Are Online Weight Loss Programs as Effective as Face-to-Face Consultations?

Online Programs are Trending Right Now

The world survives on smartphones, Internet and social media. One device that has become a replacement for many other devices such as the radio, CD players, conventional telephones, alarm clocks, calendars, reminder books, telephone directories, digital cameras and many more is our very own smartphone. People eat, talk, work and sleep with their smartphones. Science and technology have minimized workload in many spheres of life. Banks were the only place where people withdrew/deposited money but now ATMs have sprung up in every corner of the road, online transactions help us transfer money with the click of a button and starting a FD or RD is only a click away. Supermarkets deliver foods and goods to the ‘exclusive’ customers whose bill amount exceed base requirements while others visit the grocery shop or store to buy their essentials. Men and women visited parlor rarely some decades back, the frequency of visits increased a few years back but now we have people from the parlor visiting our home for services. The same is applicable for tuitions, purchase of dresses, accessories or home appliances too. Even doctors are available online for consultation! So, why not try our online weight loss programs too?

New Gen Men & Women
Obesity is more than the numbers on the scale and affects a person’s life in more ways than for cosmetic reasons only. It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, certain types of cancers, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis and exists as an epidemic worldwide. Fitness industry is revolutionizing weight loss strategies and the health sector is minting money by selling slimming products, vibrator machines, weight loss shakes, superfoods and energy drinks to potential customers.

Registered dietitian nutritionists help individuals lose weight with effective diet plans and exercise routines. Its been proved that conventional face-to-face weight loss programs are effective as they focus mainly on issuing healthy diet plans and physical activity charts. Unlike other medical consultations, the time taken here can even go for an hour or more too. Even after enrolling in a program the visits keep happening regularly every week/month for several months until weight loss is successfully achieved. Much time and efforts are wasted in this endeavor.

Mobile phones have been improvised to deliver us with information on total footsteps count, heart rate, other health information and real-time feedback apart from fulfilling their basic requirements. Using the same gadgets to deliver weight loss efforts seem to be a genius idea and there is also increasing interest in using mobile apps to pursue weight loss programs as these programs are cost advantageous and can also reach a huge population because of the rapid growth in mobile phone users.

A Mix-up Study
A study tried to find out the best kind of program for weight loss and took up three weight loss programs namely conventional face-to-face weight loss program, a mobile weight loss app and a partial face-to-face app.
Study participants included men and women aged between 18 and 65 years having a BMI greater than 29 and having a smartphone/tablet/iPad. Individuals who were suffering from physical and/or psychological diseases, those taking medications that could impact body weight, diabetic patients and those diagnosed with sleep apnea during the previous year, people who followed a diet in the year before the beginning of the trial, those with a history of a bariatric surgery and currently pregnant were excluded from the studies.
Participants were split into three groups each of the group receiving instructions on the weight loss routine all through the 12-week study period.

Conventional Group: Here, the participants received an individualized diet plan for 12 weeks from an RDN and a personalized physical activity plan for 12 weeks from yet another physical activity expert. During the first week participants met the RDN and the physical activity expert for 1 hour, again during the second and fifth week, participants met the experts for a 30-minute face-to-face session and during the seventh week again they met the physical activity expert for an additional session. The RDN advised the participants on eating nutritious fruits and veggies, reducing daily calorie consumption by 500 kcal and decreasing intake of oily and sugary foods. The physical activity expert advised participants to exercise at least 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes at a moderate intensity.

App Group: Here, the participants received separate login credentials to use the mobile app. The app contained instructions about diet and exercise routines, how to challenge themselves, counting their steps, details about nutrition and physical activity along with recipes on preparing healthy food, a personalized help button for immediate advise and a link to a FB group. The contents of both conventional and app group remained the same and only the method of proposal differed.

​Combi Group: Same as in the conventional group, the participants here had a 1-hour session with the RDN and the physical trainer during the first week.  

It’s a Pleasure to Meet the RDN in Person for Some!

They also received credentials for a mobile app link. Again, during the 7th week they received an additional one-on-one session with the physical trainer. The only difference is that participants here missed out on two 30-minute face-to-face sessions with the experts compared to the conventional group.
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Control Group: Participants were informed that they were on the waiting list for the weight loss program.
102 of the 122 participants registered completed the study and results showed that:

• Participants in all three intervention groups lost 5% or more body weight compared to those in the control group.
• More participants in the combi group lost 5% or more weight and BMI values too decreased significantly compared to the app group.
• No significant difference was found between the conventional group and the combi group and between the conventional group and the app group
• All three intervention groups had higher decrease in cardiometabolic risk factors compared to the control group

The combi group seems to offer the best results as it does give the patient the satisfaction of meeting the doctor as well as saves further consultation time by guiding via an app. With WhatsApp and email support there is no need for the patient to keep visiting the doctor every now and then for queries which saves ample time for both. Even online consultations where you meet the doctor via Skype or face time can help an individual seek consultation with their desired doctor who resides in any part of the world as this is as good as a face-to-face consultation. Follow-ups can be via smartphones. Whatever might be the weight loss effort type, it finally depends on the client to pump in the required efforts, eat a nutritious diet, do exercise regularly and lead an active lifestyle to lose weight. For appointments for weight loss, you can get in touch with reputed dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com who are available for online consultations.