Along with a renewed interest in diet plans may come a need for a new bathroom scale to measure the results. Consumers today have a wider assortment of bathroom scale models to choose from, including some which can electronically measure the percentage of body fat. Trying to choose the right bathroom scale for your specific needs can be challenging indeed.

One important element to consider in a quality bathroom scale is accuracy. As painful as it may be, dieters need to have a realistic starting point to measure their results. Older bathroom scales featuring a spring action can become very inaccurate as the mechanism wears out. A good bathroom scale should have a means of 'zeroing out' the starting weight for better accuracy. This means the scale should be easily adjusted to begin precisely at zero, or turned down slightly to account for known additional weight, such as clothing.

A way to measure accuracy in a new bathroom scale is to place an object with a known weight on it. A five pound bag of sugar or a ten pound weightlifting plate should register accurately on a new bathroom scale. Do not buy any scale if the readings of a known object are seriously inaccurate or the scale does not return to zero after a weighing.

Another important consideration when buying a bathroom scale is range. Older scales for home use tended to stop at 300 pounds, and accuracy above 250 pounds was variable. Newer digital and spring dial scales may have ranges as high as 500 pounds or more. Most consumers may not have a need for a bathroom scale with a 500 pound reading, but it is a consideration for morbidly obese people beginning a diet plan.

Because a bathroom scale remains on the floor while the user is standing, easy readability of the numbers could also be a legitimate concern. Spring-operated scales often have large numbers in increments of ten while the individual pounds may be small hash marks. Digital scales may display large electronic numbers easily read from 5 or 6 feet away. To check readability, stand on the bathroom scale as you would during an actual weighing and look down at the display without crouching. The results should be easy to translate.

Some newer bathroom scale models feature extras such as an electronic voice, paper printout or body fat measurements. Users stand on a set of metallic footpads which send a small, harmless current through their bodies. Based on the natural electrical resistance of body fat, a small computer can calculate the ratio of fat to muscle mass. This feature gives dieters an extra factor to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of their diet plans. Lowering body weight and the ratio of fat to muscle are both important aspects of safe dieting.