Weighing yourself daily can help prevent weight gain during holidays or vacations, according to researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Participants in a 14-week UGA study who weighed themselves daily on scales that also provided graphical feedback showing their weight fluctuations managed to maintain or lose weight during and after the holiday season, while a control group gained weight.

Researchers speculate that participants’ constant exposure to weight fluctuations—along with being able to see a target or goal weight line (their baseline weight)—motivated behavioral change that led to weight maintenance, or in the case of overweight subjects, weight loss.

Study author Jamie Cooper, an associate professor in the department of foods and nutrition within the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences says, “The subjects self-select how they’re going to modify their behavior, which can be effective because we know that interventions are not one-size-fits-all.”

“Vacations and holidays are probably the two times of year people are most susceptible to weight gain in a very short period of time,” Cooper said. “The holidays can actually have a big impact on someone’s long-term health.”