Adults who weigh themselves daily are more likely to shed the pounds or stay ...

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The bathroom scales are every weight-watcher's worst nightmare, but stepping on them every day could help you shed the pounds. 

Scientists found people who weighed themselves on a daily basis either maintained their size or lost weight.     

The harsh reminder of seeing a physical weight increase encourages people to adjust their behaviour the next day, researchers say.

This could involve exercising a little more or watching what they eat more carefully, according to the experts.

On the other hand, participants who didn't step on the scales every day actually gained weight. 

Scientists warned people who didn't weigh themselves regularly felt no pressure to adjust their behaviour because they were oblivious to weight gain.

The study, set to be published in the June 2019 issue of Obesity, examined 111 adults between aged 18 to 65. 

Researchers analysed participants from mid-November 2017 to early January 2018 when the average adult puts on 0.9 to 3.3lbs (0.4 to 1.5kg) gorging on food over the festive period. 

The team from the University of Georgia told participants to try to maintain their baseline weight throughout the holiday season.

But they gave no additional instructions on how to achieve that goal, forcing them to decide for themselves how they would modify their behavior.   

They found that people who didn't weigh themselves daily put on 4.9lbs (2.2kg) in the two-month period, on average.

Whereas those who stepped on the scales every day maintained their weight.

Researchers then followed up with participants, who'd continued to weigh themselves daily, 14 weeks later.  

Those who were stepping on the scales each day had lost on average 0.22lbs (0.1kg). 

Whereas people who didn't weigh themselves daily went back down to 149.5lbs (67.8kg) - still up 1.8lbs (0.8kg) from December. 

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