Those who don't weigh themselves are less likely to lose weight, according to a new study.
A team of researchers studied 40 overweight individuals, who have body mass index of 25 and over, with significant weight loss goals.
The study found that individuals could go up to 5.8 days without a weigh-in without hurting their diet efforts, reported CBS News. Those who avoided their scale for longer periods of time had reverse results and were more likely to put the pounds back on.
"Frequent self-monitoring is assumed to improve self-awareness, provide early detection of subtle weight increases and prevent weight regain after weight loss," the authors wrote in their study. "Frequent self-monitoring may also promote weight management during the holiday season when the risk of weight gain is high."
The researchers took into consideration other factors during the study such as how a person's weight fluctuates throughout the week and how motivated they are to reach their goal, reported CBS News.
For dieters seeking greater motivation and accuracy, the researchers suggest stepping on the scale at least once a week.
"For some individuals, frequent self-weighing may be associated with negative outcomes such as increased body dissatisfaction or decreased self-esteem when progressing too slowly towards or failing in weight loss goals," wrote the authors in the study. "Nevertheless, self-weighing frequency and body satisfaction were not found to correlate in a weight loss trial, whereas increased self-weighing frequency was once again associated with greater weight loss."
A previous study conducted by the same group of researchers found that Wednesday morning is the most accurate day to weigh-in because most people lose more weight during the week than the weekend, reported CBS News. Friday's weight represented on the scale is typically the lowest number of the week.
The study was published Thursday in the journal PLOS ONE.
