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Electronic Tools for Weight Loss

2005 was the year for the introduction of lots of electronic gadgets to help with your weight loss program.

Many people don't want to carry around journals to keep track of their calories. In 2005, Weight Watchers introduced a service where people could track their calories on Palm hand-held computers. This is a free service for people who are already paying the $12.95 monthly membership for the Weight Watchers online site.

Skyscape introduced a service called the South Beach Diet OnHand which people can download onto their cellphone or hand-held computer. It enables people to look up appropriate recipes for the South Beach Diet while shopping for groceries or to choose what to order in a restaurant. It's also updated with a daily e-mail newsletter (The Daily Dish) which offers new South Beach Diet recipes, the latest research, success stories and diet news. The service costs $20 per year.

Nokia introduced a phone in early 2005 (5140 model) which can be used as a 'virtual fitness coach'. It lets you plan your workout schedule depending on your goals. For example if you want to be able to run a marathon in ten months, it will give you a personalized weekly workout routine to help you meet that goal. Several other cell phone makers are also scrambling to offer similar options.

Samsung Electronics in Korea has even made a cellphone which lets you measure your body fat ratio by touching your finger to a sensor on the phone!

2006 will probably see a huge burst of innovations in the weight loss electronic tools market.

Source: The Wall Street Journal Online

The pic above is the The South Beach Diet OnHand software at Amazon.