What I'd really like to find is a good accurate bathroom scale.

We usually buy the el cheapos ( around $ 6- $ 10) and for the most part they have worked OK. Generally our scales at home would consistantly weigh us 7 lbs LESS than the doctor's offic balance scale. So we would always take those weight s with a grain of salt.

Today I weighed myself...first thing in the AM...nude...after a good first AM pee and before my first cup of joe...scale said 127lbs. I could live with that because I went carb wild last night and ate a bunch of Spanish peanuts while watching TV and ended up with 38 carbs instead of 20-25 carbs.

Later this morning I had a Dr's appt. First thing they do is shove you on the scales. OK, had on the usual attire, denin jeans, underwear, socks, t-shirt but I had removed my shoes. I had had 1 cup of coffee at home, one on the road to work, plus my breakfast of 1 1/2 boiled eggs and three slices of bacon and a couple slurps of Diet Coke.

I figured OK...with the 7 lb discrepancy plus all I ingested so far...I figured well....around 135 on their scale.

WRONG !!!!! The scales ( and they are calibrated monthly ) said that fully clothed less shoes and with all the food and fluids ( OK I did pee once ) an amazing 126 1/2 lbs which should have put me around 120 at home !!!

So is my scale at home terrib;y wrong or what ????

Any recommendations for a good ( less than $ 50.00 ) scale to keep better track of my weight ????

hrm

Actually sounds like you have a pretty acturate scale already, and maybe you are the one miscalculating how "off" it is? Have you tried checking it? Like get on the scale record the weight, then pick up 10 pounds and recheck, then 15 pounds etc? I mean real weighs too, ones that you KNOW are exactly 5 pounds....not a bag of flour or sugar that goes by gross/net weight.

I have a "thinner" brand digital scale, I think cost was around 24 bucks or so. It weighs pretty darned close to what the doctors office does.

The most accurate scales are the balance beam kind - where you move 1 or 2 weights along an arm until the thing stops and is level. For scales at home, it is more important that they be consistent. I have 2 scales. The old dial one (harder to read) is very consistent and usually agrees with the Dr. & the one at my Dad's condo spa. The newer digital one (easily read without glasses which are VERY heavy ) weighs about 4 pounds heavier but isn't always beliveable. Today it gave me 3 readings - all different. So try getting on and off your scale a number of times in a row and see how consistent it is. It may be revealing. But as everyone says around here: don't bother getting hung up on the scales; believe the fact that your clothes are getting looser or the tape measure says you are shrinking.

Good luck.

How 'bout trading that scale in for a tape measure? Always guaranteed to be accurate

Nat

Provided it is of the plastic type. The cloth tapes tend to stretch with age and use

Scales can be a big problem - I have some at home (quite expensive) - you know the kind - the ones that youcan manipulate by pushing them all round the bathroomfloor until they say what you want!!!

I stilluse them and am happy if the lightest weight i can make it say is lighter than last time. I really don't pay much attention to them.
T
hey are always 'out' compared with other scales - eg the dietitians but not always by the same pundage - I think it's more of a percentage thing. My husband who is about 10 stone says the scales are a pund or 2 out but when you are double that weight it seems to escalate.

I now weight at my medical centre (with the balance weights) each couple of weeks (I actuallyhave to go for desensitising allergy injections) but they said I could use them any time I liked.

It's better than the old joke about the scales that say out loud your weight - when the "fat lady" gets on the scales it says "One at a time Please" - that would be me!!

Measurements and how clothes fit (although it's harder with elastic waists etc) is most important but I still love to think -wow I've lost 2lbs etc.... or at this stage 28lbs.

Good luck - maybe youhave a medical centre where you could go??

I really like my digital Tanita scale. It is not the one that measures body fat (I am not that daring just yet), but it was under $50 AND it is very accurate. I can get on it 3 times in a row and it will give me the exact same reading each time unlike my cheapo one which resides at a landfill somewhere now.

HTH,

Julie

P.S. Let me know if you want the model number.

I agree with Nat - forget the scales and go for the tape measure - my scales say I've lost only a few pounds, but I'm already 1 dress size smaller and heading for 2. I walk around pulling up my jeans like a little kid - that would not happen if I hadn't lost "weight".

I'm curious about the Tanita scales for the body fat measurement. I've been wanting to buy one but I don't know how accurate they are - from what few reviews I've read online, people seem to swear by them (for the body fat measurements). One day in the store I got one (bare foot as the instructions said) and it said I had 9% body fat. No way in the world is it that low - maybe 19% but no, not 9%. Isn't that at like professional athlete level?

Anyway just was wondering if anyone else has any experience with body fat scales or have any recommendations.

Thanks

PS - I have two scales in my bathroom - one is always about 3 pounds more than the other. I've been on this Atkins diet for over 2 months now and I can't get the scale to budge down at all after a 5 pound weight loss. I've been exercising quite a bit, so it may be muscle mass, but I don't weigh myself much anymore because it's too frustrating. I just look at myself in the mirror and notice how much I've lost so far and how much my muscle tone is improving. Then I curse the scale and call it a liar