Virtual Weight Loss

Why virtual weight loss programs could lead to better health habits

When Club One approached Anne Massey about studying the success of its new virtual club in Second Life , she accepted the opportunity with some skepticism. An expert on the intersections of technology, business and society, Massey wondered whether a 3D weight loss club would be as effective as its real-world counterpart.

I spoke last week with Massey, a professor of information systems at Indiana University , about the surprising results — and about how what this virtual experiment means for the future of weight loss programs. Below are excerpts from our interview.

On how the study was conducted:

We asked the question: Can you deliver a weight loss program through [a 3D virtual] environment that is at least as effective as a real world, face-to-face environment?

We had a group in the traditional face-to-face program. We compared them to two groups that were in the virtual program [ Club One Island ]. The program runs over 12 weeks. We did baseline measures of their bio-metrics and their behavioral perception. We did post-measures at the end of the program and collected other data along the way.

On how the virtual and real-world programs differed:

In a traditional program, people come to the health club and meet four times a week for various activities. One hour a week would be around nutrition topics. The second hour might be around movement. There’s a social aspect to it. A habit-changing course was optional.

In the virtual club, in a 3D environment through a digital representation of yourself as an avatar, you can interact with objects. I could have my avatar running on a 3D treadmill. I could see my avatar hiking. I can see other avatars interact with my avatar. The notion of a 3D environment is to have you feel present in the virtual space, as if you were in a real space. There were structured meetings each week, but a lot of the participants would go into the club to interact with objects and learn about nutrition whenever they wanted to.

On the results of the study:

Both groups showed significant improvements [around their biometrics -- weight, BMI, body fat]. They were able to lose weight. There were no significant differences between the groups at the end. The virtual environment produced results as good as the real world along the biometrics. That was a good thing and a little bit surprising. They did it virtually and still lost weight.

Why virtual weight loss programs could lead to better health ...

When Club One approached Anne Massey about studying the success of its new virtual club in Second Life , she accepted the opportunity with some skepticism. An expert on the intersections of technology, business and society, Massey wondered whether a 3D weight loss club would be as effective as its real-world counterpart.

I spoke last week with Massey, a professor of information systems at Indiana University , about the surprising results — and about how what this virtual experiment means for the future of weight loss programs. Below are excerpts from our interview.

On how the study was conducted:

We asked the question: Can you deliver a weight loss program through [a 3D virtual] environment that is at least as effective as a real world, face-to-face environment?

We had a group in the traditional face-to-face program. We compared them to two groups that were in the virtual program [ Club One Island ]. The program runs over 12 weeks. We did baseline measures of their bio-metrics and their behavioral perception. We did post-measures at the end of the program and collected other data along the way.

On how the virtual and real-world programs differed:

In a traditional program, people come to the health club and meet four times a week for various activities. One hour a week would be around nutrition topics. The second hour might be around movement. There’s a social aspect to it. A habit-changing course was optional.

In the virtual club, in a 3D environment through a digital representation of yourself as an avatar, you can interact with objects. I could have my avatar running on a 3D treadmill. I could see my avatar hiking. I can see other avatars interact with my avatar. The notion of a 3D environment is to have you feel present in the virtual space, as if you were in a real space. There were structured meetings each week, but a lot of the participants would go into the club to interact with objects and learn about nutrition whenever they wanted to.

On the results of the study:

Both groups showed significant improvements [around their biometrics -- weight, BMI, body fat]. They were able to lose weight. There were no significant differences between the groups at the end. The virtual environment produced results as good as the real world along the biometrics. That was a good thing and a little bit surprising. They did it virtually and still lost weight.

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