Scale/body fat recommendation?

rubypeanut · 12-15-2010, 12:40 AM

I have an ancient analog and I have this suspicion that it's very inaccurate and probably underreporting my weight by quite a bit; I went to my friend's house the other day and I weighed 10 lbs more than I did at home. On the other hand, we had a life insurance rep come with her own scale and my scale matched. So I don't know; maybe I'm actually 10 lbs more than I think I am!

Anyway, I would like to buy an inexpensive scale and body fat tester. I went on Amazon to look but there are too many choices and not enough consistent good reviews for budget scales. Any recommendations?Thanks!

cjohnson728 · 12-15-2010, 12:56 AM

I have one of the Tanita scales; it's a few years old, but a relatively basic one with weight in .2 increments and body fat percentage.

I am not sure how accurate overall the body fat percentage is, but I basically pay attention to how it fluctuates, and when I was losing weight, it was making sure that number was steadily decreasing. Even if it's not accurate in an absolute sense, I would think it would be accurate in a relative sense.

I like having that feature because I know when it jumps way down all of a sudden, I'm dealing with water weight. More water in the body adding a few pounds means the percentage of fat is less, so I don't freak out too much when the pounds go up.

eahearn76 · 12-22-2010, 05:54 PM

I have the "Biggest Loser" scale by Taylor, which I bought at Target. Kind of cheesy... I don't normally buy things that are branded with TV shows. But, it works well. I wasn't sure how accurate it was, but my weight comes up as the same when I get weighed at the doctor's office.

It's got a number of cool (and easy-to-use) features. I can't remember all of them now, but I was using them when I first got the scale. You can enter your stats including a rating of how active you are, and it will tell how many calories you should consume to maintain that weight. (So basically, it's a reading of how many calories you currently burn in a day.) It stores weights... I think it gives a reading of body fat percentage.

path75 · 12-26-2010, 05:37 PM

I got my scale at ACO Hardware, don't know where you live but I was surprised at the price. It was $20 and has a lot of features. It allows you to set up goal weights and tracks body weight percentage and hydration levels. I don't know how well the hydration works but its nice because you can set up separate users for different weight goals, male or female, and by activity level. It also shows the time and temp inside or outside. It is a glass scale and does look nice in the bathroom, not one of those old time looking things. The only downfall is you need a lot of batteries. So make sure when you buy a scale look to see if batteries are included. It is called "Thinner", I forgot what brand makes it. But just shop around and find the best one for you. Definitely don't go for the cheapest one if you can afford it. Its only a couple dollars more for the digital scales.