14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers have recently demonstrated that weight loss therapy conducted online is just as effective, if not even more so, than traditional approaches to getting people to lose weight. Given the rampant spread of obesity in the developed world, the new study cannot be ignored.
In fact, given the prevalence of Internet access in these nations, and especially in the United States, it would be a shame not to use this asset for controlling weight, say scientists at the Indiana University.
In order to prove their theory, the researchers carried out two parallel studies. The first one involved a group of fat people participating in traditional health club sessions, while the other included people who took part in an online program, that was delivered through their computers.
While weight and body fat loss was the same for both group, those in the online portion of the study displayed more behavioral improvements than their peers. They were therefore a lot more likely to stick by what they had learned about living healthy lifestyles.
In the end, this is what these interventions are all about, getting people to eat healthy and in the right amount. But no doctor can impose these changes, the patients need to do this themselves. Choosing to change lifestyle is an intensely-personal choice.
Many are not comfortable with doing so, and the statistical results are significant. Only one third of the US population is of correct weight and body-mass index (BMI). Another 33 percent are overweight, and the remaining third suffer from obesity.
“It’s counterintuitive, the idea of being more active in a virtual world, but the activities that they do in a virtual world can carry over into the real world,” explains Indiana University assistant professor of kinesiology Jeanne Johnston, PhD.
“Through visualization and education, they can try activities that they had not tried before,” she adds, quoted by PsychCentral. “The virtual world program was at least as beneficial as the face-to-face program and in some ways, more effective,” the researcher explains.
An online therapy therefore “has the potential to reach people who normally wouldn’t go to a gym or join a program because of limitations, such as time or discomfort with a fitness center environment,” Johnston says.
The new study covered a period of only 12 weeks, but improvements were already visible after such a short time. Three months for changing a lifestyle is a negligible period, the experts conclude.