Can a Scale Solve Teen Obesity? Not So Fast

Nov. 20, 2008— -- Brandy Cruthird, owner of Body by Brandy Fitness Studio for children in Roxbury, Mass., is no stranger to the power of the scale when it comes to obese teens.

"There's an intimidation factor with scales," says Cruthird. "Kids who are overweight don't like to weigh themselves. I've seen kids run from the scale...I've seen kids cry."

Recently, she says, one of her students pleaded, "Please don't put me on the scale," even though it was clear she had lost weight.

Still, with rates of teen obesity on the rise, new research suggests that a weekly appointment with the bathroom scale may be a low-tech, low-cost tool for helping teens maintain healthy weights.

But some experts caution that weigh-ins should be only one part of a multifaceted approach to weight management.

The new study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Medicine, suggests that overweight teens who step on the scale at least weekly are also more likely to eat less junk food, consume fewer calories, and follow a structured diet. Those in the study who used a scale weekly also engaged in more strenuous physical activity and played fewer video games than non-users.

About 60 percent of those who kept regular appointments with the scale had lost weight during the two years prior to the study, while only 40 percent of infrequent weighers did.

However, in this study, the slight difference in weight and body mass index (BMI) that use of the scale appeared to confer was not statistically significant. And even though previous studies have shown that self-weighing is a helpful tool for adults who want to lose weight, only a few studies have been done in adolescents, and the results are mixed.

To complicate matters, other work suggests that frequent scale use may encourage the development of eating disorders.

Cruthird, for one, feels numbers aren't very important.

"I don't focus on weight loss," she says. "If a kid weighs 250 pounds, and you're telling them they need to be at this weight because of the BMI...they can't grasp needing to lose 75 pounds."