This is going to sound so silly, but do the scales over in Britain actually break down your weight by Stones, or are you all just fantastic at math.
For example. I get on the scale (here in the US) and it tells me I'm 173 pounds.
Now, I know there are 14 lbs in 1 Stone. But it's not easy for me to quickly decide that into 14 to come to 12 Stones (168 lbs) , and then subtract 168 from 173, to come to my final weight of 12 Stone, 5 Pound. It's just easier for me to say I'm 173 pounds.
I mean, I know it's likely second nature to all of you compared to me. But I'm curious, how do you all figure it out so quickly?
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PotterBook
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I wish! Our scales do it for us, mine have the option to use stone & lbs or all lbs. I never realised they stopped using stones in the US until last year! I can't imagine not doing weight in stones!
Hi, my scales do it for me, can work it out quite quickly in my head though it's what we learnt at school! I prefer stones and pounds rather than just pounds, cos then you get the thrill of getting into the 11's or 10's or 9's whichever is your goal!
If we're old enough to remember, we used to have a crazier money system which used 12s, 20s, and some even madder ones. Remember guineas, anyone? Don't get me started on the old distance measurements. Lots of them seem to have got lost on the way. (Furlongs? Still used in horse racing.). So our education system had a lot of mental arithmetic in it. But our scales do show stones. Perhaps use the 7 times table rather than 14 (2 X 7), some of us find that easier.
It's just a matter of practice. My scales can display stones and pounds or kilograms, but I find it quicker to do the mental arithmetic than bend down to switch the scales from one unit to another.
After weighing, I enter the kilograms into a spread sheet which I have set up to automatically show the weight in KG, stones and pounds and in pounds.
You get used to remembering the converted values around your actual weight and adjusting them as they vary by a pound or two over a short period.
For example I used to remember that my weight of 102 Kg equated to 16 stone or 224 pounds. Now I have to remember that, thanks to changing to a low carbohydrate diet with high fat and moderate protein, my weight of 70Kg equates to 11 stone or 154 pounds.
My scales are a bit annoying as if I choose to do stones it gives me a figure like 8.1 St which means nothing to me. So I usually choose to weigh myself in kg and occasionally use a converter to St and lbs. Again, lbs alone mean nothing to me, I guess it's just what we're used to.
The 'account clerk' in me is still visible, even after 25 years of not doing it for a job. Simple calculations like this come quicker to my brain than using a calculator. I would brag that I am obviously superior in brain power, lol, but the simple truth is that the scales automatically do it for you at the push of a big toe on the button. 😆😇🤓
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