Washington: Attention people! Here's another reason for you to lose weight even faster: Weighing yourself everyday may help you to shed those extra pounds, suggests a study.
According to researchers, standing on the weighing scales produced 'unexpected' effects by encouraging people to cut back on junk food. Seeing small results regularly in the long battle with the bulge motivates adults to stick with their diet and exercise routine.
Noticing weight gain can motivate adults to adopt lifestyle changes, helping them to avoid an expanding waistline. Dr Meghan Butryn from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania said, "Regularly weighing yourself can motivate you to engage in healthy eating and exercise behaviors."
"It provides you with evidence that these behaviors are effective in helping you lose weight or prevent weight gain," Butryn added.
Similarly, if you see weight gain on the scale, that information can motivate you to make a change. The findings, which also involved experts at the University of Pennsylvania, involved 294 college girls of varying weights.
Each participant had their body fat and BMI measured at the beginning of the study, six months and two years after. The participants were also quizzed about the frequency of their weighing habits.
On average, women who reported at least one period of daily self-weighing tended to avoid piling on the pounds. The team was to find that women, who weighed themselves daily had heavier BMIs at baseline than other participants. The results suggested that self-weighing can effectively prevent weight gain after initial weight loss for people who were obese.
The research appears in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine states.
