Are Self-Tracking Devices the Key to Weight Loss?

SUNDAY 1 JANUARY

• 129 lbs. (but post-Christmas)

• alcohol units 14 (but effectively

covers 2 days as 4 hours of party

was on New Year's Day)

• cigarettes 22,

• calories 5424.

STATISTICS ON DIETING

Sixty-two percent of adult Americans are overweight or obese.

More than 9 million children and teenagers are suffering the

same problems.

Up to 50 percent of women are on a diet at any given time.

Up to 90 percent of teenagers diet regularly.

About 35 percent of people who start by dieting occasionally

become addicted to dieting.

LARKLIFE

SMART SCALE

ARIA™ WI-FI SMART SCALE tracks your

weight, body fat percentage, and BMI,

painting a picture of your long-term progress.

It wirelessly syncs your stats with online graph

and mobile tools that help you stay motivated

and on track.

The HapiFork is designed to help you understand how you eat by tracking how

many bites you take and how long it takes you to eat your meal. It will also alert you when

you’re eating too fast.

HAPIFORK

The Nike+ Sensor makes it easy to track your time, distance, pace and more while you run. Afterward, upload your run data to Nikeplus.com.

Fitbit Flex measures: steps, distance, calorieburn, activity minutes, sleep time and sleepquality.

SELF-TRACKING DEVICES

QUANTIFIED SELF BLOG

Volinsky uploadshispersonal data on the

Dropboxsite.

Weight chart with food tracking highlighted in pink

This phenomenon is known in psychology as a Hawthorne effect or according to which people

tend to change their performance when they are under observation.

Recording your diet reminds you why you are doing this, and as a result, you continue eating

healthy.

LOSE IT!

CHARTS & GRAPHS

GOALS

Most of us are not mindful of weekly or seasonal changes in our eating, sleeping and exercise patterns.

ADVANTAGES

Such records can be helpful in understanding why weight loss efforts might stall.

- A dieter might be eating fewer calories but sleeping more hours per night or decreasing physical activity

- A dieter might have some metabolic problemsthat makes weight loss very slow