How a Digital Scale Helps Your Health Goals

All scales are not the same. Analog or mechanical scales with a dial or needle may measure weight just like digital scales, but there can be important differences. Digital scales may be more motivating for weight loss and health goals. 

In this article: 

• A digital scale can help with health and weight loss.
• Digital scales are more accurate.
• Some digital scales remember weights. They may give other measures, such as body fat.
• Some digital scales link to your phone or an app. That can allow for weight loss coaching, such as with Lark.

Monitoring your progress to stay focused is important for hitting health goals, according to Harvard School of Public Health. Digital scales can make it easier to monitor weight and to do something about it. These are 6 ways a digital scale can help your health goals.

1. More Accurate Readings

Have you ever weighed yourself on an analog scale? You may squint at the needle as you try to see to which number it is pointing. The uncertainty can make you doubt the reading. It can discourage you from weighing regularly. And that can throw you off your weight loss plan.

Digital scales are clear. They can show you your weight within 0.1 or 0.2 lb. That way, you can detect small changes. It can motivate you when you see weight loss, however small. It can also alert you to weight gain quickly. This can lead to reassessing your weight loss plan and behaviors before you gain back much weight.

2. Easy to Read

Being hard to use is a barrier to using something. If your scale is easy to read, you may be more willing to use it. Displays of digital scales come in large sizes for those who need it. They also come in many possible colors. An LCD display can be red or blue on black, white on black, or black on white, for example. Choose one that seems easy for you to read. 

When you can be sure that each weigh-in will be simple, you can weigh in regularly. And that is a key to losing weight and reaching health goals. Research in Obesity Science and Practice find that weighing more often is linked to more weight loss. 

It can even help prevent weight regain. That is what a study in Obesity found.

3. Memory

Some digital scales have a memory. They can show your previous weight. This lets you see if your current weight is higher or lower than before without checking a weight log. You may feel more accountability when you see how your weight has changed since last time.

4. Connectivity

Many digital scales have connectivity. They can connect with other devices, such as a smartphone. They may connect via bluetooth or over a wi-fi or cellular network. 

A connected scale can sync your weight every time you weigh yourself. Your weight can automatically go to your smartphone. It could be stored in Android or iOS phones in Google Fit or Apple Health. Or, it may go into an app that you use on your phone.

Benefits of a connected scale can include these.

• No need to write down your weight. You can check it in an app in your phone after weighing.
• Ability to see weight loss trends. Previous weights are stored in your phone.
• Possibility of weight loss coaching from an app that knows your weigh-in results. Lark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), for example, has weight loss and health coaching that considers weights from a cellular scale.

5. More Weight-Related Features

Some digital scales only show body weight. Others have more features. They, or the apps they use, may tell you your body mass index (BMI), degree of overweight or obesity, or health risks. You may enter your age, gender, and height for more accurate results. Knowing this information can help you understand how your weight relates to health risks.

6. Extra Measurements

Some digital scales use bioelectrical impedance (BIA). This technique can let the scale estimate your body fat percentage. That can be a better indicator of health risk than weight on its own. Muscle mass, bone mass, and water weight can also be shown on a digital scale or related app. Some scales calculate subcutaneous and visceral, or abdominal, adiposity (also known as belly fat). 

These data points can help with the following.

• Increase understanding of health risks.
• Explain unexpected changes in weight. For example, a slight increase in weight while you are eating well and exercising can be surprising. However, if body fat decreases and muscle mass increases, the higher weight is due to a healthy increase in body muscle.
• Belly fat is a health risk. If it decreases, obesity-related health risks may have decreased.

Tracking weight loss is part of the weight loss journey. It requires a good scale. The best scale for tracking weight loss is accurate and easy to use. It can be your partner as you monitor progress and stay accountable.

A digital scale that connects to your phone can make tracking simpler. That way, you can see your weight history and trends. A weight loss tracker and coach can use your weight data to help you lose more weight. Lark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) connects your weigh-in data with diet, exercise, and other choices. You can get personalized coaching.

The Lark DPP and a connected scale may be available at no cost to you if your health insurer participates! Click here to find out if you may be eligible for Lark. You could be minutes away from losing weight and improving health.