Weight Loss Associated With Different Patterns of Self-Monitoring Using the Mobile Phone App My Meal Mate

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a major global public health issue due to its association with a number of serious chronic illnesses and its high economic burden to health care providers. Self-monitoring of diet has been consistently linked to weight loss. However, there is limited evidence about how frequently individuals need to monitor their diet for optimal weight loss.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe app usage frequency and pattern in the mobile phone arm of a previously conducted randomized controlled trial. The relationship between frequency and pattern of electronic dietary self-monitoring and weight loss is also investigated.

Methods: A randomized pilot trial comparing three methods of self-monitoring (mobile phone app, paper diary, Web-based) was previously conducted. Trial duration was 6 months. The mobile phone app My Meal Mate features an electronic food diary and encourages users to self-monitor their dietary intake. All food consumption data were automatically uploaded with a time and date stamp. Post hoc regression analysis of app usage patterns was undertaken in the My Meal Mate group (n=43; female: 77%, 33/43; white: 100%, 43/43; age: mean 41, SD 9 years; body mass index: mean 34, SD 4 kg/m²) to explore the relationship between frequency and pattern of electronic dietary self-monitoring and weight loss. Baseline characteristics of participants were also investigated to identify any potential predictors of dietary self-monitoring.

Results: Regression analysis showed that those in the highest frequency-of-use category (recorded ≥129 days on the mobile phone app) had a -6.4 kg (95% CI -10.0 to -2.9) lower follow-up weight (adjusted for baseline weight) than those in the lowest frequency-of-use category (recorded ≤42 days; P<.001). Long-term intermittent monitoring over 6 months appeared to facilitate greater mean weight loss than other patterns of electronic self-monitoring (ie, monitoring over the short or moderate term and stopping and consistently monitoring over consecutive days). Participant characteristics such as age, baseline weight, sex, ethnicity, conscientiousness, and consideration of future consequences were not statistically associated with extent of self-monitoring.

Conclusions: The results of this post hoc exploratory analysis indicate that duration and frequency of app use is associated with improved weight loss, but further research is required to identify whether there are participant characteristics that would reliably predict those who are most likely to regularly self-monitor their diet.

Clinicaltrial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01744535; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01744535 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6FEtc3PVB).

Keywords: mobile phone; obesity; self-monitoring; weight loss.

Figure 1

Distribution of days of dietary recording on My Meal Mate for each participant (n=43) over the course of the 6-month My Meal Mate pilot trial. The x-axis is the My Meal Mate ID number that was automatically assigned to the participant and the y-axis is dietary self-monitoring in days. Each green shaded box is a day with ≥500 and ≤5000 kcal energy recorded on My Meal Mate.