Recommend a bathroom scale?

[Cron]

Can anyone recommend a bathroom scale?

I just bought a digital scale for about $30 and I am not happy with it. If I get on and off of it 2-3 times in a row I get a consistent weight. However, several times I would come back 10 min or so later, not having taken any food/water, standing the same way, and have gotten measurement pounds different from earlier ones.

I can live without accuracy, but I really, really want consistency.

Thanks in advance

Steve

[Angela]

Hey, Steve -- I have a Tamita, one that you program in your height and sex and it measures your body fat percentage. It cost about $80. But the real trick is always weigh yourself at the same time in the same circumstances -- best is first thing in the morning, after you go to the bathroom and before you drink anything at all. After that there are too many variables to get a consistent result. I am sure you are just the perfect weight.

[cgs]

Let me guess - you bought a Taylor. I just got one 2 days ago, and its going back. It's a complete piece of crap! Totally inaccurate and off by like +/- 4 pounds.

[openeyes]

Originally Posted by cgs

Let me guess - you bought a Taylor. I just got one 2 days ago, and its going back. It's a complete piece of crap! Totally inaccurate and off by like +/- 4 pounds.

Isn't it a laugh how Taylor brags so much about having emphasized accuracy for the past 150 years? I walked past scales a couple nights ago and noticed the ones that check body fat percentage as well, the first one being made by Taylor. Interesting in seeing how well it worked, I picked the Health o Meter version, which fit weight, hydration levels, and body fat % all one screen.

It would have been great, had it worked. It'll be getting returned soon, as none of the data is consistent, even when I use it at the same time (after using the restroom in the morning). Somehow I managed to lose 23 pounds and 7 % bodyfat in a day (comparing morning to morning), though i gained most of the weight back by nightfall.

Maybe if the room had been at constant temperature both times the data would have been more similar, but I don't need something that prone to error, particularly when it routinely reports my bodyfat % at 2 to 5 times what professional tests tell me.

So for a scale recommendation, I'd go for an old style analog type. After this I won't bother even having a scale, I'll just go by how my clothes fit, and maybe get checked by professionals on occasion. For someone who is very athletic, many tests are prone to over-report anyhow.

[gberardi]

I have a digital scale, and offhand I don't know who made it. However, I always step on and off the scale to let it measure 0 lbs, then I get on to weigh myself. I haven't seen weird fluctuations within minutes doing so.

It's accuracy is to the nearest 0.5 lbs.

[Cron]

Luckily, I was able to get my money back on the crappy one I just bought.

The one in my gym, which works reasonably well or seems to, is from Sharper Image. I'm going by tonight to pick one up.

I will save the reciept :-).

[TheHulaQueen]

Somehow I managed to lose 23 pounds and 7 % bodyfat in a day (comparing morning to morning), though i gained most of the weight back by nightfall.

Oh my! Now that's extreme.

I've been using a Tanita or years and love it. We just upgraded to one of the Ironman ones that shows hydration level etc. Highly recommend them.

[Cron]

You are the second person to recommend a Tanita. If the Sharper Image thing doesn't work ( I can pick it up on the home versus mail order ) I will try that.

How can a scale measure your hydration, let alone body fat?

[Cron]

This was the model my gym has that I was very impressed with:
Sharper Image : LCD Digital Weight Scales : Slim Scale

I picked one up tonight at The Sharper Image in the local mall, on sale nonetheless ( I think they are clearing them out for more expensive models ).

It passed my consistency test. My weight was the same after several weighings at least 10 min apart.....and even after eating a bowl of soup.

The scale may not be accurate, but it is consistent and that is what I was shooting for. I will have enough mind games with body weight shifting from water fluctuations without a cheapo scale contributing to a neurosis :-).

FWIW, I think precision is the amount of information you can get ( being able to measure tenths of pounds instead of just pounds ) and accuracy is how correct your information is.

I could be wrong, it has been a few years since my last science class :-)

[Angela]

Originally Posted by TheHulaQueen

I've been using a Tanita or years and love it. We just upgraded to one of the Ironman ones that shows hydration level etc. Highly recommend them.

I think I might look for one of these Ironmen! My regular Tanita is consistent, except I've noticed I have to factor in my head the dehydration factor. The body fat % takes an unlikely nosedive if I've had alcohol the night before, or didn't drink enough water the day before.

[C33]

I HATE analog scales!

I bought a crappy one and the weight varies of 3 to 4 pounds depending on which spot on the scale you stand on, it also changes if you go off and on the scale.

The other day, a friend of mine gave me an analog scale, different brand. When I stepped on it, I really did believe in miracles because it looked like I had lost 7 pounds.

I checked in the mirror and I did look skinnier, I also felt lighter! I started to jump up and down from joy and to congratulate myself on my positive thinking and ability to manifest my wildest dreams into reality. Of course, it dawned on me that I had been overeating for days, gorging on chocolate, eating at night, indulging my taste for cheese!!! But I didn t want to get into negative thinking, when the number on the scale stated clearly that my mind was more powerful than my metabolism!

To be entirely sure of my success,I stopped by my friend's house and asked her if I could weigh myself on her bathroom scale, just in case! I had GAINED the bloody 7 pounds and more!

Yet, the mind is a powerful tool, that can make a fatter person feel lighter and skinny when she is actually getting as wide as a cow!!! I did keep a sense of humor about it, but I am not getting back on any analog scale any time soon.

To answer your question: when I was in the U.S, I used a Tanita Scale with body fat percentage, I bought it at Overstock.com. It never let me down and was very accurate!

[marktb]

I worked at TSI for 5 years. Their products suck. Take it back.

Being a trainer and fitness coach, I dont recommend a scale in measuring progress. Its a good tool to give you a ballpark idea how your fitness program is doing. Who cares what you weigh. You can lose 5 lbs and it may be 3 lbs of lean tissue and 2 lbs of fat or you may not lose a lb but yet have lost 5 lbs of fat but gained 5 lbs of lean muscle tissue. If you MUST weigh yourself, keep it to every 2 weeks so that gives your body to experience change and you wont self-sabotage your efforts by not thinking you are making progress if you weigh yourself more often and haven't given your body a chance to change.

Mark Baldwin

[Cron]

I used to agree with you before I read this book:
The Hacker's Diet