• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Accuracy of scales

sterling

sterling

Well-Known Member
Messages
161
Location
Centre of England
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I bought some Seca 760 scales a couple of years ago: described as "... precision and quality assured ... exceptional accuracy ...".

The digital floor scales in the diabetic nurses' room add several kilograms to the Seca reading.

I checked against the 50p per go local pharmacy scales today and they read 2 kilograms higher than my Seca but still less than the diabetic nurse's.

Does anyone else suffer from such variances?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, everywhere I weigh shows a different reading so I am going to Slimming World so I can weigh on their scales every week and record how much I have lost. I have several stones to lose so I'm not that bothered about what my true weight is until I get close to my target, which may well change when I get close to it. It is frustrating though, I bought some expensive scales for home use several years ago and found they were worse than my old cheap ones.
 
Weight can vary from morning to night and day by day, albeit small fluctuations. I would imagine the floor scales in the gp surgery will be calibrated so will be more accurate than weighing scales used at home, although I may be wrong.......
 
Just asking - are you weighed in exactly the same clothes each time?

I weigh myself in the morning just before my shower, wearing what I will wear in the shower.

Not going to attempt that at a pharmacy or surgery!:cool:

I weigh myself every day at the same point in the day - after the morning coffee and the morning evacuation and just before the shower.
This is the best way that I can work out to get consistent results.
As long as this is within a small amount of the surgery scales that is fine by me.
Food and drink can add pounds during the day - just for fun I occasionally weigh myself at night and before my morning routine and the weight is always higher.

I suppose you could always check your scales with objects of a known weight - although the most easily available bulk objects are bags of sugar and flour which I try to avoid.

Cheers

LGC
 
Just use them to tell how much you are losing. It does not matter if the actual weight is out by a few pounds.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Also, I have heard that the surface on which the scales are placed can make a difference too. Hard floor versus carpet.

I don't know if this is true, but to avoid variations, I always put my scales on a wooden floor, weigh in the morning, after the loo, in my birthday suit, same place in the room in case the gravitational pull is different on the other side of the room :rolleyes: etc lol
 
Avocado Sevenfold said:
Also, I have heard that the surface on which the scales are placed can make a difference too. Hard floor versus carpet.

I don't know if this is true, but to avoid variations, I always put my scales on a wooden floor, weigh in the morning, after the loo, in my birthday suit, same place in the room in case the gravitational pull is different on the other side of the room :rolleyes: etc lol
Click to expand...
My scales came with removable feet for use on a carpet.
 
My doctors scales are always 7ish pounds higher than mine through a 4 stone weight loss. So dropping at the same rate.
 
The scales at my surgery read a couple of Kg less than the three sets I have in the house. Obviously I am dressed when in the surgery so it is not what you would expect. I just play the advantage rule and never mention it.
 
I weigh each week on a Saturday at home before I go to SW morning session.
My weight is always one pound lower than SW scales.
This of course is my clothes making tbe extra pound.
For the last 6 weeks my weight loss has reflected in the SW scales as the weight loss on my scales. If I lost 2lbs on mine I lost the equivalent on theirs.
To my astonishment this week. I lost 4lbs on my scales and put on half pound on theirs. Regardless of the weight difference in the scales. The loss should be the same. Albeit 1lb more on theirs.
This I cannot understand !!!
 
I had this problem. My old mechanical Salter scales were off by over 1st compared to the GPs, which should be accurate and calibrated. Results also seemed to vary a lot, so figured they were knackered and bought a fancy Tanita body composition set. Not sure how accurate they are, but the weight seems to be in agreement with the GPs. Best thing is they log the results so I can view trends, and check I'm heading in the right direction.

For comparisons though, I guess if you weigh yourself 'normally', then wearing what you'd be wearing at the GPs, you could get a better idea on any differences in readings.
 
My new digital, bmi, body fat,make-a-cup-of-tea etc scales make me a few kgs heavier than my old salter ones. I liked my old ones. I could lose 5kgs just by moving backwards. The new ones hate me.
 
sterling said:
I bought some Seca 760 scales a couple of years ago: described as "... precision and quality assured ... exceptional accuracy ...".

The digital floor scales in the diabetic nurses' room add several kilograms to the Seca reading.

I checked against the 50p per go local pharmacy scales today and they read 2 kilograms higher than my Seca but still less than the diabetic nurse's.

Does anyone else suffer from such variances?
Click to expand...
I know an old thread but 2kgs is quite a lot of a variant. Most are not 100% accurate. My floor isn't perfectly straight either.
Like blood meters as long as you can see which direction your weight change is going.
 
first14808 said:
I had this problem. My old mechanical Salter scales were off by over 1st compared to the GPs, which should be accurate and calibrated. Results also seemed to vary a lot, so figured they were knackered and bought a fancy Tanita body composition set. Not sure how accurate they are, but the weight seems to be in agreement with the GPs. Best thing is they log the results so I can view trends, and check I'm heading in the right direction.

For comparisons though, I guess if you weigh yourself 'normally', then wearing what you'd be wearing at the GPs, you could get a better idea on any differences in readings.
Click to expand...
 
My scales at home are new. I wear same clothes every week to SW. Regardless of the weight difference a loss should register. It has been the same loss as mine every other week. I don't see how a 4lb liss can carry over to a half pound gain on scales that have over 6 weeks registered the same losses as my digital scales
 
Back
Top