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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Apr 26.
Published in final edited form as: Sage Open. 2014 Dec 14;4(4):1–16. doi: 10.1177/2158244014556992

Table 1.

Summary of Studies Providing Information on Self-Weighing in Adults With and Organized by Weight Objective.

Authors and year Study design Intervention Sample Total N n per group Duration Results
Weight loss
Stuart (1967) Case studies Self-weighing 4 times/day, additional behavioral techniques Not specified; 8 women, obese 8 12 months Mean weight loss 0.75 lb/week through treatment
Romanczyk, Tracey, Wilson, and Thorpe (1973) RCT: Sequential dismantling; 7 groups Community; SNS; ≥15 lb overweight 102 14–15 4 weeks before starting “program” Delayed tx group that self-weighed and charted did not lose weight
Romanczyk (1974) RCT: Sequential dismantling; 5 groups Community; SNS; ≥15 lb overweight 70 14 4 weeks before starting “program” Delayed tx group that self-weighed and charted did not lose weight
Mahoney (1974) RCT; 4 groups

  1. Self-reward for weight loss

  2. Self-reward for habit improvement

  3. Self-monitoring

  4. controls

 Community; 46 women; 20% overweight 49 11–14 2 week baseline period Self-monitored group did not differ from controls, whereas other two groups lost significantly more weight
Mahoney, Moura, and Wade (1973) RCT; 5 groups

  1. Self-reward

  2. Self-punishment

  3. Self-reward and self-punishment

  4. Self-monitoring

  5. Information

 Community; 48 females and 5 males; 48.6% overweight 53 5–16 4 weeks Self-monitoring group (Group 4) lost significantly less weight than the self-reward group (1) and lost the least amount of weight than any of the groups.
Heckerman, Brownell, and Westlake (1978) RCT; 2 groups

  1. Weighing

  2. No weighing

 Not specified; 20 women; 15 lb or 15% overweight 23 11, 12 10 weeks treatment No significant difference in weight change between groups
 Linde, Jeffery, French, Pronk, and Boyle (2005) Cohorta (RCT; 3 groups)

  1. Telephone

  2. Mail

  3. Control

 Membership in managed care organization; 1,292 women; BMI ≥ 27.0 kg/m2 1,800 NA 2 years Change in weighing frequency significantly p < .0001 associated with weight change—daily associated with loss independent of demographics, tx group, or relevant behaviors (p = .213)
VanWormer, Martinez, Benson, et al. (2009) Cohort Daily self-weighing on tele-scale, 10 counseling sessions with dietitian, manual BMI >31 kg/m 2. 91 women 100 NA 6 months treatment, 12- month follow- up without tele-scale Significant weight loss after 6 months (p < .001), but not at 18- month follow-up
 Gokee-LaRose, Gorin, and Wing (2009) RCT; 2 groups;

  1. Behavioral self-regulation (daily weigh)

  2. Standard behavioral tx (weekly weigh)

 Community; BMI 27–40 kg/m2 40 21, 19 10 weeks Both groups had significant weight loss; no difference between groups
Oshima, Matsuoka, and Sakane (2013) RCT; 2 groups;

  1. Charting of daily weight twice + target weight

  2. Charting once daily only.

 BMI ~27 kg/m 2, 29 women 56 28, 28 12 weeks Both groups had significant weight loss; Group 2 more than Group 1 (p < .05).
Steinberg et al. (2013) RCT; 2 groups

  1. Daily self-weighing on e-scale, weekly tailored weight loss feedback

  2. Delayed treatment

 Overweight, 68 women 91 47, 44 6 months The treatment led to significantly greater weight loss at 6 months compared with controls (p < .001)
Prevention of weight regain
Fujimoto et al. (1992) RCT; 2 groups; Weighing 4 times/day

  1. Charting

  2. No charting

 Hospitalized moderately obese patients; 74 female—all 15 males in charting condition 89 72 (57 female + 15 male); 17 ≥ 2 years after No weight regain in group that charted; weight regain in those that charted (females only)
 Klem, Wing, McGuire, Seagle, and Hill (1997) Cohort National Weight Control Registry; 629 women; lost ≥ 30 lb and maintained loss ≥1 year 784 NA Average time weight loss maintained = 5.5 years 38% weigh daily; 75% ≥ 1x/week
 Wing, Tate, Gorin, Raynor, and Fava (2006) Cohorta
RCT; 3 groups

  1. Internet

  2. Face to face

  3. Control

 Community and weight loss programs; 255 women; lost ≥10% body weight in last 2 years 314 104–105 1.5 years Proportion of participants regaining ≥ 5 lb significantly lower in daily weighers compared with less frequent weighers in Internet and face to face but not control groups
Prevention of weight gain
Jeffery and French (1997) Cohorta
RCT; 3 groups;

  1. Control,

  2. Education + incentive,

  3. Education only

 Community; 594 women; no body weight criterion 822 NA 3 years Increases in weighing frequency related to < wt gain in all groups (r from −0.14 to −0.21; p < .05)
 Levitsky, Garay, Nausbaum, Neighbors, and Dellavalle (2006) RCT; 2 groups

  1. Daily self-weighing, received weight chart with trend line

  2. Control

 Freshman university students; 75 women; no body weight criterion 34; 41 (replicated trial on separate year) 11, 15 (after dropout); 16, 16 (after dropout) 10 weeks Experimental groups did not gain weight (p significantly different from 0) control groups gained 6.8, 4.4 lb, respectively.
 VanWormer, Linde, Harnack, Stovitz, and Jeffery (2012) Cohort Worksite 1,122 2 years Weight reduction among obese daily self-weighers, better weight control with more frequent self- weighing

Note. Studies such as Strimas and Dionne (2010) and Gow, Trace, and Mazzeo (2010) were not included because no direction was given with regard to weight (e.g., prevent weight gain, lose weight). Community sample—those responding to a public advertisement. RCT = randomized controlled trial; SNS = sex not specified; Tx = treatment; BMI = body mass index.

a

If study design is italicized, this describes how the sample was used for these analyses. The intended study design is presented in parentheses.