Avatar: Can Graphical Representation of User Help Them Reach Weight Loss Goals?

Perhaps it's a new diet cook book. Or maybe it's an expensive gym membership. Whatever it may be, sometimes it takes a little extra-special push to put you in the mood to start your weight loss plan. And for some, the help of a video game may be what it takes to start this new routine off right.  

In fact, a new study shows that watching an avatar--a graphical or physical representation of the user that is visable online--could be all it takes to learn healthy habits in a virtual community and help potentially shed some much needed weight.

"This pilot study showed that you don't have to be a gamer to use virtual reality to learn some important skills for weight loss," Melissa Napolitano, an associate professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, said in a university news release, via U.S. News and World Report.

Napolitano added, according to the release, that using a virtual reality for fitness could provide promising results for positive lifestyle changes.

The study included eight overweight women who watched a 15-minute DVD featuring an avatar demonstrating healthy weight-loss behaviors. Different segments showed different lessons, such as learning about portion control during dinner, using a treadmill and walking or running at the proper pace during certain physical activities.

At the end of a four week period, the women had lost an average of 3.5 pounds, which Napolitano called a fairly typical amount for traditional diet plans. According to the researchers, their hopes by watching the avatar is that participants will adopt long-term lifestyle changes.

"This is just the first step to show that women -- even those who are not gamers -- are interested in an avatar-based technology to help them with a weight-loss plan," Napolitano said. "We are excited by the potential of this technology as a scalable tool to help people learn the skills to be successful at weight loss over the long run."

The study appeared in the July 1 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.