Tyler Shackelford
Weight Loss with Fitness Bands
Obesity is a serious condition that is costing America. From the CDC, one third of U.S adults are obese and the medical cost of obesity was $147 billion dollars. Obesity-related conditions include diabetes, cardiac disease, stroke, liver disease, sleep apnea, and cancer to name a few. The CDC also mentions that on average people that are obese have medical costs that at are on average $1429 higher than non-obese patients.
There are certain aspects of one’s life that we cannot easily modify, such as genetic predisposition to obesity or socioeconomic status, which has been linked to obesity as well. Many programs have been setup to combat obesity, such as Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” programs, increased bike lanes in cities, community food environments, and healthier school lunches. Work places are encouraged to have healthier options at cafeterias, allow breastfeeding, and to be walkable.
Obesity has become such an epidemic in America, that capitalism has brought interest to many of America’s major corporations in the weight loss industry. One such piece of technology is the wearable fitness tracker. I think wearable devices could provide a roll in encouraging weight loss in our obese. Companies such as Google, Apple, Nike, Fitbit, etc are creating innovative devices.
Fitness trackers track everything from BMI, calories burned, steps taken, to pulse oximetry. They can be linked to scales to provide daily weights and BMIs. Some of them record what you ate and approximate the amount of calories the meal has. If obese patients that were admitted to hospital were given a fitness tracker it is possible that it would provide encouragement for weight loss by showing goals for calories burned, calories consumed, weight loss/gain trends. This information could displayed either on the band or linked to a smartphone/computer. Linking it to social media sites like Facebook could provide further encouragement. Much of this is possible already and currently in use by the public. Primary care physicians could also review this information, use the information to suggest diet/exercise regimens, and provide further encouragement. Having it on your arm 24hours a day, would provide a constant reminder that they should be exercising more and eating less.