Weight monitoring prevent college girls from gaining weight

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006 2:56 am Email this article
Monitoring weight on a daily basis prevents weight gain in female freshman college students according to a study from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Two similar studies

Two studies, email weight every morning

Two similar studies were conducted which had girls weigh themselves every morning immediately after rising from bed, then e-mail their weight to the researchers.

In the first study, the researchers emailed the girls every week noting if they tending to gain or lose weight.

In the second study, the researchers emailed the girls every week calculating their estimated calorie intake based on their weight measurments.

Girls who were in the control group were weighed at the beginning and end of the semester.

 

Weight gain

Weight gain: 4.4 to 6.7 lbs versus 0.2 lbs to 1.8 lbs weight loss

The girls in the control group who did not email their weight gained an average of 4.4 to 6.7 pounds by the end of the semester in both studies compared to a weight gain of 0.2 pounds in the first study and a weight loss of 1.8 pounds in the second study.

 

Weight difference

Difference of 6.4 lbs

This was an average difference of 6.4 pounds.

 

Conclusion

Conclusion: Constant feedback helps prevent weight gain

“The [Tissue Monitoring System] appears to be an effective technique to help female college freshmen resist gaining weight in an environment that is conducive to weight gain,” the researchers concluded.

“These results suggest that the [Tissue Monitoring System] may be a useful method to help curb the slow increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity that is characteristic of all industrialized societies.”

 

Comments

Comments: Constant feedback works

Any form of constant feedback is an excellent idea when trying to achieve anything including weight loss or weight maintenance.

One of the common traits among people who have lost a considerable amount of weight and kept it off is that they weigh themselves every day.

I believe that this is one reason that Weight Watchers works, at least in the short-term, for a lot of people—because they know that they have to go get weighed on a regular basis.

 

Comments: Charts

Comments: Chart your weight

One doctor I interviewed said that he would print out a graph of each person’s weight history and give it to them on every visit.

I think this is a wonderful idea.

Patients could easily do this themselves on a computer or simply with a pencil and paper.

Comments: Tony Robbins

The idea of constant feedback does not just apply to losing weight. It applies to achieving anything.

Tony Robbins talks about it.

Comments: Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and many other books about investing, talks about it.

He made millions then lost it all.

He said his financial success started only after he began going over his financial statement every two weeks so that he could catch mistakes quickly and correct them.

Constant feedback works. 

REFERENCE

Levitsky D, Garay J, Nausbaum M, Neighbors L, Dellavalle D. Monitoring weight daily blocks the freshman weight gain: a model for combating the epidemic of obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Jan 31.

AUTHOR’S CORRESPONDENCE

Division of Nutritional Sciences
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, USA

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