Accurate bathroom scales

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 22:32:16 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote (in article ):

I certainly don't have carpets in my bathroom (the idea appals me). Mine has vinyl over hardboard over floorboards.

I'm not sure what t&g is, tonic & gin? tile & grout perhaps?

Reply to
Mike Lane
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On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 22:55:02 +0000, geoff wrote (in article ):

A very good question.

I suppose you are one of those fortunate people who don't have to worry about their weight. Unfortunately I am not one of those - I started to gain weight when I gave up smoking about 20 years ago. I have since learned that the

*only* way I can control my weight is to monitor it constantly. This means weighing myself every day, and I have to admit that I am a bit obsessed with accurate measurements.

Does that answer your question?

I'm not sure it means anything apart from how much you actually weigh.

Agreed, provided that the tea doesn't have 6 spoons of sugar in it :-)

Reply to
Mike Lane

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008 22:47:14 +0000, geoff wrote (in article ):

Well me for one. I can't see the point of any other kind.

Yes, agreed!

Well not much really, 100g or even 200g would probably be OK, but the main thing is that should be consistent. The cheapo Argos scales can tell you that you've lost 0.5 pounds and then half an hour later you've gained 1.0 pounds and so on.

I'm a bit obsessed with accuracy though and would just prefer +/- 50g.

Reply to
Mike Lane

In message , Tim Lamb writes

Shhhhh ...

that's giving my secrets away

Reply to
geoff

Yes, I wish I weighed less too ...

Reply to
geoff

In message , Mike Lane writes

Ha ha

;scuse me while I wipe down the screen

How about 115kg in January ?

Down to 107 ATM, >25 kilos to go

No, it's to find a workable weight loss system

this is working for me

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This means

Do you need scales to be that accurate to tell you that you're a lardy bastard?

If you are that overweight then looking for obsessive accuracy etc is just a way of not addressing the problem - you need to lose weight

What does it matter if the scales go up and down by a kilo ?

YOu need to see a downwards trend, whether it's up and down like a sawblade isn't really important, you need to see a downwards trend

Stop concentrating on what really isn't important.

Reply to
geoff

I bought some new scales and refused to believe the (increased) weight. "Stupid cheap scales from H*mbase". Went back to the shop and tried every bathroom scale on display. All identical and identical to the one I had bought. Poo. More than accurate/consistent/reproducible enough.

For those who wear glasses, electronic ones have the edge as you can see the display accurately while standing still and looking down with no glasses on.

Reply to
Bob Mannix

Absolutely.

Weighing ones self once a week is more than enough. Worrying about divisions of less than 1/2 lb is absurd.

Reply to
www.GymRatZ.co.uk

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 00:56:44 +0000, geoff wrote (in article ):

to flog their own brand of snake-oil remedy.

My source of inspiration is here:

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No, my friends do that :-). They sometimes phrase it a bit more tactfully though.

One can do both. Measuring accurately doesn't prevent me losing weight. It's just a way of making the process more interesting (to me).

It matters a lot to me if it's a fault in the scales

Why? Everyone concentrates on some things that aren't important

Reply to
Mike Lane

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 09:24:04 +0000,

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wrote (in article ):

I don't understand that. In what way is it 'unhealthy'?

I don't know how you have got the impression that I am 'worrying about' anything. As I have said, it's just that if I measure *anything*, (distance, speed, weight, time or whatever) I like to do it properly. Weighing myself, or anything else with an inaccurate instrument simply annoys me (like having a watch that doesn't show the right time).

Reply to
Mike Lane

Holfraud cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called "in the medical field" any more than a hospital car park attendant can.

He has no medical or scientific qualifications whatsoever but apparently has a degree in Psychology. His "qualification" of DipION was awarded by the commercial Institute for Optimum Nutrition, some time after he started it.

He is the quack who peddles various pills and promoted assorted remedies such as the QLink radio frequency protection device pendant which "needs no batteries as it is ?powered? by the wearer - the microchip is activated by a copper induction coil which picks up sufficient micro currents from your heart to power the pendant" . In this respect he was right, when the £70 device was dismantled it was found to contain a small PCB with tracks which went nowhere and a single "electronic" component - a surface mount bridge link - a piece of wire.

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Reply to
Peter Parry

In message , Mike Lane writes

Heard him on 5 live, sounded sensible pseudo-science, so I tried it

OK ATM, the only question is whether I can keep it up for another 3 months ...

OK - point taken

but ...

My scales cost £20 (weightwatchers or something) - they don't tend to be more than 10kg out (usually)

I can think of better things to spend Andy's extra £160 on

Reply to
geoff

If it bothers you to the point where you're willing to hand over more than £40 for a set of bathroom scales, then it's unhealthy in my view. Any decent set of bathroom scales will measure repeatably with a couple of pounds. A couple of pounds a week is the sort of weight loss or gain it's sane to worry about (that's a 1.5% change if you weigh 10 stone). Measuring more often and worrying about smaller amounts means that all you're worrying about is noise (ie, slight innacuracies in the scales, whether you've had a pee, a cup of tea, how much you sweated in bed last night, whether you've been living on a diet of licqourice or red meat etc.). You're collecting more data but it really doesn't tell you anything useful.

Go and change the speedo in your car them, because that'll be at least 5% out, probably somewhere up towards 10%, and make sure you alter the calibration in line with tyre wear. Your tape measures and rulers will vary depending on the temperature, and so on and so forth. There are loads of inaccurate instruments about, the only difference here is that you have a simple method of demonstrating the inacurracy.

Reply to
Doki

I disagree. It's also an issue of reliability and build quality. If you feel that you don't want to spend > £40 for a scale then fine, that's your price point. I think that they are junk at that level.

If one is measuring in archaic units, it indicates a different problem. Rate of weight gain or loss is a matter for the individual and their persoal circumstances and possibly medical condition.

That may be true from the perspective of what is required. However, this wasn't really the point as was already stated. The purpose was to add a level of interest to what is a boring and difficult issue. If that achieves a result and a commitment, then it's worthwhile just for that.

If it's part of an overall regime of recording including what one eats, how much, with what mix and at which time of the day, then it has value for that.

Which if one looks at it in that way is a good reason to want to make a difference where one reasonably can.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Probably when you have as much to lose as I have, any diet involving stopping drinking alcohol will have an effect

Reply to
geoff

The message from "Bob Mannix" contains these words:

I have a set of scales that operate (I think) by pizo electric. They exhibit the same tendency as the OPs scales which I find annoying as well as I routinely weigh my self every night before I go to bed wearing nothing but my glasses. Depends on the nature of you eye problem whether you can read even a largish display at ground level.

I put on half a stone over Xmas and haven't varied by more than a lb or

2 since, probably less if dehydration was taken into account.

The only way I have got my weight down in the past is by hard physical exercise but particularly in winter it is all too easy to spend all day sitting down rather than being outside exerting myself. Nothing like a good hill walk to get the weight down but it needs to be a frequent occurrence if the increased appetite doesn't put it back on in very short order.

Reply to
Roger

Well indeed, Chapman old bean (sorry couldn't resist a cultural reference to another thread :o) ) YMMV etc, my eyes can see the LCD display but not the divisions on mechanical scales.

Reply to
Bob Mannix

Only if you've got short legs!

Reply to
Andy Burns

The message from "Bob Mannix" contains these words:

No problem Bob.

The display on my scales is not particularly large. The figures are about a half inch high.

When I was younger I could read close work with my glasses on but had trouble walking in the rain without them. As my eyes have decayed my eyeballs have lengthened slightly and my prescription has weakened but I can no longer read with my normal glasses on.

I just take my glasses off for normal reading but have reading glasses optimised for sitting in front of my PC. Slight upside is that the ground is now slightly more in focus than it used to be and I can get by walking in the rain without my glasses.

Reply to
Roger

Got it in one :-). Holford remains an unqualified purveyor of snake oils.

Reply to
Peter Parry

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