When trying to lose weight and get in shape, the bathroom scale can be something we use to occasionally judge our benchmarks. Stepping on it each day helps us keep a record of just how good were doing with our weight-loss efforts. Once a day may be okay, but several times a day could be signs of a serious problem.

You see, everybody has daily weight fluctuations that are absolutely normal. You may weigh one weight in the morning, another mid-day, and still another at night. This can be completely normal and is not indicative of anything you're doing wrong with your diet in most cases. But those who find themselves checking their weight constantly may either have or be at high risk of having an eating disorder. Those people that focus on their weight to this level will often make conscious or subconscious decisions about the types of foods they eat and the frequency of their meals as well. They may make judgments about themselves based on what they weigh at any given time and then choose to eat or not eat based on those judgments. This is often an unhealthy thing to do and a few recognized that you're doing it or someone else around you, it may be time to seek help to make sure that an eating disorder does not take hold.

Another sign that can be extremely harmful is called body checking. This involves someone checking areas of their body daily and sometimes constantly for specific measurements or feels to let them know how their weight-loss progress is going. This might be using your fingers to wrap around your wrist to see how skinny you are, or maybe feeling the bones in your collarbone area, or even using a measuring tape to measure your upper thighs or upper arms on a regular basis. While using these benchmarks as tools in a healthy weight-loss plan can be normal if done once or twice a week, constant checking of these measurements throughout the day is both unnecessary and could certainly be signs of a larger problem such as an eating disorder.

If you feel that you may be at risk because you are weighing yourself constantly and or measuring parts of your body to see how your weight loss is progressing, it might be a good idea to start writing down when these incidences occur and monitoring them for a few days. Sometimes, stepping on the scale constantly may be simply a habit that you developed because your scale is so accessible in your bathroom. Other folks may be measuring body parts constantly because they are trying to gain muscle mass and are anxious to see the progress that they are making. Both of these scenarios is perfectly normal, but if you find that your frequency goes beyond normal and you fear that an eating disorder might be looming, be sure to seek help immediately. Eating disorders cause incredible sickness and death every year to thousands of women all over the world and they are nothing to take lightly.