Adherence as a predictor of weight loss in a commonly used smartphone application

As adherence to weight loss interventions has been shown in prior research to be crucial in achieving weight reduction, we were interested in examining whether this held true for individuals attempting to lose weight using smartphone applications. Archived data from an international community sample of 7633 overweight men and women using Noom, a smartphone-based behavioural weight loss program, were used to test the hypotheses that there would be significant weight loss after using the application for three months and that greater self-monitoring adherence would be positively associated with weight loss outcomes. An average 1.92 BMI points were lost after using Noom for three months, and for every 10% increase in adherence there was a decrease of 2.59 BMI points (β = −1.36 kg, SE = .24, p < .001). Our results provide preliminary evidence suggesting that smartphone application use is linked to significant short-term weight loss and that this weight loss is associated with adherence.