As per the latest research, self-weighing can help to prevent holiday weight gain

May 24, 2019

New Delhi, May 24 (ANI): Daily self-weighing can prevent people from gaining extra weight during holidays as per the latest research. Obesity, defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, can pose a risk to health. It’s a major risk factor for more than 200 co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Researchers engaged in a 14-week follow-up period with participants who weighed themselves on a daily basis with participants who did not. The study's authors reported that participants in the intervention group were instructed to try to maintain their baseline weight throughout the holiday season. However, no additional instructions on how to achieve that goal were provided. This allowed each participant to self-select how they would modify their behavior. For instance, an individual could become more physically active or decide to eat less if a weight increase was noticed. Participants in the control group were given no instructions. It was observed that future research is needed to determine if the act of daily self-weighing without graphical feedback would be effective at maintaining weight over the holiday season. Susan Yanovski, an obesity researcher added the fact that ‘replication in larger studies with more diverse participants would help to determine the generalisability of this approach for weight gain prevention’. Study author Jamie Cooper concluded ‘vacations and holidays are probably the two times of year people are most susceptible to weight gain in a very short period of time. The holidays can actually have a big impact on someone's long-term health’.