The FastDay Forum

Hi all,

What units do you weigh yourself in, and why? Have you ever switched?

Last week our old dial bathroom scales broke and we took the opportunity to buy a fancy digital set with body fat % etc. Trouble is, my OH likes to weigh in kilos (he gets regular physical health checks at work and they record his weight in kilos so he likes to compare against that) whereas I have always weighed in stones and pounds. Trouble is with the new fancy scales, the switch to change units is on the bottom, so you have to turn them over, then because you have moved them you have to run the calibration again, etc etc.

So now, realistically we have to agree to both weigh using the same units, or the constant moving of the scales will likely end up making both our weights inaccurate. And I am the less stubborn of the two of us so clearly it's going to end up being me learning to track my weight in kilos. Wit the tracker on here that is fine, but at the moment it is just weird not knowing straight away from looking at the scales where I am in relation to goals etc, as I just know where I want to be in stones and pounds. Also I have always thought that losing a kilo is a bigger undertaking than losing a pound! Thoughts?

Obviously here in the UK we get issues like this more often as we have a jumble of metric and imperial units in our everyday lives - all perspectives from those in other countries welcome here!

Hi! I had the same problem so bought a second set of scales, one now set to imperial and the other to metric.
:0)

How often do you weigh yourself? And your husband? Just thought that he can always divide the pounds by 2.2 to get kilos if he weighs less frequently. Also are you both trying to lose weight or is he just keeping an eye on his weight for his regular physical check? I weigh myself in pounds as I find it easier and to register and act upon a weight loss or gain - shows much quicker than if it is in kilos. Also sounds better when I say I have lost x pounds. However, I weigh food in grams as we are totally metric in Cyprus.

Hi all,
all perspectives from those in other countries welcome here!

Well, you asked for it, so my answer is clear: All native English speaking people should be aware of the tremendous advantage they have by being raised in a language that for some reason became our current 'lingua franca'. To compensate all those non-native speakers (usually raised in the metric units), it would be nice to use the metric units as a 'units franca' (which is by the way official policy in many countries and international organisations).

[wildmissus]

I was weighing in st and lbs but decided to try kg with the thought that I could see the weight coming off in 100gs. It didn't work, I ended up putting on weight and went back to imperial. I know it is all psychological but 70kg means nothing to me but the equivalent in st and lbs does. I also get more or a kick losing 2lbs+ than losing 1kg. By the way, I work on a deli counter and am well used to weighing in grams. Daft, isn't it!

As a throwback American, afraid I'm pounds all the way; I find even stones confusing. While I can use metric weights for other measurements, I agree that I'd have no reference for "how much I've lost" in that system; but I can relate to "have lost 32 lbs."

We weigh in kilos in Australia. When I was growing up, until about my mid twenties, we used stones and pounds and I have a memory of being 8 stone something. But now I find it hard to grasp when people talk in stones and completely at sea with pounds. Basically a pound is about half a kilo. I think we all understand our own language but we can learn new languages, as Australia has shown.

Thanks all for a really interesting set of responses, it's good to spark a bit of discussion once in a while. @wildmissus, your post echoes my thoughts on why up to now I have resisted using kilos, I get a kick out of losing each pound and they seem like manageable amounts! Plus like you say, at the moment my weight in kilos means nothing to me. But as @P-JK and @Sallyo rightly point out, we can and should learn new languages! I get quite bored of fasting every few months, perhaps learning to redefine my current and goal weights in kilos would be a way to keep it interesting...

Oh and @ferretgal, it's funny to see someone with the opposite problem to me - I know my weight in stones very well, but when I see American articles, tv shows etc showing weights in pounds only, I have to sit there trying to do my 14x table in my head (or on my fingers) to convert to stones!

We in the middle of Europe use only kilos and food is weighed in grams.
I'm finding pounds and stones the most confusing thing ever

I have to keep a calculator handy to do the conversions to kg for me! It must be my age or, more likely, because I was never very good at maths!