It is well known that scales can be very frustrating for people who are working towards a healthy weight. However, people often don't realize that the numbers on the scale can be very misleading, and should sometimes be considered as 'fake news'. But what exactly causes this? In our view, there are two important elements to consider, the physiological processes in our body and the techniques that we use to measure ourselves.
Physiological processes
There are a few physiological processes that affect body weight in a repetitive pattern. Each of these effects can obstruct a clear view of one's weight trend. For example, someone who is actually losing weight over a longer period of time can still weigh a few kilos more than the day before. Due to fluctuating body weight, their scale often doesn't show them the results they expect, despite being on the right track.As seen in the picture below, this can often lead to one drawing the wrong conclusions.
Our measurement techniques
The second factor that obstructs a realistic view of weight development and thus contributes to these frustrations, is the technique we use to measure our weight: the scales. Scales are based on several basic principles and the underlying technology is often complex. This complex technique has its limitations. Mainly in the field of stabilisation and precision.
During a weighing you constantly exert forces and (micro) movements on the mechanical parts of a scale. For the weighing system within your scale, determining a precise weight during this constantly changing pressure is a complicated task. Compare this to weighing using an old-fashioned two-plate scale: It takes a lot of patience and skill to add the counterweights to create a balance from which you can determine the weight of the object to be weighed. And these weights don't even move themselves, while we do! Because many scales are not able to handle this fluctuating pressure well, you are often misled by the number on your scale.
Our Home Monitor offers a solution. First of all, we have developed a technology that looks beyond individual measurements. By asking our users to step on the scale regularly, we can record many individual measurements. Based on this, a weight trend is developed, which users can see in a clear table. As a result, they can no longer be fooled by individual measurements.
In addition, the Home Monitor has built-in logic. This logic defines the optimal moment to determine the weight during a weigh-in. This is a delicate process. The scale has to perform the most accurate weight determination as soon as possible. This also explains why sometimes two weigh-ins performed in quick succession under nearly identical conditions can differ, why some weigh-ins take longer than others and why sometimes a weigh-in fails and is interrupted. After all, any new weighing is a unique and complicated technical operation.
Scales and numbers often collide, but these techniques allow Sinque users to continue their path to a healthy weight without any frustrations!
