Using technology to stay on track

By Dr John Ellis MD

The technology continues to get fancier… just don’t let it being a distraction from changing food intake and increasing activity!

I use heart rate monitors sometimes when exercising. I record my exercise on my Google calendar. I no longer keep food diaries, but did for the 1st 6 months of my weight loss journey.

Reports the NY Times:

STICKING to exercise and weight-loss goals can be tough. But new computer-based products can help you along the road to fitness, offering steady electronic encouragement and suggestions….

Technology may soon offer another tool for those struggling to stay trim and healthy: small robots that give diet advice… designed by Cory D. Kidd, then a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now a Ph.D. and the founder and C.E.O. of Intuitive Automata, a company that creates robots for use in health care.

The robot, which has a woman’s voice and is about 15 inches high, makes eye contact with dieters by way of its built-in camera…. Typically, people enjoyed working with the robot and did not want to give it back, she said…. “One person named it; another put a hat on it,” she said. “They treated her like a buddy.”