Why Your Smartphone Could Drastically Help Your Efforts To Lose Weight

There are two types of people in the urban world today. One group is the people who have embraced technology, whose smartphones are always in their hands and who denounced paper books in favour of Kindles or Ipads long ago. The other group are those who are still battling against the effects of ‘smart’ technology, who try to stick to old fashioned phones and paper books.  

If you’re trying to lose weight or eat healthy (or do both), a study has shown that you’ll be more likely to succeed if you belong to the former category. The study, which was led by Lora Burke of the University of Pittsburgh, found that people who used smartphones to track their eating habits were likely to be more regular in entries than people who used other means.

“The biggest mediator for weight loss is adherence to self-monitoring,” said Lora Burke at of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions meeting. We agree; when individuals begin to monitor what they eat daily they’ll better be able to understand and moderate their eating patterns and cravings.

The study compiled findings from two previous studies that monitored how people tracked their food habits over six months with smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and physical diaries. It found that people that used smartphones tended to be more regular in recording their food facts each day; probably because they constantly have the phones in their hands. On the other hand, the researchers found that those using physical diaries tended to stop regularly recording their food habits much faster than individuals using smartphones or even PDAS.

So, if you’re looking to eat healthier and lose weight, you have another reason to call your smartphone your best friend. There are some great apps out there to help you along!