Research: Daily weights may help you stay slim.

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Self-weighing can promote a healthier weight.  

Scale and Tape Measure
Scale and Tape Measure

I think we all gained a little weight after high school or college when our activity level and metabolism dropped.  Ever since I have looked for advice from men’s magazines that might help me lose weight.  I can not count the number of articles that I have read that recommend that those trying to lose weight not weigh themselves daily.  I guess they believe that weighing yourself every day may result in you being disappointed that you are not making faster progress.  The problem with most of these articles is that they are based on conjecture and not research.  Evidence to back up this concept is minimal and lacking.  

Recently, I found and articles that presented research that support daily weighing.   The study was done by researchers at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania​[1]​.  The researchers looked at 294 college-aged female students who reported at least one period of daily self-weighing.  The research was a 2-year study that was based on questionnaires and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to measure BMI.   Over a two-year study, subjects saw a drop in their body mass index.  Those who did not weigh themselves daily saw no decline.

Although the study is on women, I cannot imagine this would be a gender-dependent result.  I also suspect this is not a result that would be college or age-dependent.    

The bottom line: College students are at high risk of weight gain.  This study indicates that weighing yourself daily and prevent some weight gain.  More research is needed.    

Footnotes
[1]Rosenbaum et al., “Daily Self-Weighing and Weight Gain Prevention: A Longitudinal Study of College-Aged Women.”

Reference:

  1. Rosenbaum, Diane L., Hallie M. Espel, Meghan L. Butryn, Fengqing Zhang, and Michael R. Lowe. “Daily Self-Weighing and Weight Gain Prevention: A Longitudinal Study of College-Aged Women.” Journal of Behavioral Medicine, July 8, 2017. doi: 10.1007/s10865-017-9870-y
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About the Author

ChuckH
I am a family physician who has served in the US Army. In 2016, I found myself overweight, out of shape, and unhealthy, so I made a change to improve my health. This blog is the chronology of my path to better health and what I have learned along the way.

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