Ugh Doctors Scales!!

S

Stacey.

New member
Why do they have to show a heavier weight? :(

I was quite content with the progress i'd made and then the doctor wrote on the notes on monday "obese girl" and I seen it and thought are you kidding me? I WAS obese but i've lost 21lb, i'm not obese anymore. Now i'm thinking do I really look that bad that people just assume i'm obese by looking at me? (She hadn't weighed me).

So anyway the doctor I saw today said right i'm going to weigh you and we'll prove her wrong that you're not obese. But the bloody scales said my bmi is 29.7 so about 3 points off being obese. She must of thought "well that doctor wasn't far off". But according to my scales at home i'm not that heavy.

Thanks to the doctors scales bursting my bubble, I now feel like shit! I know progress is still progress, but still, a) it says i'm about 7lb heavier and b) I now know that I look obese when I finally thought I was looking a little better. I just can't get it out my head! :(

And I know it wasn't the clothing or lunch or whatever because as soon as I got home I hopped on the scales and sure enough they were telling me I was 6lb lighter. I feel so upset. I know people say its the progress you should focus on, but really all I want to be is considered a healthy weight.

Ugh sorry for the rant but its been eating at me all day! :nope: I think what upsets me the most is that she just assumed I was obese so I must look bigger than I thought!

I don't really know what I expect anyone to say but I had to get it off my chest!
 
This same thing happened to me two months ago! The scale at the Dr.'s said I was 188lbs but at home I was 173lbs. When I saw it I was confused and lost loads of confidence because going in I thought to myself "boy they'll be so surprised when they find out that I've lost so much weight since my last visit".
LOL

All of my life I went into the offices more confident than I came out. The doctors from the past would always point out the fact that I was obese and I couldn't help thinking "dang do I really look that bad!?"


I laugh at it now since it was months ago but I felt horrible then. Gladly though my doctor mentioned my weight loss and gave encouragement.

My next goal though is to shock my OBGYN in June. It'll be a year since she's seen me when I was near 225lbs and I've lost 65lbs since then. MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Won't she be surprised.

Chin up. Losing 21lbs is nothing to snuff at. Congrats to you! Keep going and shock them at your next visit too! ^_^
 
Different scales give you different results, that's just how it is. Look at it that way, if you had weighed yourself on the doctor's scale from the beginning, you would have been 7 lbs heavier from the beginning. You still lost the same amount of weight!

You're doing well, you have achieved something great by already losing 21 lbs. Don't let a number on a scale ruin that for you. Or a doctor who uses BMI charts.

I used to have a doctor that pointed out to me how much I still had to lose, and that I was still 'morbidly obese' even after losing weight, and in the end I told her to sod off. In those words. If all she can do is point out the negative, she's in the wrong job, plain and simple. Plus a lot of doctors seem to get paid for talking people into taking prescription 'diet pills' or join diet programs. Not sure, but it darn well seems like that.

I changed doctors, and low and behold, the new one does it the other way around. She keeps pointing out how much I lost, how far I've already come and so on. We both know I still need to lose a huge amount of weight. No need to mention it every time I visit.

In any case, don't let that doctor, or a dodgy scale, get you down. You've done a great job so far, and don't let anybody (or anything) tell you anything else!!
 
Time of day also makes a difference!

Do you weigh yourself first thing in the morning on your scales?

If you do, and then go to the drs mid morning, you're gonna weigh heavier - try it out on your own scales at home - you're at your lightest first thing in the morning!
 
Stacy... if your weight is that far off from the doctor's scale, it might mean that your scale is old and isn't showing the correct weight anymore. I hope I'm wrong, but it's something to consider. Try weighing yourself at your home, and then at someone else's home, wearing the same things, and not eating anything in between, it should be pretty close, if not, it might be your scale.
 
Also don't forget the doctor sees and weighs people day in day out. It's not you look obese, it's they've seen enough people to accurately (ish) judge peoples BMI's by looking.
I'm getting good at guessing 26-28 BMI's and I'm only a first year student midwife and I only do clinic once a week at most.
 
So long as the number is dropping, that's what counts.

I would have to expect the Dr's scale to be calibrated once in a while though. Perhaps go to a store and test 2 or 3 scales to see if they give the same number? You may need to replace your set.

As far as obesity is concerned, the reality is BMI's have been on the way up persistently for years and a BMI of 30 is not really unusual any more. We kind of shift our perception based on who we see around us.
 
Monster said:
Stacy... if your weight is that far off from the doctor's scale, it might mean that your scale is old and isn't showing the correct weight anymore. I hope I'm wrong, but it's something to consider. Try weighing yourself at your home, and then at someone else's home, wearing the same things, and not eating anything in between, it should be pretty close, if not, it might be your scale.
Click to expand...

I guess they could be wrong, but I only bought them last September.
 
Its true that the doctors scales can be wrong. Once i discovered that the scales at the airport were wrong. It nearly cost me a packet.

But the main point is find a doctor who is more supportive as you've done. And do what San says.

"I must look bigger than i thought" Or perhaps obesity looks smaller than you thought. I know that in recent years the public's awareness of what is described as obesity has been changed. We used to think that obesity looked like what most of us would describe now as super obese. But in fact you don't have to be that large to be considered obese medically.

And as San said you've come a long way and you should focus more on that and use it to keep you motivated.
 
fortyfour said:
Its true that the doctors scales can be wrong. Once i discovered that the scales at the airport were wrong. It nearly cost me a packet.

But the main point is find a doctor who is more supportive as you've done. And do what San says.

"I must look bigger than i thought" Or perhaps obesity looks smaller than you thought. I know that in recent years the public's awareness of what is described as obesity has been changed. We used to think that obesity looked like what most of us would describe now as super obese. But in fact you don't have to be that large to be considered obese medically.

And as San said you've come a long way and you should focus more on that and use it to keep you motivated.
Click to expand...

You're right, when someone thinks of obese, it usually means someone who is morbidly obese.

Thanks guys, i've decided that is doesn't matter what the doctors scales say. I'm going to focus on what i've lost/going to lose and then when it comes to the point when my scales say i'm healthy, i'll remind myself that the doctors scales were a few pounds a head in which case if I feel like I need to lose more then I will :)
 
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