy

When buying a home weighing scale, we recommend that you first measure an object with a known weight, such as a bag of rice or a bag of flour.

Recalibrate as Needed

If you suspect that the digital human weighing scale is incorrect, please recalibrate and check against the hand weight. Calibration is the process of resetting the scale to the correct zero weight. Please read the manufacturer's instructions thoroughly before recalibrating.

Place the Scale on a Hard and Flat Surface

If we weigh on a softer floor (such as carpet, vinyl, or linoleum), it may affect the reading. Ideally, you'd better place the electronic weighing scale on a hard surface, such as concrete, hardwood, or ceramic tiles.

Stand Straight and Center

During the weighing process, you need to stand in the center of the digital measuring scale and keep your feet flat. In this way, we can avoid transferring weight from one foot to the other, resulting in inaccurate weighing results.

Comparison Scale

If you have doubts about the readings of the home electronic scale, please try to step on the electronic scale of a gym or a friend's house at the same time and under the same conditions, and then compare the results.

The most important thing is not to let the choice of the digital weighing scale occupy too much of your mental energy. Weight is only a small factor in testing accuracy. Other factors including sleep quality, skin and hair condition, clothing style, energy level, fitness level, and blood pressure results can all affect the results of the measurement of the mechanical weighing scale.