More than 50 per cent of women strip naked before they step onto scales in the hope it might give them a more favourable weight, a survey found.

Four in 10 women go to the toilet before weighing themselves and 10 per cent hold their breath to step on a scale, according to research.

The questionnaire, conducted on 3,000 women by diet advisers Go Lower, also found that three per cent of women stand on one leg while weighing themselves in the hope of getting the pounds down.

Go Lower founder Hannah Sutter said: “While there is a humorous side to the survey’s findings, it does overall illustrate just how confused and distracted people are about weight and weight management.

“Our findings show that people who are busy weighing themselves know, quite rightly, that measuring weight is misleading since muscle weighs more than fat. Muscle is good whereas fat is bad.

“The pointless and distracting obsession with weight has been driven by dieticians and diet companies.

“The only thing that really matters from a health as well as a beauty perspective is size.”