Problem: My old scale died.
Solution: I bought a new scale. I love it. I walk into the bathroom and marvel at its sleek digital nature, its ability to be accurate to the tenth of a degree… and I hate the fact that it can tell me what percent of my body is body fat. (Answer: Way too much. I am morbidly obese, after all.)
But the solution has raised a new problem.
Problem: I weighed 249 yesterday. This morning, the new scale says that I am 253. As I expected it to be higher than my old scale weight, I am okay with this. I didn’t suddenly gain 4 lbs back. I gained a new scale instead, which will be great in the long run.
The problem is that my start weight was 260, and I had a net loss of eleven pounds. Now the scale is different than my old one. What do I do?
I could do one of the following:
a) ignore the fact that there is a new scale. Leave start weight at 260, new net loss is seven lbs. I know it’s only 4 lbs, but it takes me a while to lose weight - at least it has been taking a while. Plus it’s hard enough that I have to get back into the 240s again… Kind of demoralizing, you know?
b) Change the start weight. Make it 4 lbs heavier. New start weight at 264, net loss remains 11 lbs. Still have to get back into the 240s, but at least the net loss is the same. Hmmm. Seems funny though.
c) Ignore the new scale until next week and kick my self into the new year with a tremendous loss this week! Which will look like no loss, but hey, I’ll still be in the 240s. But then I don’t “get credit” for a 4 lb loss - and what if I don’t lose 4 lbs this week. I don’t think I’ve ever lost more than 2 in a week in my adult life.
So what should I do with these silly numbers? And ultimately, they are silly. But still, I need to figure out what I’m going to do!
If I were you, I would set the scale to match your old scale. But, I think you are probably panicking WAY too much about this. Ultimately its just a number. I went on vacation recently and the scales in the hotel were way off from what the scales at my WW meeting had. According to the hotel scales, I weighed 5-7 pounds less. I wish!
Comment by Gina — January 23, 2007 @ 10:01 pm
If setting back the scale is not an option then I would go with option B because A doesn’t really make sense to me. It seems you would be doing yourself a disadvantage. If you have lost 11 pounds, its not fair to say you’ve only lost 7. You worked hard for those 4 lbs.
Comment by Gina — January 23, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
Personally, when I got my new Tanita- which was seven pounds heavier than my old spring scale- I changed my start weight. I took my original of 205.8 - and lo, t’was 212.8. It was painful at first, but I got over it!
Keep your loss the same - that is what matters!!!
Comment by blestwithsons — January 23, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
I say change your start weight. Cos otherwise you don’t get credit for those pounds that are no longer on your body, but were a little while ago! That’s what I’d do
Comment by Debs — January 24, 2007 @ 5:04 am
I’m resetting my start weight. 264/253/130 (250 short term goal). I wondered if it seemed reasonable to do so to others, so thanks!
Comment by Tracy — January 24, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Yep, totally reasonable! I did that, too, when I got my new Tanita.
Congrats on that shiny new scale!!!
Comment by Leann — January 24, 2007 @ 10:38 am
thanks for the advice — I will do the same once I get my new scale — which WILL be this week!!
Comment by Maria — January 24, 2007 @ 7:35 pm