This totally might be a dumb question but I'm guessing everyone weighs themselves at least once a week.
If you're anything like me- you've avoided the scale most of your life.
Do any of you have a scale that you just love?
Maybe one that does more than weight? I think my sister has one where you put in your height and then it weighs you and gives you some crazy measurement.
I have a plain old analog scale. I used to have a digital one, but it gave me a different answer every time you stepped on it (even if there were only 5 seconds in between weighings.)
My personal feeling is that the more options on a scale the more stuff there is to break. I honestly don't see how a scale can determine body fat. Only calipers or a water buoyancy test can do that.
On another note, I hate my doctors scale! I think it should be recalibrated. It's WAY off.
Zen, I am sooooo with you on the dr. scales. My old dr scales were all over the place. She would tell me I was doing well by losing 2 lbs and I'd be back there the next wk & would be 5 lbs heavier and she'd complain. I told her to start weighing herself on those scales on a daily basis and report back to me when she had gotten them calibrated.
We have a digital scale. Two people can put in their target weight and monitor their weight on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. We were all gung ho about that. It wore off in a hurry. Now we just weigh ourselves.
Mine is a Tanita scale. It does way more than I need it to do, but it is incredibly accurate. Most important to me, you don't get different readings if you step off and then back on.
It also seems to have a much better attitude towards going down than my old scale did.
I hate my scale!! I'll step on it, it'll give me a weight(usually one higher than I expected) I'll step off it and then on again and it says I'm 7 pounds lighter!!! Now it'd be AWESOME if I actually lost 7lbs in that 3 seconds but...
I think the plain old non-digital ones are the best. I rarely get to weigh myself because of mine, but when I see my dad and get to go to his apartment, I try to weigh myself with his old-fashioned scale, which I can tell works right because it gave me consistent numbers over a period of time when I wasn't trying to lose weight.
We have a digital scale that measures to 0.5 lbs. I have never noticed it varying from moment to moment, although I haven't really tested it. That is my scale though, and I'm stickin' to it. I just can't afford a new one (college student on a fixed income!) and it seems to be pretty accurate.
Just a note... why is it that doctor's scales ALWAYS seem to weigh you as heavier than you think you are? I know some of it for me is that I weigh in at the doc's office with clothes on, and whatever food/water is in my belly, whereas on my home scale I always weigh in first thing in the morning (nothing much in my stomach) and naked. That should account for a couple of pounds but I have had instances of the doc's scale being up to 10 lbs more than my home scale said!
I have been on three different doctors scales at least 4-5x in the last few months and each one has been right on with the scale I use at the gym.
I don't own a scale - I have to go to the gym to weigh myself. I think the floor that you have your scale sitting on can make a big difference in accuracy.
I think I've owned three different scales in the past 2 years. I finally found a scale at Wal*Mart that I love for $40. It was a little more than what I wanted to pay, but I've owned the scales that cost between $15-$20 in the past and ended up spending more money in the long run buying new ones when they broke.
This scale can save information for four people, including your height, gender, age, starting weight, goal weight, and up to 19 weigh-ins. It also does hydration and body fat percentage, but I don't use that feature. What I really like about it is that instead of having to scroll through to find your information, I just touch the big button that says 1 with my toe and step on (my husband is number 2, but seeing as he's never weighed more than 155 in his life I tell him he's banned from my scale).
It also weighs at a .2 accuracy and self calibrates itself. So if the scale was moved to a different spot where the ground may not be as level, it will still be just as accurate.
I've stepped on this scale sometimes 3 or 4 times in a row, usually due to anger or disbelief at the first weight and hoping the scale would change its mind, and have always gotten the same exact reading down to the 1/5 of a pound.
I've also had this scale for over a year now and have not had to change the batteries once, despite the fact that I used to use it more than once a day.
Hope this helps!
This is the scale I have:
healthometerstore.com/product_detail.asp?HDR=HOMMON&T1=HOM+BFM955%2D01
This is the one I found on Wal*mart.com, it's the same thing but in a different color scheme:
walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5509339
I have to agree with everyone about the doctor's scale. I went in only 3 weeks after my last appointment and according to their scale I had gone from 243 to 222. I knew how wrong that was since I weigh at home (it should have been like 238), and I told them and no one did anything they were just like oh I guess it is wrong.