What scale should I buy?
 

I've recently discovered that where I place my scale on my bedroom floor can affect the number it gives me up to 2 pounds! I've lost 17 pounds so I know I have lost at least 15, but I really want to be able to track my weight accurately.

Though I know it's considered unhealthy, I weigh myself every day. If I go up/stay the same, I feel more motivated to not screw up. If I go down, I feel more motivated to continue my success. It's a win/win for me, I just like seeing the number. I would love a scale that reads to a decimal point, so I can really keep track of my progress.

I don't need a body-fat scale, though if the best/cheapest one has one, that's OK. I'm looking for something between 20 and 30 dollars, though I will go up to 40 if anyone tells me it's worth it. It seems like there are billions of scales everywhere, though, and I don't know which one is the best!

A little help?

I've had tons of scales over the years and have found Health-o-Meter to be the most consistent. I have a analog on with the big dial instead of digital and it is usually right on with the WW pro scales at the meetings.

I have the Weight Watchers scale and I love it. It's pretty fancy and I honestly don't know how to make it do all the stuff that it does. I usually just weigh myself on it! LOL! But it's super nice. My husband had it before we got married.

ive also had lots of different scales, an most have broken with in weeks or give me different readings, http://mydeco.com/p/salter-mi-body-a...VTXISSCICKPWZ/ i brought these over 3months ago an they give me the same reading everytime even if i move them from one room to the next :) not sure where you live but in the uk i got them for £25 (not £70 as stated on site)

If you place a scale, any scale, on an uneven or soft surface, you will not get a reliable reading. You could spend hundreds of dollars on the snazziest, most feature-packed scale in the world, and if all four feet aren't resting evenly on a totally flat and hard surface, you will have exactly the same problem as you are having now.

My (relatively cheap) Salter digital scale is very reliable, in the sense that when I place it on a totally flat area of my bathroom floor, I can get on and off it and the reading is exactly the same. If I move that same scale around to an area of the floor where it is just slightly uneven (where you can't really perceive it with the eye, but you can feel the surface isn't totally flat), the readings given vary drastically (can be as much as 5lbs above or below the reliably measured weight). This isn't a fault with the scale at all, it's a fault with the way I'm using it.

Obviously some scales are more sensitive than others, and there are things that scale manufacturers can do to mitigate somewhat against this problem (e.g., providing feet that you can adjust if you have to weigh on an uneven surface like a carpet). Unless you've done this already, I would see whether your scale is still unreliable when you are placing it on a completely flat surface (put it on a totally flat area, weigh yourself several times in a row standing with your feet in the same position each time, and see whether the number is the same or different each time). Weigh yourself on a hard surface, and definitely not something like carpet - manufacturers often claim modern scales can weigh on carpet, but it's still not nearly as accurate. If it's still giving wildly different areas when you're weighing yourself on a bit of floor that is totally flat and hard, then definitely see if you can replace it!

I'm really sorry if you know all of this already, but I had this exact same annoyance myself for a while, before I realised there was nothing wrong with the scale at all, but I was just using it incorrectly by putting it on an uneven surface.