Use Mobile App and Shed 15 Pounds Weight

It seems like everybody wants to lose weight these days and there are health and exercise experts, articles, programs and reality shows that motivate and guide us to achieve this target. Most advise people to write down everything they eat or drink in a food journal. This process definitely helps in weight loss. But for some, food diaries may seem difficult to keep up.

To simplify this and take you closer to your tantalizing goal, researchers from Northwestern Medicine highlighted that using a mobile app to keep  track of  diet and activity helps shed on an average, 15 pounds of weight.

They also emphasize that it is not the app alone that helps. In fact, the technology supports weight loss along with regular exercise and proper nutrition.

"The app is important because it helps people regulate their behaviour, which is really hard to do," said Bonnie Spring, lead investigator of the study and a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Most of us have no idea how many calories we consume and how much physical activity we get. The app gives you feedback on this and helps you make smart decisions in the moment."

"The 'widget' is critical but it is not magical by itself," Spring added. "People need all the tools at their disposal."

This is the first study that clearly reveals the role of technology in producing a sustained weight loss when combined with an existing weight loss program. Spring believes the weight loss app is the first proven to be effective in a published randomized clinical trial.

Commercially available apps are not usually evidence-based or tested for effectiveness in rigorously designed research, she noted.

The Northwestern technology is based on validated behavior change techniques including self-monitoring, goal setting, feedback and social support.

In order to prove the hypothesis, the researchers studied some 69 overweight and obese adults  who belonged to an average age group of 58 and mostly men. They offered all the subjects health education classes on nutrition, exercise and behavior change twice monthly during the first six months and once monthly for the remainder of the year.

Based on their current weight and weekly activity goals, the subjects received weekly calorie goals. The researchers noticed that those in the experimental treatment used the mobile device to transmit their data to a behavioral coach, who monitored their information and provided scheduled telephone coaching for 10 to 15 minutes about twice monthly.

With this it was clear and obvious that those who used mobile phone technology and attended 80 percent of the health education sessions lost 15 pounds and maintained the loss for one year.

The average weight loss for the mobile phone group including those who did not attend the education session was 8.6 pounds. While the control group, which received the education sessions but no mobile app, did not shed any weight.

"The coaches' most important role was being in the wings," Spring said. "The patients know the coaches are hovering and supportively holding them accountable. They know somebody is watching and caring and that's what makes a difference."

"Some people think older people won't use technology interventions, but that isn't so," Spring said.

One big challenge in treating obesity is the need to provide intensive behavioral treatment in a health care system where physicians don't have the time and training to do it.

"This approach empowers patients to help themselves on a day-to-day basis," Spring said. "We can help people lose meaningful amounts of weight and keep it off. To do that we need to engage them in tracking their own eating and activity, learn how that governs weight, and take advantage of social support."

The study is published in Archives of Internal Medicine.