Key To Keeping Off Those Extra Holiday Pounds? Step On A Scale Each Day, Study Finds

Everybody loves a good stocking stuffer for Christmas, but if you’re trying to avoid feeling stuffed yourself come January 2nd, a recent study has a novel suggestion for keeping off holiday pounds. Researchers say that taking a few minutes each day to step on the scale may be all it takes to keeping off the extra weight this holiday season.

For the study, which was conducted at the University of Georgia, an experimental group weighed themselves everyday for 14 weeks that started before the holiday season in November and ended after all the celebrations typically stop. Participants used university scales that also provided graphical information on weight fluctuations and targets. Meanwhile, a control group also took part in the research during the same time frame period, but these participants were not asked to weigh themselves each day.

By the end of the research period, all of the participants in the self-weighing experimental group had successfully avoided gaining weight over the holidays, with some even managing to shed some pounds. Conversely, participants in the control group gained weight.

Researchers speculate that constantly being exposed to their own weight fluctuations, as well as being provided with a visual target weight each day, incentivized the experimental group participants to stay dedicated to watching their diets.

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