Making just one nemesis measure up

If your scales do a good job, you can be more comfortable trusting the results you get.
By Terri Sapienza
Washington Post
Most of us have a love/hate relationship with our bathroom scale: adore it when we get a low reading, curse it when the numbers inch up.
Yet we keep stepping up to the plate: 48 percent of us weigh ourselves every day, 44 percent weigh in weekly, and 4 percent once a month, according to research conducted by HoMedics, a leading manufacturer of health and wellness products.
Herb Conroy, group marketing manager for HoMedics, says that how we use the scale affects the reliability of readings.
He advises:
UConsistency: Same time, same way, every day will give the most consistent reading. For example: stark naked before eating or drinking anything in the morning, or wearing just your nightgown and slippers before going to bed at night.
UStability: According to Conroy, 81 percent of scale owners keep them in the bathroom and 10 percent in the bedroom. Either place works as long as the scale is on a hard surface; cushioned carpeting can blur the reading.
UForm: Stay well balanced on the scale: Feet should be evenly spaced, not favoring one side, top or bottom. And stand still; moving can affect the reading.
UFormat: If calibrated correctly, digital and dial scales should be equally accurate. But digitals express your weight in precise increments. Says Conroy, "Digital scales are not more accurate, they just don't let you cheat."
UExtra measures: For a more complete measurement, opt for body composition scanners, which can measure body fat, body water and muscle mass, plus calculate daily caloric intake needed to maintain current weight.