Are Your Bathroom Scales Telling Lies?
It can be a useful tool or your worst enemy. Many women have a love-hate relationship with their bathroom scale, dreading to step onto its flat, shiny surface to see what number it will spit back at them.
But even though it may give you a figure in black and white, sometimes its not always telling the truth!
Here are 4 reasons why your bathroom scales are telling fibs…
1 – On digital bathroom scales, low batteries and faulty AC adapters can be the number 1 cause of scale malfunction and inaccuracy. A scale will perform slowly, or read inaccurately when it has low batteries. A faulty AC adapter can cause your scale to act unstable with numbers “jumping” all over the place. If you’re not sure replace your batteries with good quality ones and check if you find a difference in results.
2 - Not all bathroom scales are created equal. If you have an old spring type “analog” bathroom scales throw it out. It may have been right on the mark when you bought it but over time it loses its accuracy. Go for digital scales instead as they’re more accurate and have other great functions like measuring body fat as well.
3 – If you’ve been drinking a lot of water over a period of time, your body tends not to hold onto much as it knows its in plentiful supply. But cut back on your water intake and you may find your weight creeping up due to water retention, sometimes even by a few pounds.
To undo this, just return to your former water drinking routine and you’ll find those pounds just drop away again.
Also watch your salt intake, its nearly impossible to find any type of processed food that doesn’t contain salt, even sweet foods have in abundance. This salt then makes your body prone to water retention and you look heavier on the scale the next morning.
4 – Glycogen levels can also affect your weight. Glycogen is a fuel made up of carbohydrates, that the body stores in reserve in the liver and muscles. When reserves are full it can weigh up to 3-4 pounds including water. But if you don’t eat as much carbohydrates as usual, your body works from these stores thus making you lighter. Its possible to suddenly go down a few pounds very quickly without even changing your daily activity or calorie intake.
But the opposite is true, start to eat more carbohydrates (your body fills these stores again) and suddenly you’re a few pounds heavier for no apparent reason.
Finally, never, ever, try out bathroom scales other than your own. You may be tempted to try out a friends when visiting the loo but don’t. You’ll only get a different reading, upset yourself and think your scales are wrong or maybe right, if yours say you’re lighter. 
Just stick to using your own bathroom scales this way you’ve got a more accurate idea of how you’re progressing. But if you have the cash to spare, splash out on a good quality scales that give a body fat reading as well as record your weight. You’ll be able to see if you’re really on the right path and losing fat rather than losing muscle!
If you’d like to know more on “Body Fat Monitoring Scales” here’s another post I wrote that can explain the benefits even better…Body Fat Monitors – Why Every Dieter Should Have One
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