The newest weight-loss coach is a mouse-click away, with scores of websites and online newsgroups offering guidance and support to dieters and exercisers.
Some sites are free, offering calorie-counting, nutritional and activity databases to help users keep a grip on just how long they’ll need to exercise to burn off the calories they’re logging every day.
Other sites charge an annual or weekly fee for similar services, along with access to how-to fitness videos and other coaching tools.
Some — such as Apex Fitness’ popular Bodybugg monitors, heavily marketed through the 24-Hour Fitness club chain — track a user’s activities from showering and shopping to a spinning class.
Then there are gaming programs such as Nintendo’s Wii Fit, and My Weight Loss Coach. The Wii Fit is a particularly kid-friendly set of hardware — a pressure-sensitive pad that communicates wirelessly with the Wii console — and software activities based on aerobics, strength training and yoga.
Do the high-tech programs work better than old school diet-and-exercise regimens? Medical studies suggest that they can — if the participants stick to the program and make behavioral changes in their lives.
A 2006 study of Internet weight loss programs, published in the scientific journal Nature, compared participants in eDiets, a commercial online weight-loss program, with participants in VTrim, a weight-loss program delivered online and led by a therapist.
Both groups lost weight, but the VTrim subjects lost significantly more weight and kept the weight off. The VTrim group’s advantage? Following a structured curriculum — online lessons and activities to modify eating behavior and exercise habits.
“Still, widespread online weightloss is promising from a public health standpoint,” the authors wrote, praising the 24-hour support offered by online weight-loss programs. Chat rooms, discussion boards and e-mail support can help motivate faltering dieters and bring them back on track.
How to sift through thousands of online weight-loss sites to find the program that will work for you?
Look for these basics:
Questions that determine your height, weight, age and weight loss or fitness goals (and, ideally, your body-fat ratio).
A food journal to monitor daily calorie intake.
An activity log with a drop-down menu of tasks and exercises.
An educational element (behavior-modification articles, e-mail access to a therapist or personal trainer).
Community support via e-mail, chat rooms or discussion boards.
Then stick with the program. Merely keeping an honest daily food journal can double weight loss, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published last year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Pedometers and monitors serve as motivators and nags. Bodybugg users know that their monitors interface with their computers and can distinguish whether a wearer spends 15 minutes on the treadmill or on the couch in front of the TV.
The bottom line, as fauljosh, a My Weight Loss Coach user, noted in a discussion group, requires commitment.
“I bought this a few weeks ago hoping to use it to supplement my Wii Fit workout,” fauljosh wrote.
“The software is decent but I ended up not really using it much. Only because you have to really stick to it. You’re expected to use it every day.”
Claire Martin: cmartin@ or 303-954-1477
