I seriously think my scale is warped. It's digital, "health o meter" brand. I step on it 3 different times in a row, and get 3 different readings. I'm going to bed and bath today to get a new one. Money is not an issue.

Please recommend a good scale for me, digital or regular.

thanks!

Thread



Okay, I don't know how to post a link, so I cut and pasted an article from another thread. I hope that's okay. PLEASE read it if you are a "scale jumper" (that'd be all folks who are compelled to jump on a scale when they see one, or at least once a day. DON'T DO IT!). This is such a fantastic explanation of why to ditch the scale. Thanks to Gramp for forwarding the link to me the other day.

`Louisa
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Crohnie
MAJOR LCF POSTER!

Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Live in MA, Work in NH
Posts: 2108
Out Out Damn Scale
I know this gets posted everyonce in a while but since I see so much "scale not moving posts" thought I would post this article

OUT OUT DAMN SCALE

By Sonya Tilley, CarbSmart Contributor


Here we go again...

How the hell does your body hold onto weight and still manage to get smaller while you are on your chosen low carb diet?!? You know the scenario: You are on Induction for two weeks, and you haven't cheated even once. You notice that your clothes fit better, that you are stepping a little livelier, and as far as you're concerned, all's right with the world.

But then you step on that evil construction of the Devil himself, the bathroom scale, and you instantly feel betrayed. The stupid thing insists that you have done nothing! Sometimes, it even states you have done less than nothing; it accuses you of cheating because it tells that you haven't lost any weight! Well, there area couple of simple explanations to help you get through this trying time.

First of all, if it is at all possible for you to do so, throw that insipid Monster Scale in the trash. Or at least put it up somewhere that it is really, REALLY inconvenient to get to so that you won't be tempted to ask it's opinion every single day of your life. Face it. If you are feeling better and your clothes are looser, do you really need the scale to tell you that you're on the right track? No! You don't! Why do you think you do it, then? I'll tell you why. The low fat diet demons have a tenacious hold on your brain. That's right, you've been brainwashed. All your life they have told you through doctors, dietitians, newspaper and magazine articles, surgeon generals and the like, that you give up X calories per day and you will lose a pound of fat. They even go on to tell you how much fat you should lose each week. In the process, they've made you dependent on the Monster Scale to gauge your progress!

What a big lie!

Even on the diets that "they" advocate, the Monster Scale does not often cooperate. You go back to the Diet Demons and demand to know why the scale does not reflect the torture you have put yourself through for a month. They immediately start backpedaling on the "give up X calories and lose a pound of fat" story, and start talking to you about water retention and muscle buildup. Sometimes, they even blame it on you with questions like, "Are you sure you counted the calories in everything you ate?" (This is delivered with a knowing little smile that makes you want to rip their knowing little face off.) Being the type that is given to blaming things on yourself, anyway, you cooperate with an answer like, "Well….." They pounce on this with "Ahhhh, well.." Then, they launch into one of their scoldings/lash/encouragement speeches.

So, get off their bandwagon, already!

Then, there's the competitive spirit. You hear about what other people have done on your chosen diet. Yes, Brian went on Atkins a year ago and lost over a hundred pounds. Yes, a hundred pounds in a year is over eight pounds a month, or 2 pounds a week, or .0119 pounds per hour….but, "Hello? You ain't Brian!" And, did Brian ever say that he lost .0119 pounds per hour? No! He said a hundred pounds in a year. This only proves he got on the scale twice; a year ago, and yesterday. Take a hint from Brian. Stay off the scale!

The second solution is to understand what is going on in your body in light of the current state of human affairs. Today, all a person has to have to eat every day is money and transportation to a grocery store or, better yet, a nice restaurant. However, your body's survival instincts have not matured in a million years. Your body still thinks you are a hunter-gatherer. Yes, in spite of a million years of evolution, your body still thinks you are going to have to go out and kill a mammoth to eat. The survival instincts with which you are going to have to come to terms are read-only memory. You can't overwrite them. Deal with it.

That said, let me tell you what happens when you lose a pound of fat. Your body has been saving this fat for that long hunting expedition you're going to have to go on to track, kill, dress and retrieve that huge animal. It keeps the fat in little pillows distributed throughout your body. When you start losing fat, it doesn't trust you to continue whatever insane path you have chosen that is causing the fat to dissipate. So, when the fat comes out of the pillow, it injects water as a "place holder." Sometimes that water actually replaces the weight of the fat it lost. Sometimes it replaces the volume.

Water weighs more than fat just like lead sinkers weigh more than feathers. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of feathers, you'll have a nice big pillow. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of lead sinkers, you'll have a nice (but rather hard and uncomfortable), small pillow. Now, let's say your body removes a pound of fat and replaces the weight with a pound of water. Your weight will stay the same, but you will be smaller. But, if your body decides to replace the lost fat by volume, that is a quite different story. Remember the great big feather pillow as compared to the tiny lead sinker pillow? Well, now think of a gallon of feathers and a gallon of lead sinkers. Try to pick up the gallon of feathers. Piece of (you'll pardon the expression) cake. Now, try to pick up the gallon of lead sinkers. Sucker's heavy, ain't it? So, you will be smaller, but you will have gained weight.

Eventually, your body makes the executive decision that you are not going to replace the fat you lost, and it lets go of the water. In the words of Danny Skaist: "When your body accepts the fact that they are no longer needed, the water will be expelled and the cells closed. This is known as the "whoosh."

What makes your body decide to replace by weight or replace by volume? I dunno. But I do know that it does not seem consistent to the casual observer. What makes your body decide that you are seriously not going to replace the fat you lost? I dunno. But now you know why it's so important to drink your water, huh? Loss of fat is inextricably related to water intake. It's more than a little foolish to go on a diet that facilitates the removal of fat and then refuse to give your body the tools it needs to do so.

Bottom Line: Stop getting on the scale and drink your water. If you stick to your plan and wait for the "whoosh," it will come.


http://stores.yahoo.com/carbsmart/outout.html

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Sorry, Marchbaby, for not responding to your direct question. I have a digital scale. It stays on a shelf in my closet, so I can't get to it easily . Just every week or two. Anyway, it's called a "thinner" (don't know the brand), but it has seemed very accurate and I really like it.........

hope that helps..........

Hi everyone! I've finally decided to stop lurking, and become a part of the forum. You folks seem very supportive and helpful!

I have been on Atkins since March and have done pretty well, so far. Even though this weekend I was able to shimmy into my next set of "goal clothes" (ok, so I did somewhat resemble a sausage, but a few more pounds/inches will take care of that), the scale hasn't moved in three weeks. I only weigh myself once a week so as to not get scale obsessed. Anyway, I was feeling a little down thanks to the scale monster, and then I read Louisa's post. It was very timely, and made me feel much better! Thank you for that - and now drinking my water like crazy and hoping for a visit from the elusive whoosh fairy!

Thanks again Louisa!

On mine, if I don't line up my feet correctly, or lean too much to one side or the front or back it is inaccurate.

I can adjust my feet forward, weigh 10 pounds more, adjust my feet back and weigh 10 pounds less. It does worked pretty good for my wife at 140 (pregnant weight), but anything above 200 it's a piece of junk. So, we tossed it out.

For a good weight measurement now, I drop by the doctor's office every Friday morning. Just walk in, go to the back and use the scale, they really don't care, and you get a pretty accurate measurement. Do yourself a favor and don't drink a bunch of water or eat breakfast before, or at least be consistent.

Later,
wsgts

I really needed this. I am so bummed today! I am a scale aholic. I was about to give up on this woe. I just posted in my journal that I was giving up. I do feel better and my clothes are little loser but the scale has moved back up. I am so depressed. I will throw the scale away. I don't need it! It can be your enemy! I have never felt better in my life and never have stuck to any kind of weight-loss program. I know I can live with this WOE. I just don't want to balloon up more. It also get discouraging when you see other peoples stats and how they have lost so much and I sit here with nothing. Whats a person to do. I will stick with and not worry about the scales or what others are doing!

In the mail today should be my tanita BF-662-S


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...9372538-2487217

I had a digital scale the sucked too. I gained 7 pounds when I got a new one that worked properly.

Hammacher Schlemmer is a chain store that sells lots of interesting things. They also sell normal items like scales, but they test them to make sure they work well. My expensive scale from Hammacher Schlemmer weights the very same always in .5 increments and matches my doctor's scale. If I were buying a scale now, I would consider getting one with a body fat measuring feature.

http://www.hammacher.com/

They have an outlet in Canada they can ship from so there are no cross border fees to Canada. I wish EVERY decent sized company would do that!

[FONT=arial]Hey, thanks for the discourse on the scale. I've been telling myself to cut it out, and stop getting on every day -- and now I'm really going to do it -- and ditto on the water. Very helpful![/FONT]

have u had it a while? is the battery new? i used to have a digital scale that just stopped reading any weight correct.. i got on it and it would say 114 pounds or something like that, and i know that isnt right! lol .... being 30-40 lbs heavier at the time. i would try a new battery 1st, and if it is still all weird, then get a new one. i cant really tell you what a good brand of one is, but maybe you should get one that isnt digital, the older ones seem to work forever.

marchbaby I had the very same problem, actually I went through 3 scales in about 2 years and they all did the same thing. All digital and if you got off then back on the weight could be 5 pound either way. The frustration was driving me crazy.
I want to be able to accurately measure 1/4 pounds. I did a search for a Physician's weight scale (like the one in the doctors office).
I bought one from www.detectoscale.com/clinical.htm
It did cost a little under $200 but I'll never need another one.
I only weigh myself once a week now. I use to weigh myself almost daily, that will drive you crazy for sure.
Best of Luck.

I have a Tanita scale. It's one of their simple models that just weighs by fifths of a pound and does nothing more than that. No body fat monitoring or anything else. Good enough for me. I love it! I weigh once per day in the morning but really try to keep things in perspective by only counting on my weekly weigh-in. It's not always easy, though...

I love my Tanita. I don't remember the exact model but it also is a simple one that measures to nearest tenth of a pound. It is about 1 pound less than my doc's scale though.

I ended up purchasing a "Thinner" brand for $40 with a Multiple Load Cell Technology and permanent lithium battery. I tried over 10 scales, and this one I was the most comfortable with.

Here's a bump!