Your secret wish of shedding the flabs may still be fulfilled. All you need is a cell phone.
Sounds unbelievable but researchers have found that men and women who undertake a personalised weight-loss phone coaching for a specific period have considerable chances of shedding the extra pounds.
Since cell phones are fast becoming an inseparable accessory without which people rarely leave home, this could be used widely in attempting to lose weight.
"Since so many people use cell phones and gas prices were getting higher, we thought, 'How well can we reach people, and how well can we reach people if it's not face to face?" said Larry Tucker, PhD, the study's lead author.
Tucker and colleagues at Brigham Young University found that of 120 men and women, those who received 11 sessions of personalised weight-loss phone coaching over a 17-week period lost an average of seven pounds, compared to an average of four pounds in un-coached adults.
The sessions lasted 30 minutes.
"People tend to do better when they have a support system and when they have someone they report to each week. The weight loss coach can help people work through weight loss issues, barriers and problems," Tucker said.
"Compared to no coaching, phone
coaching tends to show a benefit," he said.
Adding daily weight-loss supplements designed to decrease appetite and increase metabolism also helps in losing weight, the authors found.
Daily supplement users lost about 6.8 pounds, compared with only about four pounds in placebo users.
The greatest total weight of about 9.7 pounds and body fat loss of 5 pounds occurred in adults who received both coaching and took the daily supplement.
"Over a time, a person is going to have to learn a new lifestyle, but I think this particular supplement may be of value to help a person while they are transitioning into that new lifestyle," Tucker said.
However, the study may leave readers with more questions than answers, said Robert Jeffery, PhD, director of the Obesity Prevention Center at the University of Minnesota.
"You couldn't tell by reading the study what the coaches were talking about. They talked to participants 11 times, but it doesn't say what they told people to do," Jeffery said.
Although this study found that participants dropped pounds, it may not compare to traditional weight-loss programmes.
"In a state-of-the-art, face-to-face weight loss intervention, you should be able to get an 8- 10 kilogramme (17.5 to 22 pounds) weight loss in that same time period," Jeffery said.
