Scales For You

You’ve probably noticed that very few homes now have an analog bathroom scale. These scales, which have a mechanical needle to indicate weight, are being replaced by a digital scale. Digital scales promise more features and better accuracy. It’s hard to be precise when reading an analog scale. Your weight could be 130 or 130 1/2 or 130 1/4. Who knows? The needle points somewhere near 130.  A digital scale (depending on its weight increments) may tell you that you weigh 130.2 or 130.5.

Digital Scales can offer features that are not possible with an analog scale. Some digital scales can keep track of several users. Some offer the choice of weighing in pounds or kilograms and the display can be brighter and easier to read. Advances in electronics have affected the scale industry as well as a lot of other areas. If your bathroom scales are older and out-of-date, consider shopping for a new digital scale.

Can you believe they now have digital-electronic scales that can measure the percentage of body fat? Pressure-contact electrodes are built into a digital scale’s platform that send a low current through the body to measure resistance. It seems that fat and lean tissue measure differently and this electronic genius can tell what percentage of your body is fat and lean.

I think I’ll just measure my fat and I can say, “Oh, I only have a few pounds of fat I need to lose.” Or maybe I’ll just measure my lean and not even count the fat! I may try to fool myself, but the scales will make me face the fact that my exercise and fitness program and/or my eating habits definitely need some revisions. Guess I better start shopping for a body fat scale.

I read recently that bottled water has become the second most popular drink in America (behind soft drinks). That’s great since water can be considered as a nutrient your body needs.

It is essential to replace daily water that is lost from the body. In fact, 60% of our body weight is water. Next time I step on the bathroom scales, I will remember that 60% of my weight is water and should not count against me.

Numbers are very precise.  If you don’t believe me, reverse two numbers in a phone number and see if it works.  Or let the bank run a check through the bank as $425.32 when it was supposed to be $25.32.  Just one number can make a big difference!

Scales need to be precise, also.  Whether you’re measuring in grams, ounces, pounds, or pennyweights, you want the same item to weigh the same amount each time it is placed on the scales.  If it doesn’t, you can’t depend on the results, whether you’re cooking, measuring medicines, or weighing yourself.  Escali scales are accurate and precise.  Check them out.

Isn’t it amazing how a child learns to talk?  We’ve been keeping our 3 month old great-granddaughter while her mom had the flu.  To watch her listen to us when we talk to her, then twist her mouth around and make sounds like she is trying to imitate what she is seeing and hearing is absolutely astounding.  To think of all the sounds and words they hear by the time they are a year old and, somehow, choose from all that and learn to actually speak our language, is remarkable.  The human brain is a wonderous machine!

Imitating is a skill we learn early, and many of us, continue it long after we become adults.  I find myself eating when I’m not hungry because others around me are eating.  I also eat foods that I know are not healthy for me because the person I happen to be with at the time has chosen it.  The large capacity scales let me know I need to stop imitating things that are not good for me, and choose carefully for myself.  It’s good to imitate if what we’re imitating is for our well-being.  Life is full of choices.  Practice making good ones!

We took our cat and chihuahua to the vet this morning for their annual check-up.  That’s always a lot of fun.  The cat is an indoor/outdoor cat that weighs almost 11 pounds and still has his claws.  We have to put him in a pet carrier and the vet has to be extremely quick to avoid those claws.  The chihuahua wants to see everyone, especially all the cats and dogs that come in while we wait, and he always manages to use the vet’s floor for a bathroom before I can stop him.  I guess he’s marking his territory.  Life is fun, isn’t it?

I’m always amazed at how proficient the vet and her staff are with these animals, and the love they show toward them.  Love goes a long way sometimes, toward getting cooperation.  They sat each of these animals on the scale and managed to weigh them without any fuss.  They gave both of them shots, and neither of them even whined.  The cat started getting a little antsy after that, but they had him back in the pet carrier before he could do any damage.  The chihuahua was still in a good mood when it was all over.  It’s nice to work with true professionals.

Electronics have totally changed our world!  It’s amazing to look back fifty years and see the differences between the appliances, telephones, television sets, computers, games, etc.  The first television I remember seeing had about a 10 inch round screen, and of course, it was in black and white.  Now we see 50 and 60 inch flatscreen television set in many homes, and of course, in true-life color.  The first computer I remember was at a university and filled a large room.  I had to input my data by typing, and holes were punched in a series of cards.  The cards ran through the computer to produce the results.  It took a long time to run any kind of program, and I needed to understand computer language (which I never mastered).  Now I’m sitting here typing on a laptop and can surf the internet to research anything that happens to be on my mind, without any knowledge of computer language.  Remember the old dial telephones.  It took a long time just to dial a number, then you were tied to the phone by a lengthy cord.  Now we all have a cell phone in our pocket or attached to our waist and we aren’t tied to anything.  Amazing!

Bathroom, kitchen, and shipping scales have been vastly improved, also.  Besides being electronic, they are also digital.  This gives a much more accurate and precise reading.  Electronic scales are everywhere–in the home, in the grocery store, in the labs, etc.  Toss out the old, put in the new!  Our world has changed!

Remember the song “Little Things Mean a Lot”?  One of my friends mentioned today that the main things she learned from going to Weight Watchers were to be certain she was getting enough dairy products in her diet, and to watch the little things.  For example, the kind of cream we put in our coffee, how much oil we put in the bottom of our pan, or how many added extras and dressings we put on our salads.  These things add up and as the song says, “mean a lot”–a lot of calories, that is!

When you’re purchasing bathroom scales, little features “mean a lot”.  The hold feature allows you to step off the scale and still see how much you weigh.  As we age and our eyesight grows dimmer, this little feature “means a lot”.  The tracking feature that can track the weight of as many as ten users may “mean a lot”.  When you purchase your new scales, check the features to see which are important to you, then make your decision based on that. 

We have heard all our lives that it is very important to drink at least 8 glasses (64 oz.) of water each day.  Water is our body’s most important nutrient and is involved in every bodily function.  If we are trying to lose weight, it is nice to know that water is a natural appetite suppressant, and being dehydrated promotes the increase of body fat.  Without water, extra amounts of glucose remain in the bloodstream until reaching the liver and the body stores it as fat.

A body water scale give us information that is needed to assure us that our body has the right proportion of water to body fat for our total weight.  The scale can track up to ten users and calculates our body water percentage based on our height and weight.  Drinking more water seems much better than taking more medicine. 

We had YEE HAW last night at our little school in our very small community.  It was great!  Lots of kids and adults took part in the program and the gymnasium was full of folks from all over.  We got to see people who had moved away from our town years ago, but came back for the program.  They say having friends and socializing is good for our mental well-being.  If that is true, I am a lot better off mentally today than I was yesterday!

I find it is easier to lose weight, eat healthy, and exercise when I’m working with a group.  Weighing in at a group meeting somehow means more than weighing myself at home.  However, we have to have someone weighing us that we can trust not to tell what we weigh.  Even when I’m working with a group, I still want an accurate large-capacity bathroom scale at home so I can check my own weight between meetings.