Hi all,

I just purchased a brand new Health O Meter digital scale from Target in December at $19, and figured it's a good name brand, and $19 is a good buy.

Normally, when I post my weight I take the number off of the scale after my initial morning weigh-ins. Well, over the past couple of days, I've been weighing myself once, taking a minute-log break, and returning to the scale to make sure it weighed me correctly. This morning for instance, I weighed in at; 139, 137, 140, 131 and 138 respectively.

So, at 5am this morning, I'm feeling like my scale is messing with my emotions. Does anyone else have this problem? Or are your scales $100 ones with bells and whistles that don't ever have this problem?

Please help... I kind of rely on my weigh scale to help me track my progress.
thanks,
Tricia

From Health O Meters own website:


When I step on the scale, the reading is not accurate. What could be wrong?

Our scales could differ +/- 1% of your total body weight.

Adjust the scale with the adjustment knob to ensure that the dial is on zero before weighing.
A hard surface is best for maximum accuracy.
Slightly leaning to the right, left, front, or back can cause the scale to provide a different reading for each direction that you lean.
If the scale has been dropped, it could be the cause of the problem.


Some things worth looking at. I know that this same thing happened to me before and it ended up being that my heels were slightly elevated off the scale, I guess it's good to maintain a good posture while you're weighing in.

As far as my scale, it's an old one, about 8 years old, I can't remember how much it cost us (it's a non digital) but it seems to be pretty accurate, but we're constantly having to calibrate it.

I've been through a few scales as my son broke one playing on it, and the other was just a battery eating machine.

I have an old style one now that also fluctuates a little bit (2-4 lbs) depending on how you stand on it. It's hard to say if the more expensive ones are better, but I do feel that a good digital one is worth it as long as it doesn't eat batteries at a fast rate.

Our cheapie one a couple years ago was ass and did this. We ditched it. We have one that's in the 40-60 range and is good. It needs to be on a hard surface, and since there's 4 sensors that then aggregate their readings to give you the weight, you need to stand on it evenly. Ours fluctuates some, but not more than a pound.

Try calibrating it, that could be the problem.
Then make sure you stand the same every time.
If it's still crap, take it back.

Look for a smaller margin of error, a more precise measuring (accurate to w/i .2 pounds or something like that) would be better.

It may end up costing you more than $20, but it may not. Thinner is a good brand (what we have) but our p/o/s one was also a thinner so... *shrug* Just try them out till you have one that doesn't fluctuate by more than a pound or so. Or, just average your readings every day.

Only problem with that is what you have currently is giving you a 10 point range. 10 pounds is a lot. 10 pounds is more than just morning elimination and clothes. 10 pounds is usually a warning amount that you're getting too heavy (when you're in maintenance mode). So a 10 point range isn't overly helpful to you. If you can't get it to give you a smaller range by calibration and consistent weight distribution, find one that does.

<confused> Aoife, what do you mean by maintenance mode? </confused>

I have the one in the link below. I just have to calibrate once in a while after it gets moved around. I always have it in the bathroom on a hard floor.

URL

I think maintenance mode refers to a person's weight, not the scales. So once you've lost the weight and want to stay at that level, that is maintenance mode. Arguable the hardest part, since you don't have the elation of weight loss to keep you focussed on NOT dolloping mayo on everything.

Agree with ya Heather.

Once you hit that weight and maintain it for a while it gets harder if you don't keep the motivation up all the time...

Maintance mode is fought off if you have a good friend/partner who you work out with on occasion and your both asking each other once a week or so how things are going.

<enlightened> Thanks for the info Heather, most appreciated </enlightened>

Maintenance mode is basically the maintaining of weight, otherwise known as the rest of your life. You're not trying to gain or lose, just maintain. For people who can't do this naturally, one still needs to keep a level (less than losing weight level) of alertness to what the scale says.

My sister can maintain her weight without a problem, but I'm inclined to slowly creep up a bit and maintain at a higher level than I want, because I want to be at a leanness that requires work to keep.

For some people this is really tough, because their natural inclination (and by "natural" I mean what they've conditioned themselves to be through living their lives) is to eat more than they expend, often because their natural selves are rather sedentary.

The way to overcome this toughness is to have goals that are not weight related. You want to be able to bench or squat a certain amount, you want to do a triathlon, you really like those size 5 jeans.

Some people find this rather easy. I'm somewhere in between. My sister finds it easy because a higher level of body-fat is acceptable to her. So she's in the "normal" range for a woman (as in charts normal, not necessarily what we see becoming the norm on the streets of America), whereas I want to be cut up. Trying to maintain a pretty lean body while being a naturally less active person makes it a bit tough. I can maintain "normal range" better, so long as I keep away from the cake.

So, especially if it's not easy for you to maintain your selected weight/body-fat level, you have to pay attention. You don't need to be all nazi-like, but daily weighings are a good idea. If your scale can't tell you you're on your way to gaining a few extra pounds... your jeans will.

But the scale would tell you first, thereby eliminating the need to sew that damn button back on your jeans.