Researchers recommend daily weigh-ins to encourage weight loss, but they could be sabotaging our efforts


Daily weigh-ins could be the ticket to keeping overweight people motivated to maintain healthy habits, according to US researchers who found those who weighed themselves daily lost more weight in six months than people who weighed themselves less frequently.

But Australian health experts warn that the habit could lead to unhealthy body image and an obsession with the number on the scales.

The latest Duke University study involved 91 adults who were overweight or obese and found those who weighed themselves daily and were sent emails with healthy living advice lost up to 6kg after six months, while the control group only lost 3kg.

The researchers found that the people weighing in daily ate fewer snacks, ate out at restaurants less often, did more exercise and watched less TV.

"It might be that daily weighing triggers an understanding of what people were eating and how it was affecting their weight," said lead author Dori Steinberg, Duke University nutritionist and researcher.

"So they're more likely to reduce portions, eat enough vegetables or use a pedometer."

But Australian experts told ninemsn that while daily weigh-ins might work in the short-term for some people, it's unlikely to work for everyone and the results probably won't last.

Kellee Waters, obesity and food addiction psychologist, says weighing yourself daily leads to obsession about fluctuating numbers.

"Our bodies aren't a machine — they don't consistently lose. You can lose, hold or put on weight depending on hormones, stress and muscle mass," she says.

"Regularly weighing in can lead to body dissatisfaction and more rigid and extreme thinking patterns about food and your body."

Waters advocates only weighing every three to six weeks, plus measuring things like repetitions of exercises at the gym and how your blood pressure and blood glucose levels are looking if blood pressure or diabetes is a concern.

"[An ideal weight is about] basic health development indicators, not just one number," she says.

Accredited practising dietitian Kathryn Hawkins agrees that the number on the scales is actually quite meaningless when it comes to health.

"It's not a good indicator for their weight loss journey because often you are gaining muscle at the same time," she says.

"We need to move away from concentrating on weight and concentrate on health."

She suggests people look at how their clothes fit, how their moods are tracking and how much energy they have.

"You are the expert on your own body — only you need to keep track of how you are feeling," she says.

"Don't let the scales tell you how you should be feeling."

In fact, Jennifer Beveridge, CEO of Eating Disorders Victoria, told ninemsn that daily weighing can actually put people at risk of eating disorders.

"Weighing yourself often can lead to an overemphasis of the value that the number represents, and some people end up assessing their self-worth according to the number that they see the scale each morning. Changes in the number on the scale often determine how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ someone’s day is likely to be," she says.

"Weighing yourself daily can also put you at risk of unhealthy or disordered eating habits, or crash dieting — and these behaviours are dangerous both in terms of overall physical and mental health."

Waters also says it's difficult to know exactly what was motivating the group that lost weight in the study.

"Some types of people do really well with accountability to another person," she says.


Author: Kimberly Gillan Approving editor: Kristen Amiet.