glad I'm not the only one

We went to our friends Peter & Lara's for dinner last night - I have to get the asparagus recipe from Peter because it was wonderful - apparently it was supposed to be cabbage, but he didn't have any, and asparagus turned out to be an inspired substitution.

Anyway, despite having absolutely no reason to be concerned about her weight, Lara keeps this incredibly old (like, pre-1970's) bathroom scale because, as she says, she likes what it tells her. And she knows it's at least 5 pounds off - she wasn't a bit surprised when I weighed myself, after dinner, wearing all my clothes, and weighed exactly the same as I do on my scale, starkers before breakfast.

I just think that's funny, in a bizarre sociological kind of way. Why are we soooo hung up on weight that we will keep a 40-year old scale precisely because it is inaccurate? Even if, like Lara, you're a distance-running athlete with probably less than 20% body fat?