Sometimes, health tracking accuracy is overrated

This is Optimizer , a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here . About three years ago, a doctor told me I had to lose abdominal fat. She didn’t care about my lower belly fat. That, she said while pinching me, was subcutaneous fat. What she wanted was for me to target about five pounds of fat loss above my belly button because that’s where the visceral fat lived. Not weight loss; my BMI and weight, she said, were fine. I needed fat loss because I had borderline high cholesterol and one mildly elevated liver enzyme. Given my diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (now known as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome ), she was convinced that Type 2 diabetes lurked just around the corner for me unless I immediately overhauled my body composition. She suggested I invest in a smart scale — as well as commit to a vegan diet. I ignored the latter (and, a few months later, switched doctors after she recommended a dubious dieting podcast). But I did start dabbling a bit more seriously with smart scales, embarking on a multi-year journey of frustration. Smart scales use a method called bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) to give you a breakdown of your body fat, lean mass, and bone mass. …