Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale

Hands down the tech tool I use the most, besides my iPhone and it’s applications is my Withings wi-fi body scale. I have to keep myself focused, and the biggest factor in that daily challenge is measurement. Whether it’s good news or bad news, that number that I see every day is one of the key factors that drives me to keep working at this.

The Withings scale is just a typical bathroom scale when you see it sitting on the floor, but there’s so much more to it. It has wi-fi networking built into it. When you set it up, you can have it join your wireless network, and the scale will get an IP address and be a client on your network.

So what? What does this mean? It means EVERY time you weigh yourself, the scale connects to your network and stores your weight data on the WiThings web site. Don’t worry it’s all secure, nobody can see your name or weight online. Knowing everyday that number will be recorded and stored, where I can see it and know that it’s always there, is a huge motivator for me.

The scale provides your weight, current body mass index (BMI), muscle mass, and fat mass too. There’s a wealth of information. Use the online web site to see your progress over time, or use their iPhone or iPad applications too! There’s even a way to link the data to your medical records with certain healthcare providers. I have not tried this feature, but I use the rest of them. The scale is smart enough to recognize up to 10 different people, which is nice if multiple family members want to use it. It will also graph and store this data online for those users as well. When you get on to weigh yourself, you’ll see your initials come up, or any three letters you specify to identify you.

One of the graphs from the Withings web site.

The Withings web site is an amazing online tool that shows your data graphically. There are several graphs and ways to slice your data and see trends and patterns. I’ve had the scale for quite a while, and I’ve been able to see patterns over time, around specific time periods where I get better at losing weight, and then times where I get worse. It’s interesting to see this kind of info, whereas you normally wouldn’t know.

One of the last things I like about the Withings scale is that it seamlessly ties into my favorite calorie and weight tracking application, Lose It. Everyday when I weigh in, that data is also synced to Lose It, and then the gain or loss is sent to Twitter. You can see it on the left hand side of the site.

It runs on AAA batteries, and it’s beyond efficient. I’ve replaced the batteries once in a year and a half. The scale is not cheap, $149, but I use it every day, it’s accurate, reliable, easy to setup, and motivates me. Is there really a price that’s too much for a product that accomplishes all of that? I don’t think so.