Keeping track of diet data digitally
Published 9:00 pm Friday, December 10, 2004
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Atkins diet devotees count carbohydrates. Followers of Weight Watchers stay within their daily allotted food points. The South Beach Diet preaches a balance of meat, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
But to make any of the diets work, dieters need to know the nutritional value of thousands of food items. Dieters note everything they swallow and log it – somewhere.
Now, with the season of bountiful temptation upon us, the most popular dieting brands are weighing in with calorie counters and nutritional guides designed for personal digital assistants and combination PDA-cell phones.
Weight Watchers International Inc. this week released a program for Palm-based gadgets that works hand-in-hand with the company’s online services. It helps record a dieting disciple’s progress, eliminates the need for carrying a weekly logbook and shrinks the 25,000-item food database that normally fits into a 2-inch-thick reference book into a pocket gizmo.
Devotees of Atkins Nutritionals Inc. will have to wait a little longer. The company says it will begin offering early in 2005 the Atkins 2Go, a carbohydrate guide and weight-loss tracker for cell phones, along with a partner, mobile software developer Digital Chocolate Inc. A version for Palm-based PDAs developed by NoviiMedia is expected to debut in January.
Other diet purveyors, including the South Beach Diet, say they hope to offer similar nutritional guides and weight-tracking services for mobile devices soon.
“We think of it as a global positioning system for their weight-loss journey,” said Scott Parlee, director of product development at WeightWatchers.com. “They can check how many points they’ve earned on the spot, whether at the gym or at a restaurant. It allows them to stay on course.”
Mike Brezonick now has breakfast, lunch and dinner with his digital hand-held every day. His meal companion happens to be Weight Watchers On-the-Go. He started using an early test version of the program in June after complaining that he needed easier access to all the food-point and restaurant data and tracking requirements.
It has helped Brezonick decide on pasta primavera over meat entrees. When traveling abroad, it has reduced nutritional guesswork or excuses for veering off the plan.
“Knowledge is power, and no matter where I am now, I can find out whether what I think is healthy to eat is bad, or whether what looks bad to eat is actually good,” said Brezonick, of Elm Grove, Wis.
Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to lose 59 pounds in six months, said the now 187-pound Brezonick.
Weight Watchers is targeting the estimated 30 percent of its followers who already own PDAs and hopes others will buy new mobile devices, which start at about $99.
