OK, my official answer is that they'll probably let you go with 52 pounds, but this is very inconsistent. As an EXP in 2005, I was stopped by a skycap and told he couldn't check a 55 pound bag because it was overweight at SFO (although the first class check-in agent was glad to check the bag and let it slide).

My unofficial answer depends on how bag screening is structured at your airport. If the process at VPS is that you get your bag weighed and tagged at the counter, but then have to lug it to a bag screening station, I would suggest that you pull out a 2 pound object, check-in at the counter (at which time the bag is weighed), get it tagged, and then after departing the counter but before turning it into the TSA screener, add the 2 pounds back. That's the loophole in the current system at some airports.