weight loss apps Archives

Is Weight Loss All in Your Mind? A Look at Using Psychology to Shed the Pounds

Does anyone remember the old commercials for those ready-made weight-loss shakes? All you had to do was replace two meals a day with that chocolatey beverage, eat a “sensible” dinner, and you’d be on your way to a slimmer you, right? Well, probably not. Even if skipping those meals helped you shed a few pounds initially, that type of weight-loss program simply isn’t sustainable; nor are programs that require you to buy special food that you aren’t going to eat forever. Once you are no longer replacing those meals with shakes, or buying that special food, you’re probably just going to put that weight back on – sorry to be weight-loss program party poopers!

But those types of weight-loss programs are certainly not your only choice, especially not nowadays, when weight loss is a booming industry. In fact, maybe there’s so much information and so many options out there, that you just don’t know where to even start if you’re looking to lose weight.

illustration of a head with a question mark on the side — *Losing weight based on behavioral psychology seems to work well.*

Could the answer be one of the newest things in weight-loss trends: psychologically-based weight loss programs? After all, using methods backed by psychology means making positive, sustainable changes to your everyday life, not just replacing meals that you’ll eventually start eating again, and going to meetings that you’re bound to start skipping. Sounds pretty good – but how do they work, and are they the real future of lasting weight loss?

What Does Psychologically-Based Mean?

So you might or might not remember the commercials for those weight-loss shakes, but how about something newer: have you seen commercials for an app called Noom? This app promises sustainable weight loss based on a psychological approach; their program is reliant on behavioral psychology, which they claim is the key to shedding the pounds for good.

And it looks like they’re on to something. While there haven’t been many studies of psychologically-based weight loss programs yet, one study that focused on diabetics found that Noom specifically helped participants achieve significant weight loss compared to a control group, and that they kept off the weight for at least a year. And another found that 80% of Noom users lost weight when they stuck with the program for an average of close to 300 days.

Pretty promising stuff – and that’s probably because psychologists have been using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which psychologically-based weight-loss programs draw from, to help people overcome challenges in their life for a long, long time. And what greater challenge for some people than losing weight and keeping it off?

So if CBT is one of the major components of weight-loss programs like NOOM, what does that mean? Well, the American Psychological Association (APA) says that CBT is based on three core principles:

Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.
People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

In other words, behavioral psychology aims to understand why we behave the way we do and to analyze patterns in our actions and behaviors. And, since a lot of experts believe that the perceived barriers to weight loss are just as important as the actual things keeping us from tackling our weight problems, this approach might be just what a lot of people who are struggling need.

Are Apps the Answer?

So how do behavioral psychology and weight loss meet in the real world? Well, you can seek out a therapist who specializes in behavioral therapy and use it to help those who are struggling to lose weight. But, if that’s not on the cards for you right now, there are now, as we have already pointed out, apps that claim to be the solution.

Let’s take Noom, for example – one of the most well-known and most used (in fact, Noom was the most-searched diet term on Google in 2018) psychologically-based weight loss apps out there. While we haven’t tried it as a weight loss tool ourselves, reviews and descriptions of this app make it sound – how shall we say? – not all that innovative, or different from other tech-based approaches to weight loss.

Here’s how it works: you set up an account, and start your program by answering a series of questions on the app about your current weight, your goals, your health concerns, and your lifestyle (like how sedentary you are, whether you cook or eat out, etc). You’ll then be given a coach (who they claim is a real person) and a personalized eating plan, as well as access to tools that help you track your food, fitness, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure. You will also be given advice as you go, which seems to come mostly in the form of quizzes and short tips.

One of the main complaints about the app seems to be that the coaches don’t actually seem all that available, chatty, or even human (they can often give canned answers that seem a bit bot-like), according to some reviews, and they’re not registered dieticians, or counselors/therapists, as far as we can tell.

So it doesn’t seem that the app is all that centered on getting to the root of your weight loss barriers – but the minimal data out there does point to its effectiveness as we’ve already said. That might be because it’s simply another form of accountability among many to choose, since the app does ask you to log everything you eat and weigh yourself regularly, so tracking every bite you eat could help you to see where you need to make changes and eat healthier, and seeing your weight fluctuate could help you know when you’re off track.

In addition, its system encourages you to eat nutrient-dense foods that are lower in calories (like leafy greens), and often seems to suggest a very low caloric intake for a lot of people. In fact, some more of the complaints about the app seem to focus on how few calories it suggests (some users say they were encouraged to eat less than 1200 calories a day, which is far too few for an adult!), and on the fact that it doesn’t recognize the fact that there are some serious health (and even weight loss) benefits to some foods higher in fat and calories, like nuts, seeds, and avocados.

Not only that, but the focus on food tracking and weighing could be problematic for people who have had issues with disordered eating, so it’s important to know what could be triggering for you.

So, it seems that the bottom line about apps like Noom is that they’re limited in some ways, because, well, they’re apps! They can offer you great tech resources like food and fitness trackers, prompts for weigh-ins, and advice on mindful eating to read, but they can’t really do much more.

How You Can Incorporate Behavioral Psychology in Your Weight Loss Journey

The bottom line is, Noom or another paid app might be helpful for you, but you can probably find many of the same features in free apps. And as for the psychological part? Well, you might want to try incorporating some of your own psychologically-based strategies into whatever other tools you’re using on your weight-loss journey. For example, consider the following tips:

1. Set goals

When it comes to losing weight, it turns out that simply eating better and exercising (the physical stuff) is not the only thing you should be focusing on. One of the most important things you can do is something psychologically-based: setting goals for yourself. In fact, there are actually studies that show that setting goals frequently in your life makes you more likely to implement changes, and so setting goals as you work towards weight loss could help you get where you want to be and stay there.

So how many and what kind of goals should you be setting? There’s no data on how many goals, and the jury is out on how specific they have to be, but studies seem to suggest they should be on the bigger side. More important, though, is that they are challenging and/or set publicly; it also seems to be helpful to set group goals, so you might want to get your friends involved (see below)!

2. Track those goals

So here’s where apps can be helpful in a psychologically-based weight loss program. Science does seem to back up the effectiveness of tracking what you’re eating and weighing yourself regularly. In fact, if it’s not triggering for you, studies suggest that you should be weighing yourself weekly, if not daily. In addition, you need to find a sustainable way to track the food you’re eating (which can be time-consuming and annoying!). One way to do this might be to compromise and track faithfully while you’re first starting out, then ease up when you’ve hit a goal – but go back to tracking if your weight goes back up again.

3. Find social support

Setting goals and tracking your eating are two ways to keep yourself accountable, but you’ll also need a third accountability component: social support. Research has shown that people who talk to people in their lives about their goals, and/or do weight loss programs with a friend or family member, are much more likely to be successful. So get someone else on board!

Losing weight can be incredibly difficult. If it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be so many people struggling to do so, and there wouldn’t be so many “solutions” out there promising to help! But we do know now that using behavioral psychology to aid in your weight loss journey can actually work – you just need to find a way that will work for you. That might be with an app or other program, or simply incorporating some of the strategies above into your life yourself. However you choose to do it, keep at it – we know you can do it!

Weighing in on Fitness Trackers and Weight Loss Apps

Things are starting to look up out there! You might even be putting on pants again, which means you might also be scrutinizing how all of your pre-pandemic clothes are fitting you these days. If you’re stressing about gaining the “Covid 19,” you’re certainly not alone: according to a recent American Psychological Association survey of more than 3,000 people, 61% of Americans reported undesired weight gain during the pandemic.

Pandemic-related comfort eating, lack of gym access, and extra cocktails aside, issues with weight are nothing new in this country, and neither is the search for ways to effectively lose weight. Digital tools, like wearable fitness trackers and weight loss apps, on the other hand, are relatively new in the world of fitness and weight loss. In the last few years, digital fitness/weight loss tools have become so popular that 19% of Americans, or nearly 1 in 5 of us, now use them. But is strapping that fitness tracker on your wrist or downloading that app the best way to reach your goals? There have been multiple studies done on these digitals tools, and it turns out the results are very mixed – and, unsurprisingly, it all depends on what you’re using and how you’re using it.

Fitness Trackers

Fitness trackers, in theory, are great little devices. You strap them to your wrist, and they measure things like how many steps you take in a day, your heart rate, how much sitting and standing you do, how many calories you’ve burned, even the quality of your sleep. For some people, simply having an easy way to track their movements, and seeing the amount of activity they’re doing (or not doing) can be a big boost to their fitness goals. As Dr Seth Martin, a cardiologist at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, says “[Having a record of physical activity] gives people information and empowers them to start making changes. And often, their activity level was not something they were paying attention to before they started tracking.”

But, for others, fitness trackers simply don’t do much when they’re used on their own, and they’re certainly not some sort of magic bullet for weight loss. “Trackers are a reliable measurement of our activity, but we can’t rely on them completely,” says Andrew Lane, professor of sport psychology at the University of Wolverhampton. “We can’t expect just to buy one and that’s it – some of the responsibility sits with us too. We still have to get off that sofa and complete those 10,000 steps a day.”

So, for the people who have these gadgets, the question is, are they doing the work and, more importantly, benefitting from using them? Unfortunately, many studies seem to say no. One large-scale study at the University of Pittsburgh, for example, investigated whether using wearable technology helped people lose more weight than other people who followed standard weight-loss programs. All of the participants were asked to diet and advised to increase their physical activity, but only half were given a fitness tracker, six months into the study.

At the end of the trial, the participants who were given fitness trackers lost an average of 7.7 pounds, while those who didn’t have fitness trackers lost an average of 13 pounds.

In another study, participants received the same weight-loss counseling (diet, exercise and support) for six months and lost similar amounts of weight. After the initial six months, all participants received telephone counseling, text message prompts and access to online weight-loss information. Some participants also received wearable fitness trackers and access to an accompanying website to monitor physical activity and diet. Both groups were able to maintain weight loss up to 24 months. However, the group with the wearable technology lost 2-3% less weight over the course of the study. different progress circle percentages These results seem puzzling. Why would people using fitness trackers lose less weight than those not using them? There’s no definitive answer to that question, but some experts have weighed in, suggesting a few possibilities. For example, it’s possible that seeing your progress could actually backfire: knowing that you burned 400 calories, or that you went over your 10,000 steps, might lead you to “reward” yourself with dessert or some other extra treat. Or, as Andrew Lane suggests, using a fitness tracker could actually have a negative psychological effect: “What if we start consistently not reaching goals set for us by them? Ultimately, it would lead to us feeling demotivated – the opposite effect they are supposed to have.”

Whatever the case, the verdict on fitness trackers seems to be that they are not all that helpful when used on their own. But, on the other hand, they can still be useful tools when used in conjunction with other types of digital aids.

Weight Loss Apps

Now, one of the caveats about many of the studies conducted on fitness trackers is that they often used devices that simply tracked data, and many people now use their fitness trackers to link their information to weight loss apps. And, when looking at many new studies, it seems that using a variety of digital tools, especially weight loss apps, could be an effective way to lose weight, at least in the short-term.

illustration of a hand holding a cell phone — *Weight loss apps can be effective, depending on how consistent you are with them.*

For example, researchers at Stanford University recently looked at almost 40 clinical trials that followed more than 8,000 adults using digital self-monitoring tools, such as apps, to lose weight, and they found that those who consistently used them lost weight 74% of the time. According to Michele Patel, PhD, the lead study author, “At the end of the day, any form of recording can help people lose weight. However, we found that digital tools like apps and websites often keep people engaged for longer, which often translates to more weight loss.”

Other older studies from the mid-2010s also found that participants lost weight, at least in the short-term, when they used digital tracking tools like apps for three or six months. One group lost an average of 2.3 pounds more than a group who didn’t use apps. In another study that focused on whether consistently using an app influenced weight loss, participants reduced their body mass index (BMI) by 1.9 points on average, and each 10% increase in adherence to the tracking tool was associated with an additional 2.6-point reduction in BMI.

So it seems that, as with the fitness trackers, the key here is the word “consistent.” The people who lost weight 74% of the time, and the people who decreased their BMIs, were the ones who used digital tools more frequently to monitor themselves than those who self-monitored less frequently with weight loss apps. And not all of the studies were so positive: some found no difference in weight loss between groups who used apps and those who didn’t, and some found that participants only lost weight if the app use was paired with in-person coaching or phone calls.

The verdict? Weight loss apps and other similar digital tools can be very effective helpers in your weight loss journey, but, as with most things in life, it’s all about what you put into them. Having the drive to use them consistently seems to be the deciding factor in whether you’ll get anything out of them.

Can You Make Them Work for You?

Nobody is advocating that you put all your trust into fitness trackers or weight loss apps, just as we’re definitely not saying you should discount them. It’s all about finding the right ones for you and using them in a way that makes sense in your life. For example, when looking for weight loss apps, download a bunch of free ones and sift through them to find one that seems most user-friendly to you, instead of going on recommendations from friends.

Look for apps with features you’re most likely to use. For example, if you cook most of your meals at home, try an app that makes it easy to upload and save your favorite recipes for easier tracking. Or if you eat a lot of prepared foods, you may want to look for an app with a barcode scanner to make it simple to track these items; some apps even allow users to take a picture of their meal and upload it, and the app does the rest of the calorie-counting work. If you’re the competitive type or enjoy making a game out of things, you can look at apps that allow for networking or provide engaging visual cues to show how close you are to your goals.

hands piled on top of each other with a network around it — *Having a community of fellow dieters can help keep you more accountable.*

Accountability is also important, so look for apps that:

Feature a community of fellow dieters
Offer daily reminders that pop up on your phone
Have personalized professional support

And, if you want to ramp things up and wear a fitness tracker to get some accurate data on your movement and calories burnt, here are some tips to make your device work for – and not against – your weight loss goals:

Use your fitness tracker as a motivational tool that encourages you to move, and a way to see your movement history – but if you have a bad day, look back and see it as one day among many good days, instead of looking at fitness as an “all or nothing” scenario. Sometimes “all or something” is a better way to look at things!
Take the useful data from your fitness tracker and use it to keep yourself on track, but don’t use that data as permission to throw good eating habits out the window! If rewarding yourself is a way to keep yourself on track, great! Just do it with something that isn’t food.
Consider those 10,000 steps that everyone is always talking about as just a baseline for your daily movement. Set a goal that is 2-3,000 steps more, or think of it as separate from your workout.

Fitness trackers and weight loss apps can be effective, and even fun, ways to boost your weight loss and reach your fitness goals, as long as you’re willing to use them consistently, and to find the ones that are right for you. And, remember, your own desire to make changes and improve your health are always the best motivational tools!