Temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior and weight changes assessed by consumer purchased scales in the Health eHeart Study

Self-weighing may promote attainment and maintenance of healthy weight; however, the natural temporal patterns and factors associated with self-weighing behavior are unclear. The aims of this secondary analysis were to (1) identify distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing behaviors; (2) explore factors associated with temporal self-weighing patterns; and (3) examine differences in percent weight changes by patterns of self-weighing over time. We analyzed electronically collected self-weighing data from the Health eHeart Study, an ongoing longitudinal research study coordinated by the University of California, San Francisco. We selected participants with at least 12 months of data since the day of first use of a WiFi- or Bluetooth-enabled digital scale. The sample (N = 1041) was predominantly male (77.5%) and White (89.9%), with a mean age of 46.5 ± 12.3 years and a mean BMI of 28.3 ± 5.9 kg/m² at entry. Using group-based trajectory modeling, six distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing were identified: non-users (n = 120, 11.5%), weekly users (n = 189, 18.2%), rapid decliners (n = 109, 10.5%), increasing users (n = 160, 15.4%), slow decliners (n = 182, 17.5%), and persistent daily users (n = 281, 27.0%). Individuals who were older, female, or self-weighed 6–7 days/week at week 1 were more likely to follow the self-weighing pattern of persistent daily users. Predicted self-weighing trajectory group membership was significantly associated with weight change over time (p < .001). In conclusion, we identified six distinct patterns of self-weighing behavior over the 12-month period. Persistent daily users lost more weight compared with groups with less frequent patterns of scale use.