For the text-obsessed, there’s a new diet plan that keeps you accountable using text messages. This week, Self magazine launched Diet Tapper, a plan that texts you meal inspirations and other tips five times per day. The service costs $2.99 per month and also includes online access to an “exclusive new diet plan,” that apparently includes a library of meal and workout suggestions. Subscribers will also recipe a “Recipe of the Week” newsletter via email.
Self’s Diet Tapper page provides sample texts such as: “A protein-packed lunch for 450 cal. Protein eaters burn more fat. Think poultry, fish, legumes or lowfat dairy” and “Set your sights on 45 min of cardio. Get inspired with our favorite workouts.”
Diet Tapper doesn’t dictate a restrictive diet. “What’s most appealing is that users will be in control so they can choose whether to act on the gentle tap,” Self editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger told Mashable. “They don’t have to think about any formal diet plan or second-guess themselves.”
Diet Tapper was inspired by new research that suggests that text message reminders can help people reach their health goals. A British study published in The Lancet found that participants who received daily messages were more likely to quit smoking than a control group. Another study, published in the Archives of Dermatology showed that text messages made people more likely to wear sunscreen.
But will this theory apply to weight loss? Self certainly has a large body of advice to select messages from, but on the other hand, I worry that receiving so many messages daily might become annoying or easy to tune out.
What do you think? Would you try it?
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