You might drop more preholiday diet pounds if you tap into this simple technology: e-mail.
Yep, in a study, dieters who got a little love, support, and motivation through e-mails dropped more weight than the dieters who hadn't received cyber support.
Pound-Shedding E-Support
Besides offering kudos and encouragement -- sent by weight loss counselors -- the e-mails also provided tips on how to cut calories and exercise more. And they urged dieters to make frequent use of an online message board and weight loss diary. All of these tools together seemed to help dieters stay on track and lose more weight.
Internet Intervention
In the study, it didn't matter if the e-mails were written and sent by a real person or automated -- they still helped turbocharge people's weight loss in the first half of the 6-month study. But by study's end, the human-generated e-mails had an edge. So your best bet may be to find an online weight loss program that includes e-mail counseling, or a like-minded friend who's willing to shoot you a weekly message, and vice versa.
