New Tips For Weight Loss: Weigh Your Self Daily; Be Conscious With Your Emotional State

• comments
• 
• 

When you are trying to lose weight, you will often read or hear advises not to weigh yourself every day. However, a new research suggested otherwise.

"The old conventional wisdom was: 'Don't weigh yourself more once a week. It will drive you crazy,'" Dori Steinberg, an obesity prevention and treatment researcher at the Duke Global Health Institute in Durham, N.C. said. "But now we are seeing more and more research showing that the optimal frequency for weighing oneself is likely every day."

Yes, you read it right. You can weigh yourself everyday despite the popular theory that doing so is confusing, discouraging and psychologically dangerous, USA Today reported. David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at the Cornell University, likened the act of weighing scale to brushing one's teeth.

Steinberg and Levitsky are among the researchers who studied daily weighing to the test after preliminary studies associated it with weight loss and maintenance. The preliminary studies did not prove how frequent weighing helped people control their weight. However, it was possible that the cause and effect went the other way -- good numbers inspired people to keep coming back while disappointing numbers kept them away.

Steinberg added that they found no negative effects from weighing one's self daily. In fact, when you do so, you can start to see patterns and act on them. For instance, if you consume more in a buffet dinner and you are up 4 pounds the next day, you can opt to consume fewer calories on that day.

Aside from weighing yourself daily, you should be aware of your emotional state.

According to ABC News, the real key to weight management is one's emotional state. A survey, commissioned by healthcare network Orlando Health found that 90 percent of respondents admitted that the most crucial factor with weight loss is the psychological relationship between food and exercise. Meanwhile, 60 percent cited diet and exercise to be the toughest barriers.

For instance, when one is happy, they can easily stick to their routines. However, others have the pattern of celebratory eating. In this case, express your feeling instead of eating them. Engage in interesting and fun activities that will keep you occupied and away from food.

Another thing is emotional eating. Some people eat more when they are sad, angry or anxious. When sad, some people reach out to their comfort food. When angry, some reach for chewy food to release their aggression and, when anxious, some love to eat for distraction. In this case, it is better to release your emotions in a healthy way like talking it out with a friend you trust than eating them out.

Beware of your emotional relationship with food to keep piling extra pounds on your body.