Does sharing health data help maintain weight loss?

Researchers studied 87 grownup members in a 12-month weight reduction program. For the complete examine members have been requested to finish three self-monitoring actions day by day — put on a Fitbit health tracker, weigh themselves on a wi-fi scale and log their meals consumption in a smartphone app.

All members began with a weekly group session to be taught behavioral expertise through the first three months of the examine. After the third month, the group periods ended. From that time by the top of the examine — generally known as the upkeep section — every participant acquired only one weekly textual content message and one month-to-month cellphone name with their coach.

“That is the interval that’s typically onerous for people who need to drop extra pounds,” stated Meghan Butryn, PhD, lead writer of the examine, affiliate professor within the School of Arts and Sciences and director of Analysis within the WELL Heart. “And weight that’s initially misplaced tends to begin to be regained.”

In the course of the upkeep section, members have been randomized in order that half of them labored with a coach who had entry to their self-monitoring knowledge. The coach addressed the information through the cellphone calls and textual content messages. For the opposite half of members, the coaches couldn’t see knowledge from the Fitbit, wi-fi scale or digital meals document.

Coaches shared what they noticed from members’ self-monitoring knowledge about modifications in consuming habits, weight and bodily exercise, and helped members consider the extent to which they met their objectives. For instance, in a cellphone name a counselor may say, “You set a aim final month of 5 bouts of train per week, and I see that you simply solely averaged two per week. Inform me extra about what occurred.”

Researchers stated that though the examine was small, the sample means that when coaches had entry to knowledge, it helped members maintain off their weight.

“We have been to see if weight-loss upkeep could be higher when coaches might see the information and supply suggestions and a way of accountability to members, which could assist maintain a excessive degree of motivation to maintain up wholesome consuming behaviors and bodily exercise,” stated Butryn.

Butryn added that that is spurring extra analysis that considers questions in regards to the effectiveness of supportive accountability comparable to: In case your main care physician was in a position to see all your Fitbit train knowledge, wouldn’t it inspire you to be extra bodily energetic?

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Materials offered by Drexel University. Word: Content material could also be edited for model and size.