With the Motley Full Money Extra, I'm Matt Greer.

Now as investors, we often hear about the value of taking a long term perspective and

ignoring the day-to-day noise.

So what if that same approach can be applied to losing weight?

Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University.

He's a best-selling author whose books include payoff, the hidden logic that shapes our motivations.

Some of that hidden logic might just help us lose weight.

We know it's good to step on a scale every morning.

It's not good to step on a scale every night.

And the reason it's good to step on a scale every morning is you remind yourself that you

want to be healthy.

We also know that weight fluctuates a lot.

And because of loss of a version, or in this case, gain a version, a day that you gain

to pounds is really miserable.

A day you lose to pound is happy, but it doesn't make up for it.

So the overall experience people have with a scale is negative.

You stand up on this thing and it's mostly bad news.

And finally, people expect the body to react much faster than it actually does.

So what happens is people go on a diet for two days, then they step on a scale and the

weight goes up by half a kilo or a pound.

Then they go on a day of Netflix and the weight goes down and people get very confused and

demotivated.

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