In a new study, researchers found that daily self-weighing may help prevent weight gain.
They found that U.S. adults who do weight themselves daily can prevent unwanted weight gain.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Georgia.
In the study, the team examined 111 adults between the ages of 18 and 65.
One group of people engaged in daily self-weighing from mid-November 2017 to early January 2018, and the other group did not do that.
The team then tracked the health of these people in the following 14 weeks.
They found that people who weighed themselves on a daily basis and received graphical feedback of their weight changes either maintained or lost weight during the holiday season.
On the other hand, participants who did not perform daily self-weighing gained weight.
The team suggests that the findings support discrepancy theories of self-regulation.
People are really sensitive to discrepancies or differences between their current selves and their standard or goal.
When they see that discrepancy, it tends to lead to behavioral change. It is possible that daily self-weighing ends up doing that for people in a really clear way.
The new finding could help people prevent weight gain, especially in holiday seasons. Research has shown that holiday weight gain could contribute to annual weight gain.
Future work needs to see if daily self-weighing without graphical feedback would be effective at maintaining weight over the holiday season.
The lead author of the study is Jamie Cooper, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition.
The study is published in the journal Obesity.
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