New Weight Loss Insight: Weighing In
New research suggests that people trying to lose weight are less likely to succeed if they don’t weigh themselves at all or do so only rarely. This finding comes from a study that looked at how often 1,042 adults stepped on the scale over 12 months while they were attempting to track their weight. The researchers followed this behavior remotely via data transmitted from the participants’ home scales. None of those taking part were instructed how often to weigh themselves.
The researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, found that weighing behavior among the study participants ranged from daily or almost daily to never. At the end of the year, the study showed that participants who never weighed themselves or did so only once a week didn’t lose weight, but those who weighed themselves six to seven times a week lost a significant amount. The researchers concluded that regular self-monitoring when you’re trying to change behavior increases the chance of success.
Source:
Yaguang Zheng et al, “Daily Weighing May be the Key to Losing Weight,” presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2018, Dallas, TX, November 10, 2018.
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