Why would the doctor’s scales show six pounds less than mine?

[PerkyOchrePeer]

I waited myself at home first thing in the morning without eating and was eight 8 stone 12
At the doctors surgery an hour later , I was weighed again , and I was lower and I had lost six pounds. I think the doctor's scales were not accurate because I weigh myself regularly and I am regularly the higher weight

No, it isn't a concern. No one is concerned or stated they were so you made that up to seem correct. Bad form.

All scales have calibration tolerances. The analogue and digital scales can't be compared, directly, as they have their own toleration differences.

Everyone is assuming that the home scales are 100% accurate and then assuming 100% inaccuracy for the hospital scales. This is false.

Worst case scenario (or best case), since we have to assume on margin of error for incomparable machines, the difference for each scale is +/- 1.5 pounds meaning the mean difference is 2 pounds aka negligible.

I never weigh myself with clothes.So how can you say I have something heavy in my trouser pocket

Why would I weigh myself wearing a dressing gown? I weigh myself with nothing on before eating. So that where you get your accurate weight

It could be that your scales are slightly over and the doctor's are slightly under. So probably a combination of two inaccuracies. I have digital scales and can weigh up to 2kg different depending on whether I use them in the bathroom or the bedroom. As long as you always weigh yourself under the same conditions you can see if you're putting on or losing weight, which is the important thing.

You should not use your bedroom. Because bedrooms have a carpet and it should be on a hard flat surface, and I always weigh myself in my kitchen but I will try and see what it comes out as on my bathroom floor which is also a hard flat surface.

Try that in the GP’s surgery!

Didn’t we have this fairly recently about the difference between a tape measure and the height equipment at the GP or somewhere?

My bedroom does not have a carpet.

My digital scales make me heavier than when I was weighed recently at an outpatients appointment. However, my scales were only cheap salter ones and I have noticed that they can be inconsistent.

Oh it’s you, OP! I have to admit, I think this is another one that you shouldn’t waste too much time overthinking. If you think that your scales are accurate then go with that.

Both scales could be a couple of pounds in the wrong direction making only a small discrepancy.

So as pp say, why does it matter? Are you trying to prove weight loss for a health concern? If both sets of scales put you at a healthy weight, it doesn't matter if you don't have other concerns.

It means taking all the measurement uncertainties into account. The number on the scales isn't definitive. It's telling you it's somewhere around 9 stone in the OPs case.

But if you account for all the potential inaccuracies in the scales, especially analogue ones where you can apparently gain a pound or two due to parallax errors, and in variations in the OPs weight, most of which have nothing to do with the amount of fat in her body, which is what people are generally trying to measure, all you can determine is that the OP weighs somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5 stone. So both 8 stone 12 and 9 stone 4 are within this range.

Do you mean somewhere between 8 stone and 9 stone? I guess the issue is that if the lower reading of 8 stone 6 is correct, then depending on the OP's height she could be underweight.

The doctors are aware of the calibration tolerances for their scales. There is no issue with her weight or they would have said so. It's not too dissimilar to having blood pressure reading high or low at doctors but different at home. It's nothing to worry or be concerned about or even question to this degree.

So you were weighed naked in your GP surgery? That must have raised eyebrows

Clothes are not weightless . . .

I would say the doctor's scales are most likely wrong. They probably get used many times a day and get out of kilter quite quickly.

You sound overly worried about a discrepancy of a mere 6 pounds TBH. Most people will have a natural daily variation of more than this.

@PerkyOchrePeer Like a few other posters have suggested, you could go grab something you know the weight of (a large unopened bag of flour or rice for example) and weigh it on your scales to see if they are correct?

So the GP scales weighed you lighter - and this is distressing because….?

I am going to assume, given the hyperfocus and the fact that you have repeatedly weighed and re-weighed, that you have an unhealthy obsession with your weight. Depending on your height, I wonder whether you might actually be underweight and the GP has commented? Or are they monitoring for the impact of medication - I have to report mine along side BP/HR monthly because a side effect of one of my meds is loss of appetite and consequent weight-loss. The GP likes to be sure I’m not dismissing that.

So long as the ones you use weigh approximately ‘the same’ each time, it means you are maintaining your weight and this is all you need to know. So long as the next time you are weighed by your GP you weigh approximately the same on those, too, that is all they need to know. If there is a change, then that may need exploring but it doesn’t actually matter which set of scales is the absolutely accurate - unless you are a competitive athlete and needing to remain within a weight class of course.

There are two reasons why it might matter.

One is if you are losing weight unintentionally and without explanation. Are you losing weight, OP?

And the other one is if your height means this 6lb difference makes you actually underweight if the GP’s scale is the accurate one. But even that is probably only a concern if you are losing weight.

If your weight by your own scale is stable, and you are not underweight, don’t worry about it.

It it sounds as though you might be someone who worries a lot about her weight. Is that the case?

There is literally nothing on earth that would persuade me to be weighed at work. None of their business.

I'm failing to see any issue here?!

You use your scales and let the Surgery use theirs? Why is this bothering you so much?

Is there a reason you are weighing yourself so much? Is there a back story here?

I have digital and analogue scales. The digital is always 6lbs higher than analogue. The analogue scales at my parents are in the middle, so I weigh 3lbs heavier in comparison to my analogue or 3lbs lighter in comparison to my digital scales.

I have checked my digital ones using dumbbells, so know they’re pretty accurate. Im guessing analogue aren’t as accurate?

i weighed 6lbs heavier at the doctors 😬 (but that was expected with all the layers I was wearing and the food I’d eaten).

Nhs is pretty shocking for accuracy.
we’ve had height 30cm wrong.
bp very wrong but didnt want to redo it
height lower than last time, gp surgery are particularly bad.
weight varied about 4kg in 2 weeks

i think it doesnt help they are not engaging brains because it was obvious the 30cm out was wrong…

The doctor said i was very slim and she wanted to weigh me because I have a thyroid issue and one of the symptoms is weight loss. When she said I was 8 stone 6 she asked me how tal i was but didn't comment further