Recently, I have nearly completed a very successful self-directed diet program. After trying other ways to lose weight, I decided to give some of my ideas a try. This article is the first in a series of tips that have worked for me even though they violate conventional wisdom.

I decided to ignore all the extraneous advice and do it my way.

I planned to check my weight everyday at the beginning. A lot of people think against that idea since it can be discouraging if you control your weight every day and feel like your efforts on your diet is meaningless. Experts suggest to check weigh only once a week for that reason.

If I check my weight just once every week, the problem with that is, I am not able to enjoy my successes (or my failures) soon enough.

Fast Feedback is the Key

By weighing myself every day, I learn immediately whether my actions and eating pattern from the previous day were successful or not in trying to lose weight.

A key to the usefulness of this feedback is using a high quality reliable scale and weighing myself at the same time every day - for me it is before breakfast, right after I have gotten out of bed. The high quality scale is the first thing I bought when I started the diet. I spent about $150 on the scale - it looks like the one you see at a Doctor's office. With my scale, I feel confident that the results I am seeing aren't because the scale is giving me different readings every day.

This feedback shows me the effects that eating a fast food burger with fries at lunch can have on my weight. It shows that I truly will lose weight if I stay on the diet and I can generally see actual results every couple of days.

Everyday feedback lets me see both my successes and mistakes. My prior, failed, dieting attempts have shown that weekly weighing is not frequent enough for my requirements. Seven days is too long and results in me forgetting the root causes of gained or lost weight. My session with the scale each morning allows me to go over in my mind the previous day's food consumption.

There can be difficulty with stepping on the scale each day. This is most evident when I know I have been "bad" the day before. This negative feeling, however, does serve a purpose. It reinforces my resolve to improve my eating habits that day so the next session will be more positive.

Give this Idea a Try if You are Having Trouble Dieting.