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Stepping on the bathroom scales may be commonplace among dieters but the frequency of weigh-ins makes all the difference, the Daily Mail reports.

With New Year just a fortnight away, many of us will be thinking about the best way to shift those extra pounds gained over Christmas.

And to get the best results, you should weigh yourself at least once a week or you may actually put on weight rather than lose it.

A new report out on Thursday reveals those on a mission to slim should be weighing themselves as frequently as every day.

The new study published in the journal PLOS ONE showed that the more frequently dieters weighed themselves the more weight they lost.

And, more worryingly, if participants went more than a week without weighing themselves, they gained weight.

The researchers analysed 2,838 weight measurements - up to a year's worth of weigh-ins - from 40 overweight people, with a BMI of 25 and over, who indicated that weight loss was a personal goal or concern.

They found how successful they were at shedding pounds was related to how often individuals weighed themselves.

'The more often you weigh yourself the more weight you lose,' says to lead author Elina Helander from Tempere Univeristy of Technology in Finland.

'This observational study cannot prove causation - it may be that less serious dieters weight themselves less or that dieters who stop losing weight stop weighting themselves.

'The average time that participants could go between weighting without gaining weight was 5.8 days or about a weekly weigh-in.

Previous findings by the Research Team has showed that weighing yourself at least once a week if you wish to lose weight, and weighing yourself everyday may help you stay on track.

A previous study by the same research team found that your weight naturally fluctuates throughout the week and that most people weigh the least on Wednesday.

To summarise both studies Brian Wansink, PhD, Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Slim by Design: Mind Eating Solutions for Everyday Life advises: 'The bottom line is: If you want to lose weight, it's best to weigh yourself every day.

'But if you weigh yourself only once a week, do it on Wednesday because that will give you the most accurate reading.'