dollar for dollar, whats the BEST scale to buy?????///

OK - I am MAD.

I have been diligently working towards my weight goals. I have worked out 5 days a week doing cardio and weights.

I have lost a WHOPPING 3 lbs. This last week I gained a half a pound.

I have two scales at home - one says 185, the other says 175, and the one here at work says 184 if you stand with your feet together, and says 182 if you stand with your feet apart.

WHAT GIVES? I have no friggin' clue what my weight is...

SO, my question is, what is the best scale to buy that is accurate, but WONT brake the bank??
Thanks.

dollar for dollar, the best scale is probably the one at your doctor's office that gets calibrated regularly so it's accurate and won't cost you a penny if you stop by once a week and say to the receptionist, Do you mind if I weigh myself on your scale once a week?  You think they're gonna say no?  You're their patient - they want to encourage you to be healthy.  And weighing yourself once a week is plenty for most people....

failing that, the scale at home that says 185 is probably right and you should stand on it with your weight evenly distributed....  maybe put a couple of stickers on it where your feet should go

=)

First off, the scale isn't all that important.  What is important is the amount of weight you have lost and your overall health.

if you lost 10 lbs, whether the scale says 175, 184, 173 or 182, you still lost 10 lbs.

If you want an accurate start weight, get weighed at your doctors or at the gym.  My scale is 2-3 lbs off of what my doctor's scale is.  No biggy.  At least I know the difference.  Seems that each scale gives me a different number.  So I just go with the one that is around the average of all the numbers and then I look at the weight I lost.

And have a look at your scale(s).  Some have a self adjusting wheel you can turn to make sure the weight shows the right weight.

personally, I think all scales are wrong.  Gravity around scales seems to get messed up ;) That's why you weigh so different on different scales.

I think what matters is the differences in weight using the scale you use!

Problem is, the weight is coming ON, not going OFF. I am wondering WHY I would not be loosing weight when:.

• I drink 6-8 glasses of water a day (usually MORE)
• I keep calories at 1208
• I exercise VIGORUSLY to the FIrm for 50 minutes using weight 5 days a week
• I've lowered my sodium intake
• I am only drinking 1 -2 cans of diet pop a day
• I am NOT grazing on stuff and not logging it.
• AND if I burn 400 calories exercising, I increase my caloric intake by that many so as not to end up with a deficit!

I guess I am just FRUSTRATED and I think the DEVIL invented the scale!

Are you on any prescription meds that may be affecting your weight?

Sorry to hijack your thread trishie, but the same thing happened to me recently. 11 stone on my scale at home, and more like 10 ¼ on the gym one!

That is a massive difference and it?s doing my head in!

The thing is, I suspect there?s something wrong with my home scale (wishful thinking maybe!) At Christmas I was down to 10 ½ stone and I went away for the holidays and a friend of mine borrowed the scales (without asking I might add? grrr) and lugged them over the other side of London to weigh her back for a long haul flight. Since she returned them I?ve been stuck on 11 stone, even though I?ve been eating sensibly and working out 5 times a week. Is it possible they might have been damaged and the gym ones are correct??

 *crosses fingers*

I don't think it really matters which scale you use.  Just pick ONE and use that one exclusively! 

As for why you have gained...you are probably putting on muscle which is more dense and weighs more that fat. 

Don't get discouraged, a little muscle looks good on EVERYONE!

I don?t think it?s muscle as I have always exercised doing weights ? I only just started upping my cardio to running instead of walking/x-trainer after Christmas so I thought that would facilitate weight loss rather than muscle gain? Bugger.

No apologies necessary Gen.

HK, the only meds I am on are for ADD (ritalin). That is IT.

I got a tanita digital for less then $30 Canadian. If you ignore the body fat part it seems fine. Got pads so you always stand on the exact same spot.

Tishie - I bet you are gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat but takes up less room. How are your clothes fitting? Here is a site that can help you calculate your body fat percentage:

http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home -body-fat-test-2774-143.html

For example, when I was weight lifting 5x's per week, I weighed what I do now but my body fat percentage was around 19% so I wore only a size 0 ... now at this weight - with no weight lifting for years - my body fat percentage has crept up to 24% and I'm edging into a size 6! So weight on the scale doesn't tell the whole story.

P.S. I used to do the FIRM - great stuff! It really works.

The following has worked great for my wife and I. We lost a total of 10 pounds within the last two months:

- Eat 6 times a day (i.e.: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, night snack)
- Avoid eating yeast (i.e.: backed goods, bread, etc)
- Avoid drinking pop (diet or otherwise)
- Avoid drinking alcohol (it promotes carb cravings!)
- Avoid simple carbs (i.e.: bread, pasta, potatoes)
- Avoid sugar (i.e.: anything sugary)
- Avoid fat (eat low or no fat products)
- Avoid red meat (i.e.: beef and pork)
- Avoid processed foods
- Use the quarter, quarter, half meal size formula (i.e.: divide your plate into three sections with quarter complex carbs, quarter protein and half greens
- Drink green tea
- Eat organic natural foods
- Read "Eating alive II" by Dr. John Matsen

here's one trick, weigh the same 5lb bag of sugar/flour on each scale to see which one is off, or you could use a 20 lb sac of potatoes, box of kitty litter (the lbs should be printed on the outside).  this should show you who the culprits are!

make sure you're taking in enough calories! i know it sounds crazy, but if you're burning that many calories and only taking in 1200 your body has nothing to burn but muscle. find out how many calories is right for you to take in (go to a website and enter in height, weight OR go to a gym and meet w/ a trainer OR ask your DR.) then follow their advice.

also, try to make sure you're eating your meals before 7:30. your metabolism slows way down after then. and eat your biggest mean between 10 and 2. hope this helps some!

and remember, if you're trying to lose weight then you know you're not going to be gaining it. you're on the right track!!

Hi. I would say it doesn't matter what scale you weigh on as long as you weigh on the same one consistently. Personally I have a lot of faith in Tanita scales. I have a body fat scale by Tanita that cost me about $40 because it's pretty basic, just body fat and weight. I just take my weight and skip the BF%. I use measurements to track that and it varies too much on the scale. I think the basic scales are the best. I saw a $300 scale on this one site that measured everything you could think of. What's the point? Health-O-Meters are also good and pretty cheap, probably more so than Tanita, and I think you can get them at Target.

LOL this is just so ironic that within 30 minutes of going out to buya scale today, I found this.  My horror story of the day is that I bought this "great" scale by Health O Meter that is to show weight, BF% and some really cool other things, only to go and step on and see a warning that this scale "was not to be used by anyone with a pacemaker or any other internal device".... I know that this probably doesn't apply to most people here, but yep! that's me.  Who knew that my pacemaker would prevent me from using my cool new scale. Oh well, back to WalMart I go...