A habit app for weight loss didn't clearly beat waiting
Who it’s about: Adults
- No difference
Plans, logs and daily reminders in an app did not clearly help people eat well more than waiting.
- Action: Track your progresstested
- Rule: Write down when and wheretested
- Rule: Get a remindertested
- Rule: Through an appused
- Rule: Every dayused
Small randomised trial of 81 overweight adults in the UK · vs people who waited for the app · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; numbers unreliable; only counted people who finished; groups weren't properly compared
- No comparison
App users who viewed more screens and logged more tips also tended to change their eating most.
Small randomised trial of 81 overweight adults in the UK · no comparison group · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out; numbers unreliable; only counted people who finished; groups weren't properly compared
The study
Who took part
81 adults in the UK who were overweight and had an Android phone. About 9 in 10 were women, and they were about 42 on average.
What they did
Two app groups used an app on their own for 3 months. They made plans to turn 10 weight-loss tips into habits, logged each tip they kept and got a daily reminder. One version added a tip on resisting tempting food. The third group waited and got the app afterwards.
What happened
Both app groups said they kept the healthy eating habits more often after 3 months. The waiting group hardly changed. But the authors found no clear difference between groups. About a third never got the app. Only about 1 in 4 app users answered at the end, so the results are unreliable. The paper's numbers also don't fully add up.
Source
Development of the Top Tips Habit-Based Weight Loss App and Preliminary Indications of Its Usage, Effectiveness, and Acceptability: Mixed-Methods Pilot Study (2019)
DOI: 10.2196/12326 (opens in a new tab)
