The amount of products promising to deliver successful weight loss that line retailers’ shelves is mind-boggling. From protein shakes to clothing designed to help you burn fat and reshape your body, people desperate to drop some pounds can be overwhelmed by all the weight-loss choices.
Thankfully, losing weight and keeping it off doesn’t require you to break your bank. However, the results from a recent research study reported by Newsweek might make you want to go shopping for one item, a new pair of scales.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine found that weighing yourself daily can help you hit your weight loss goals. The researchers compiled and analyzed data on 1,042 adults. The average age of the participants was 47-years-old. At the end of the study, an estimated one-third of participants had sustained a daily habit of weighing.
The people who weighed either daily or six times each week lost an impressive 1.7 percent of their body weight in the following year. Interestingly, the participants who never weighed or only did so once every week failed to drop any weight over the same time frame.
The recent study wasn’t the first of its kind to link daily weighing with weight loss success. According to Healthline, one such investigation found participants who weighed themselves every day for six months lost an average of 13 pounds more than those who stepped on the scales less frequently.
Besides helping you lose more weight, daily weighing might help you keep it off for the long-term. One study examined how much self-weighing frequency predicted the weight change of working adults over a two-year span. A significant association between daily weighing and weight change was discovered.
Normal-weight participants who weighed each day lost a slight amount of weight. Intriguingly, those who only weighed themselves once each month gained an average of 4.4 pounds. However, the overweight participants who weighed daily lost an average of 10 pounds while those who weighed monthly gained 2.2 pounds.
So, why does weighing daily help you lose those pesky pounds and keep them off for good? While the ultimate number staring back at you on your scales may be unimportant, daily monitoring your weight loss progress can motivate you to keep plugging along. When you’re more aware of your weight, you can quickly correct lapses in your progress and make the required adjustments to keep your ultimate goal within reach.
In addition to motivating you, daily weighing can enhance your self-control. One research study discovered participants who stepped on the scales less frequently were more likely to report diminished restraint toward food and increased caloric intake. Weighing daily fosters self-regulation and awareness of your weight progress and weight-related behaviors.
Some have long felt that weighing yourself often negatively affects your mental health. The opponents of self-weighing believe it adversely reinforces that your body size isn’t ideal and puts you at an increased risk for developing an eating disorder. While this might be true for a small number of people, most research on the subject has shown the opposite. Actually, studies have found that weighing often might enhance body satisfaction rather than decrease it.
If you’re ready to start the daily weighing challenge, strive to weigh yourself right after you wake up in the morning. Step on the scales after you go to the bathroom, but before you eat or drink anything. Your weight tends to fluctuate less in the morning before you’ve filled up on food and beverages.
To prevent discrepancies, wear similar clothing each day. For example always take off your shoes before you weigh in and remove everything from your pockets. Instead of making conclusions from every morning’s weigh-in, concentrate on the trend of your weight over a longer time-frame. A basic pair of scales is adequate. However, a set that measures your body mass index, BMI, and muscle mass might provide you with a clearer picture of your progress.
Besides stepping on your scales each morning, consider utilizing other ways to track your weight loss development. For instance, measuring your circumference is a smart idea. Muscle has less volume than fat. Therefore, your circumference might be decreasing while your weight remains the same, or even increases.
Pay particular attention to how your clothes feel. Feeling your clothing becoming looser or tighter is a great indicator of changes that are occurring in your body. Regularly taking pictures of yourself in similar clothing can also help you observe changes in your figure.
