Scales

batman4121

So I have a set of common bathroom scales bought from a home store type place and although I am not a slave to the scales the readings I get are really random depending on where I place them on the floor?

Now a quick search on Amazon shows loads of Bluetooth fitness scales and the like but I fear they are all just gimmicks.

Any recommendations for a quality set of scales that you can trust?

goal06082021

Many many years ago, I was at a Weight Watchers meeting where a woman described how she weighed herself in her front foyer because the scale read 3-4 pounds lighter on that section of the floor than it did in her bathroom. If your floor is not perfectly level, your scale may give wonky readings in certain places. Depending on the age and composition of your house, your floor may be varying levels of wibbly in any given room. Pick one place for your scale to sit, weigh yourself in that place and under the same circumstances every time (same time of day, same clothes/lack thereof, same point in your daily routine). Ideally your scale just sits there all the time and you don't move it around much; but, if you're like me and the way your living space is set up is not conducive to keeping a scale on the floor and usable at all times, at least make sure you're placing it in the same spot every time you weigh in.

callsitlikeiseeit

ive had a couple of different scales. none expensive. none fancy. i need it to tell me my weight. I can manually enter in the places i need to enter it. anything else is likely to be an estimate and not necessarily accurate (ie body fat %)

as goal said, leave it or place it in the same place every day. take your weight at the same time every day under the same conditions. consistency is what is important. variations in subfloor or floor level can affect the reading.

AnnPT77

To put it more explicitly: What you're observing is how most scales will tend to behave. It's not that you have an especially bad scale, probably. You probably have a perfectly normal scale. Just weigh yourself under consistent conditions, including the location of the scale. I'm lucky, I have tile on the floor that has lines in it. I line up my scale with particular lines in the tile. Works fine.

If you want your weight to be recorded automatically, like if you want to record it but not have to see it (some people super stressed about scales want that), then a bluetooth scale might be good. OTOH, the internet of things (IOT) is fraught with security issues, and I'm not talking about invasion of your privacy, exclusively. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, Google something like "internet of things security issues".

The body composition scales (that give body fat estimation and such) are pretty error prone, not worth spending a bunch of money to get. The absolute numbers they spit out can be pretty far off, but may be able to be used to get an idea of trends over the long term, by looking at the direction numbers head (up/down/sideways) and ignoring random outlier days.

DancingMoosie

I got a WW Conair digital scale at Walmart and it is very consistent. I test it from time to time with a dumbbell. I weighed my puppy on it, then took him to the vet, and he weighed the same!

swimmom_1

FYI: the scales that does body fat, etc., I just found out recently, they do not work if you have any metal in your body. Mine worked pre 10/2015. I did have a plate and 7 screws in my ankle from '92. Now using the scale after 2015, I had a bad break and a lot more metal near my knee, 3 plates and about 20 screws. It says ERR for everything but the weight. Girl from customer service told me they don't work with any metal in your body. Even a small heart stent.

plattef71

I had one for some time but just stopped using it. At the gym I had a consult and got my measurements for free from them. Right now I have a Livongo scale that is bluetooth enabled and logs my weight to my phone every day. Believe it or not, most employers have a program where you can get all of this at no cost to you.

MargaretYakoda

Agreeing with the advice to make sure your scale is on a level surface, and to always weigh yourself under the same circumstances.

That said? My advice for a scale is an old school balance beam scale. No electronics to wear out. Always easy to use. Good up to 400 lbs. Not affected by humidity.
And you can probably use it for the rest of your life and then pass it down to the grandkids.

About $100 on Amazon or at your local Big Box pharmacy. Which isn’t that much if you think about how many typical bathroom scales you might go through over the years of personal weight management.

westrich20940

I personally do have a bluetooth scale - a Renpho one - which connect to an app on your phone.

I have tested it again a traditional digital scale at my parents house and it's accurate for weight. It obviously gives a bunch of other stats which I don't necessarily look at the absolute values of those --- but I DO find the trends section of the app useful to see the TRENDS of those stats. Like I don't necessarily know if the body fat % is 'correct'....but the trend line is likely correct and that's what I look at. I also don't look at anything other than long-term trends. The weight is fine though for sure.

Place your scale on a flat surface (hard preferably) and put it in the same spot every time you weigh yourself.

lorib642

I have a withings (Nokia). It links to mfp. It has an app that shows graphs over time. You can set it for multiple people. But, whenever i step on it, it gives an update on mfp so it reports that I have lost that same .5 lb repeatedly. It does not bother me enough to disconnect. My scale is the basic model called Body, they make others with more features.

chris89topher

lorib642 wrote: »

I have a withings (Nokia). It links to mfp. It has an app that shows graphs over time. You can set it for multiple people. But, whenever i step on it, it gives an update on mfp so it reports that I have lost that same .5 lb repeatedly. It does not bother me enough to disconnect. My scale is the basic model called Body, they make others with more features.

I have the Withings Body+ version and love it. You can still let it sync and all, but tell MFP to not post those stupid "I lost .25 of a pound messages. I know what you're talking about and it's annoying. Turn that off and all is well with the world. 😎

lorib642

chris89topher wrote: »

lorib642 wrote: »

I have a withings (Nokia). It links to mfp. It has an app that shows graphs over time. You can set it for multiple people. But, whenever i step on it, it gives an update on mfp so it reports that I have lost that same .5 lb repeatedly. It does not bother me enough to disconnect. My scale is the basic model called Body, they make others with more features.

I have the Withings Body+ version and love it. You can still let it sync and all, but tell MFP to not post those stupid "I lost .25 of a pound messages. I know what you're talking about and it's annoying. Turn that off and all is well with the world. 😎

Thank you! I did not realize that was an option