Monitoring your weight is a good idea, especially around this time of year, but stepping on the scale several times a day to check in could lead to depression, particularly in women.

According to a huffingtonpost.com story, your weight fluctuates during the day, like when you eat, drink or use the bathroom, so checking in after such activities can put you through psychological torture with no benefit.

Additionally, no research has been able to prove absolutely that monitoring your weight every day can actually lead to losing weight.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota undertook a study to determine what effect frequent weight checking had on the mental health of young men and women, using answers from the Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults study.

That study, which collected data from teens from middle school to young adulthood, lasted for 10 years.  The new research took a look at 1,868 of those, with about 57 percent of them women, and asked questions like how much do you agree with the statement, “I weigh myself often.”  Follow-up questions about weight concerns and satisfaction with their own bodies were also asked.

The results revealed that women who weighed themselves frequently were associated with a group of issues, among them decreased self esteem and body satisfaction, weight concerns and an increase in symptoms of depression.

Men in the frequent weight checking group, however, only associated their concerns with an increase in weight.

So what does this information tell us?  Keeping tabs on your weight is a good thing, as multiple studies have shown being overweight and obese can lead to numerous health issues and diseases.  But, checking your weight every day, or multiple times per day, can lead to you putting too much emphasis and concern on your weight fluctuations, and can lead to some mental health complications as well.

You may want to focus more on eating healthier and exercising regularly and leave the scales alone for a while.