Socks off for weight

Today I had a medical by my employers occupational health provider, it wasn't an examination, just hearing and sight tests etcetera, (easy way for management to sack employees whom fail) however when I was weighed I was instructed to remain fully clothed, (nor empty pockets) but remove boots AND SOCKS, on the one hand clothes, wallet & keys will increase weight, but barefoot whilst otherwise clothed the reasoning I cannot understand at all unless the med' tech' had a foot fetish, or am I missing something, any ideas?

Every time I've been weighed I had to remove my socks. However, it's always been part of an exam where I was down to underwear so it wasn't odd. Only thing I can think of is perhaps they were worried you might slip with socks on ?

It sounds like the scale was outfitted to estimate your body fat percentage in addition to your weight. There needs to be direct skin contact for that to work.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis

I keep them on these days, back at the pediatrician I was only in underpants or naked

Do NOT remove your socks if you are going to have to step on the floor, especially if the floor is carpeted. Ask for surgical booties, even if you keep your socks on. Exam rooms are swimming with fungi, bacteria, and viruses unless they completely sterilize the room after every patient consult.

Good advice but you are presuming there was a choice. Like Jacqui, I was down to underpants at most and the socks had been removed much earlier. Any other option wasn't mentioned.

It sounds like the scale was outfitted to estimate your body fat percentage in addition to your weight. There needs to be direct skin contact for that to work.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis

@gaymalephysicals That sounds like the most reasonable explanation.

@gwhap just ask if the scale and floor are sanitized first.

My sub has to remove his shoes when he gets weighed. I wouldn't think socks on would add that much to his total weight. His shoes could though.

@gwhap just ask if the scale and floor are sanitized first.

Unless you're very, very kinky - I don't think there is much risk of catching HIV or an STD through your foot!!

More likely to catch athletes foot of a fungus at the gym locker room - even if you wear flip flops.

@gwhap but you can carry them home with you and share them with others. Many bacteria, viruses and funguses survive on hard surfaces and carpeted surfaces. Exam rooms are general purpose. Sick people and healthy people are seen in them.

Usually most exams have shoes and socks off at the start, so yes they are off.

I’ve been weighed four times in the past four months at the beginning of various medical procedures from hospital outpatient surgery to exams at doctors’ offices. Fully clothed including shoes and sox each time. I dressed light: t-shirt, track pants with briefs under, ankle sox and lightweight running or walking shoes. I keep wallet, etc in a shoulder bag I can set down somewhere next to the scale. Because being deemed overweight or obese can effect medical decisions, I want to be as close to my naked weight as possible. I weigh myself at home right out of the shower before each appointment, so I know my bare weight and can tell the nurse or doc to be sure it gets noted on my chart. Clothes and shoes usually add 5 pounds or so to my nude weight.

Nostalgia: I grew up in the 50s-60s. The scale was in the exam room, not the hall or anteroom like today. My weight was always taken by the doc with me stripped to my jockey shorts, no shoes or sox.

Present day: In my left-coast state, there has recently arisen a lot of sensitivity about body shaming, to the extent that we are being discouraged from using BMI numbers or terms like overweight or obese, to avoid embarrassing people who visually obviously fit those descriptions. It doesn’t take 20/20 vision to see that half our state population is overweight, including a significant proportion of children, and among certain ethnicities and demographics. A serious health issue being swept out of sight by wokeness.

Present day: In my left-coast state, there has recently arisen a lot of sensitivity about body shaming, to the extent that we are being discouraged from using BMI numbers or terms like overweight or obese, to avoid embarrassing people who visually obviously fit those descriptions. It doesn’t take 20/20 vision to see that half our state population is overweight, including a significant proportion of children, and among certain ethnicities and demographics. A serious health issue being swept out of sight by wokeness.

Much as those people irritate me, last time I checked they're the ones calling sugar and meat poison, trying to get everyone to just live on celery (as well as the ones making people feel terrible about their bodies, even natural and healthy ones, and pressuring them to change them). The problem as I see it is they've reduced the “just overweight but not obese” classification to this incredibly thin line. That makes no sense. There's a huge gradient of “a little extra which is fine” or “that's just how your body is shaped” all the way to “okay better lose some weight” to “getting solidly unhealthy now” to “you are going to die early." and it varies tremendously for each person's build, metabolism, and genes.

Just as there's a huge gradient of reasons, from “you're just a hedonistic person with no limits” to “have trouble with control” to “stressing your way to an early grave” to “have straight-up neurological/glandular issue.” Shame is a bad enough concept but it flat-out doesn't apply here. I'd rather we do something about all these antidepressants everyone's being put on, turning them into sexless fat blobs.

I had to be barefoot before stepping on the scale until a few years ago. Now you're weighed on the way to the exam room, completely dressed & with shoes on, which leads to an inaccurate reading.

When I was 10--12, I went to a doctor who weighed his patients himself, in the exam room (He never used a nurse). I remember being barefoot, wearing only briefs. When I stepped onto the scale, he would say “Stand Straight!”. I would then automatically snap to attention. I remained barefoot for the entire exam.