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.

Simple idea - ignore 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.

My problem with weighing only once a week? I don't get feedback from my efforts (or failures) fast enough.

Fast Feedback is the Key

I have found that if I weigh myself once a day, I know right away, practically on a continuous basis, whether what I did the day before was helpful (or not).

The first thing I purchased when I started the diet was a high quality scale similar to those you'd see in a Doctor's office. I spent about $150 on this scale, but I feel confident with the results from it since it doesn't give different readings every day. I think that having such a reliable scale and weighting myself right after getting out of bed, before eating breakfast each day, is a key to getting useful feedback.

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.

This daily feedback tells me exactly what I am doing right or wrong. I found in the past that weighing in only weekly is too infrequent. A week is long enough to forget what it was that caused the change up or down. Daily weighing lets me mentally review the day before each morning.

Of course, as with any idea, daily weighing has its downsides too. The most important of these is that I can feel bad when I've had a bad day the day before. It is important not to let that feeling get me down, though.

I recommend trying this tip if you are having a hard time losing weight.