It may seem a bit bizarre but researchers have found that how often you step on the scale to measure weight is linked to weight loss - the more is the frequency, the faster you slim down.

The more frequently dieters weighed themselves the more weight they lost, and if participants went more than a week without weighing themselves, they gained weight, the findings showed.

"The more often you weigh yourself the more weight you lose," said lead author Elina Helander from Tempere Univeristy of Technology in Finland.

For the study, the researchers analysed 2,838 weight measurements from 40 overweight individuals who indicated that weight loss was a personal goal or concern.

The researchers found that weight loss was related to how often individuals weighed themselves.

It may be that less serious dieters weight themselves less or that dieters who stop losing weight stop weighting themselves, the researchers noted, adding that this observational study does not indicate a cause and effect relationship between weigh-ins and weight loss.

The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.