AI Coaches: Available 24/7, No Judgment, Real Results
This is our third newsletter about artificial intelligence and weight loss. Today we will talk about how AI helps people change their behavior.
When someone wants to lose weight, changing behavior is the most important step. To lose weight and keep it off, you need to do three things: eat better food, move your body more, and change how you act every day.
The biggest problem is that people find it hard to stick with their plans. Many people start strong but then give up. They lose motivation or can't control their urges to eat unhealthy foods.
In the past, we expected people to find willpower on their own. This approach doesn't work well. Today, doctors know better ways to help. Many good apps can give you personal advice that helps you lose more weight. Before, people had to meet with coaches in person. This cost a lot of money and took a lot of time. Now, AI coaches can give you help right when you need it. Studies show that people who get advice from caring AI coaches lose more weight.
Three Ways AI Helps Change Behavior
First way: Making it like a game. Think about the Apple Watch and how it asks you to "close your rings" each day. But studies show this doesn't help much with weight loss.
Second way: Having a motivational coach. The best approach is an AI coach that gives you specific advice at the right time. Simple text messages don't work well. The conversation needs to feel real and personal. Voice messages work better than text messages because they feel more human.
Third way: Putting everything together. The best apps give advice about food, exercise, and feelings all in one place. You can get all your help from one source that's always available.
Things to Think About
There are some challenges with AI behavior change apps. Your personal information needs to stay private when you talk about your feelings and problems. The messages need to come at good times, not too often. If the app bothers you too much, it stops being helpful.
All your devices need to work together. The AI needs to know about your whole life, just like a human coach would. This helps the AI give you advice that fits your real situation.
Best AI Apps for Behavior Change
These apps do the best job of helping people change their behavior:
Noom
MyFitnessPal
Lose It!
Ember
Lifesum
HealthifyMe
WW (Weight Watchers)
All of these apps use AI to help with behavior change. They give you a complete approach to weight loss. They help with food, exercise, and the mental part of losing weight.
These apps have special features like AI food recognition, personal coaching, and feedback that adapts to how you're doing.
After 30 years of helping patients lose weight, I have seen what an important role behavior modification plays. These AI tools give people the support they need when they need it. This is a big step forward in helping people reach their weight loss goals.
Dr. Leon Katz www.drkatzweightloss.com
Stay Healthy Stay Strong
Chew HS, Lopez V. Global impact of COVID-19 on weight and weight-related behaviors in the adult population: a scoping review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 Feb 15;18(4):1876. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1876
The Use of Artificial Intelligence–Based Conversational Agents (Chatbots) for Weight Loss: Scoping Review and Practical Recommendations, Han Shi Jocelyn Chew MD. JMIR Med Inform 2022;10(4):e32578
https://medinform.jmir.org/2022/4/e32578
This information is for education purposes, please speak to your healthcare provider for further advice.
