Looking for bathroom scales that actually ARE accurate!!

[Bruce]

Seca scales are widely used in the NHS and are both accurate and reliable. I have a mechanical scale. The company also makes electronic scales but I have never seen or used one.

came from John Lewis but they don't seem to stock Seca any more. They stock a look-alike Salter but I have never had any confidence in the Salter brand.

There are a couple of Seca mechanical scales on eBay at around £65:

?ViewItem&item=270522912923You should not use scales on carpet and a firm base is essential for consistent accuracy.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Eusebius saying something like:

I have basic digital Salter model 9014 scales that have been consistent and reliable for the past six months. From Argos, about 20quid or less.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Mike Tomlinson saying something like:

I agree with all of the above. I weigh once a week during this weight loss phase and notice a 1kg difference between late evening and morning weight - for consistency I stick to the evening routine, but if I want a cheery day I do it in the morning :) After an initial flurry of enthusiasm, I came to the realisation that the scales are much more important for indicating a trend, rather than pinpoint accuracy. A steady loss of 0.3kg a week is good enough for me, but if I really go for it 1kg/week is easily attainable.

[Eusebius]

A steady loss of 0.3kg a week is good enough for me,

I think if you're dieting seriously you can go for a loss of 150g per day. A "reasonable" diet would be 100g per day.

But the whole question is sustaining it. I've certainly been told by my weight coach - yes I have coaching from a very good coach who herself lost a considerable amouont - that it's the trend that counts and daily weighing is deceptive. But right now I'm trying to get the food content of my diet right, so daily weighing gives me some idea of how effective the diet is and what I have to change

andy

[Mike Barnes]

Eusebius :

Daily weighing is deceptive if you think it reflects your daily activities. But it's actually better than weekly weighing to establish the longer term trend, as long as you ignore the inevitable short-term variations. Think about it, which is more representative - one weekly weighing or the average of seven daily weighings?

[Dave]

I was always advised to weigh myself in the morning, as soon as I got up. Don't know why, but I have done this for years.

At the age of 63 I am more interested in the weight loss that cancer can do and I keep an eye on my weight with that in mind. Though I am not eating all that well, my weight has only dropped by about 4 pounds over the last 6 months.

Dave

[Dave]

That is what I have been taught. The daily weight can vary by so many factors.

Are you sure about that? I would tend to make a graph of the daily weight change and look at the trend. A graph will tell you so much more.

Dave

[Dave]

Can you say by how much? I weigh myself on a bath mat under the scales.

Dave

[Dave]

Not really, when you think about old fashioned scales.

They had a beam at the top and two pans. One to put weights on and the other to put the weights on. That is where the pair comes from.

Dave

[Mike Lane]

Eusebius wrote on Jan 28, 2010:

For really accurate measurements you need class III medically certified scales. Unfortunately these will cost £500 or more for the electronic type. Seca make these but also produce uncertified scales for much less which I think are in practice just as accurate.

I have a set of these:

cost around £150

They are metric only but seem very accurate. The only snag I find with them is that they don't have any 'lock-on' mechanism, so unless you can keep

*very* still when standing on them, the reading jitters around a bit.

[Rod]

Part of work deals with a piece of software called ScalesLink which (wait for it...) links to a paint scale. Always have to pinch myself as to whether there is or is not that middle 's'. (And with or without that 's' it is awkward to pronounce.)

[Richard Russell]

That should have made you suspicious. Some digital scales use a software 'trick' to make them appear more consistent than they are. They remember the previous reading, and if the next weighing ends up with a result near to the previous one (up to some pre-programmed difference) they simply display the previous reading again!

We have two sets of Salter digital scales and they both do it. Repeating precisely the same value multiple times, as you describe, is a sure sign that this technique is being employed.

Richard.

[Mike Barnes]

Clever stuff. The display even occasionally flickers 80.00 or 80.10 if I shift my weight around. Now *that's* attention to detail!

[Mike Lane]

Richard Russell wrote on Jan 29, 2010:

Chinese-made scales selling for less than £50 or so. They probably all use the same chip for the A to D conversion

[Tony Bryer]

Although like lots of guys I stay away from doctors, I gave in to the suggestion that getting my new GP here in Melbourne to check me over would not be a bad idea. When it came to weight I said somewhat defensively that I realised that my weight (90kg) was as the top of end of acceptable for my height (1.9m). My new GP smiled and said, "don't worry: more than half of all Australian men of your age are overweight. That makes your weight below average ... just keep it that way"

[Arthur 51]

This is a common complaint - despite promotional material saying scales are accurate in practice they are NOT!

So anybody got an idea of how to get a set of scales that actually measure your weight accurately? Like you get on them 20 times and they record the same weight?

Andy

Lots of bathroom scales have a kind of springy pin on the base. This type are supposed to work on hard flooring only. If your bathroom is carpetted or has badly fitting vinyl..or if floor tiles are not fitted perfectly you will get varying readings.

Arthur

[Eusebius]

I didn't know about that chip that repeats previous readings - that REALLY explains things! I think I've noticed this and a work-around I've found is to tap the scales to activate it, then just put one foot on it - should measure about 30k. This seems to clear something - then get on the scales and weight yourself.

Today I got a reading 6k less than yesterday!!!!! Time to do something. Check the battery first.

In response to the hard floor point, the scales are on a hard floor in the bathroom.

andy

[PeteS]

And the word scales comes from the same root as shell and skull and relates to the bowls of the scales of which there were/are two.

Pete

[Timothy Murphy]

I have a Tefal Contour digital scales which does not seem to have this, eg if I weigh myself and then weigh again with a dressing-gown on, it shows an extra 1lb. This scales seems remarkably consistent, even in a carpeted bathroom.

My only minor complaint about it is that the Tefal web-site says there is a switch somewhere to change from pounds to kilos, but if so I cannot find it.

[F]

I've seen this advice before but cannot see the reasoning behind it. If all of the feet on the scales are in contact with the carpet, and the rest of the scales is clear of the carpet, then the weight registered by the scales must just the same as if they were on a hard surface...