8 pound difference between home and nurses scales!?

Roxy07

Why the big difference?

I have tried different digital scales (even the ones at the doctors surgery) and it all gives me a 8 pound difference compared to the nurses analog/manuel ones which says I'm 8 pounds lighter then the digital ones.. which is more accurate? it's driving me crazy..

**professor~yaffle**

I often notice a difference between my 2 sets of kitchen scales, and they never tally up with the post office scales when I want to send something in the post. I wonder if it's to do with the way they are calibrated?

You could try one of the scales in Boots and see whether it matches your home scales or the nurse's scales.

I must confess I have lost confidence in nurses weighing and measuring me! It's usually for the BMI thing, which they seem keen on these days. The last nurse I saw put the wrong height, by about 2 inches (!!) so the measurement would have been inaccurate.

ariba10

Believe the one that is the lowest obviously!

sofababe

I wouldn't worry to much about which ones are right, just stick to one set so you can track your weight accurately using the same set each time. I've never found 2 sets that weigh the same. Also, your weight can and does fluctuate quite wildly over the course of day, so weighing once a week or preferably fortnightly will give a clearer view of your weight loss/gain/maintenance.

fluffymuffy

Use a tape measure instead.

building_with_lego

Waist to hips ratio is a far superior measure of cardio-vascular health than BMI. (I read a study which showed that people with a BMI of 26-30 (i.e. "overweight") had better c-v health than people with a "healthy weight" BMI of 19-25. )

The thing about BMI is it's pretty crude but useful as a crude measure in some cases. For example, I was measured as a BMI of 26.6 at my last smear test, the first time they'd plotted my BMI, and it did kick me into some changes (BMI now around 21.5 and WtH at 0.75 ish). It was quite an inspiration to see the BMI numbers dropping.

If you use the same tool you will see any changes, be it your scales or the nurse's. I do agree with ariba10 though, believe the one which says the lowest