Ok, so some background. I’m overweight, my metabolism sucks, and I am usually over active in Summer and way-under active in Winter (its just too cold to go out). I used to weigh myself daily-not good I know. Then I started ridiculous amounts of exercise (cycling to and from work every day), trampolining 2-3 times a week, dodgeball once a week and wii fit in between! My weight stopped moving, and I realised that it was because I was losing fat and gaining muscle, only my simple scales weren’t capable of understanding that...behold the Salter MiBody Analyser Scales!

On first impressions, these scales are uber sexy, black and shiny with a toughened glass finish. They have a digital display which displays the time when not in use, so they double as a bathroom clock, although the back light could be brighter. They are slightly on the larger side of scales, but that is forgiven because of how lovely they look, and because they come with a 15-year guarantee!

I couldn’t wait to try these out!

So as any geek does, I didn’t read the instructions and just turned on the scales, I mean come on, they’re scales, how hard can it be?! Slight mistake on my part. I set the date and time by accident to default (2006)...and then spent about 3 hours of research online trying to find out how to change the time because, get this, apart from first time turning on of the scales, there isn’t any instructions on how to change the date and time because of course, you should have done it right the first time... the good news is that someone else made the same mistake and in their review explained how to change the date and time (they apparently had to phone the helpline).

To set up you have to input your gender, age, height and choose a fitness mode (from three choices based on how often you exercise). You also have to go to the website and download a programme to your computer (this will make sense later!). All in all, this is relatively straight forward and quick to do.

These scales don’t just weigh you, they flash about 7 different numbers including your weight and BMI with an icon alongside.  How do they measure all these things you ask...well I don’t actually know, but I assume it is due to the two metal sensors on the scales. On that basis you have to use these scales barefoot so that they can do their magic on your feet. The instructions recommend you get to know the icons so you know what readings are flashing on the digital screen...don’t bother, in fact you don’t even need to look at them at all as they are stored in the scales memory (these are high-tech scales). The MiBody scales come with a USB stick that you plug into the side of the scales, and it puts all the data onto the memory stick (hence having to put the date and time in, the computer programme also starts to make more sense here). You plug the memory stick into the computer, and it imports the data. You can store up to 30 days data on the scales per person, and the scales can be used for up to 12 user profiles (not quite sure how many households have 12 people in them these days but I guess it caters for all) which means you can just use them as normal scales for a month and do the downloading monthly if you wish.

So for two weeks I weighed myself and just went about my normal daily business. Then I plugged in my USB stick and went to my computer and downloaded my results. Rather scarily, after reading through my results with the user guide it explains and gives guidance on your visceral fat (the chances of getting diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure) body fat, Body Mass Index (BMI) identifying if you’re underweight, “normal”, overweight or obese and what health risk that poses, Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), muscle mass and body water (which apparently can influence weight loss).

These scales are great for keeping a record of my progress, and also make it easy to see my progress because I can see my weight stays about the same, but my body fat is reducing and my muscle mass is increasing, so I have a renewed sense of motivation to keep on with the exercise and watching what I eat, knowing that it is all having an impact.

Look: sleek and sexy and a great addition to any bathroom
Useability: simple and clever

9 out of 10 (it lost a point for the clock issue, backlight and because the USB stick wasn’t branded and I could easily have lost it amongst my many other generic memory sticks)

RRP: £69.99 from www.salterhousewares.com however you can buy on Amazon for £39.99

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