MyNetDiary Efficacy
As of November 2010, MyNetDiary online dieting service had more than 800,000 registered user accounts. Many people have lost weight, improved their lifestyle and left very positive reviews of MyNetDiary at iTunes App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World. The MyNetDiary team had featured some inspiring user stories on the Live Success Stories page. At that point we had enough statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of MyNetDiary service.
User selection criteria
Since MyNetDiary is a self-service program with a core set of features available for free, many users open an account, try some features and then never return. Other users stick to the program, achieve their target weight and then stop using the program. Sometimes, they return after several months in order to lose weight again or to maintain their current weight. Some pregnant women use MyNetDiary to track their weight changes before and after delivery, and bariatric patients have used MyNetDiary before and after surgery.
With so many deviations, it can be difficult to build a realistic statistical portrait of an “average” MyNetDiary user. This is why we had to take into account only the people who really participated in the program. The following user selection criteria were defined by the MyNetDiary team.
Condition 1. Weight loss wanted
Starting weight should be at least 10 lbs more than target weight. This is only a desired loss; actual loss is discussed below. This condition ensures that this user was not planning to gain or maintain weight.
Condition 2. MyNetDiary was used actively
Active usage period has at least four contiguous weeks, with the user logging foods at least four days per week and each day containing at least 400 calories worth of consumed foods. We also excluded the periods with body weight change rate greater than 6lbs/week. Only the users with one or more active periods are included in this study.
Actual weight loss is measured as a difference between first and last known weigh-in.
Active weight loss is a cumulative weight change summarized for active periods only. Active loss may be quite different from the actual loss.
Condition 3. One pound lost
Both actual and active weight loss should be at least 1 lbs for inclusion.
Not being able to lose one pound indicates an anomaly, a significant deviation from the “average” person we are trying to describe statistically. We also want to exclude users whose goal is simply to maintain weight.
The results
The following table contains aggregated information for users who met selection criteria:
| user Count |
avg Actual Lb |
sum Actual Lb |
avg Actual Pct |
avg Actual Days |
avg Active Lb |
sum Active Lb |
avg Active Pct |
avg Active Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4047 | 27 | 110522 | 12 | 221 | 17 | 67629 | 8 | 85 |
The following table groups users by user type and gender:
| user Type |
sex | user Count |
avg Actl Lb |
sum Actl Lb |
avg Actl Pct |
avg Actl Days |
avg Active Lb |
sum Active Lb |
avg Active Pct |
avg Active Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | female | 886 | 27 | 23671 | 14 | 143 | 16 | 13736 | 8 | 81 |
| Free | male | 625 | 26 | 16002 | 11 | 119 | 17 | 10505 | 7 | 79 |
| Maximum | female | 250 | 32 | 7985 | 15 | 251 | 19 | 4733 | 9 | 115 |
| Maximum | male | 353 | 30 | 10714 | 12 | 211 | 18 | 6518 | 7 | 115 |
| Pro | female | 900 | 27 | 24447 | 13 | 131 | 16 | 14414 | 8 | 80 |
| Pro | male | 1033 | 27 | 27703 | 11 | 425 | 17 | 17722 | 7 | 78 |
So how effective is MyNetDiary?
The average member lost over 27 lbs, or 12 percent of their body weight, in only seven months, or at average pace of 1.4 lbs per week!
Appendix A: Weight chart examples
Live examples of user weight charts can also be found at Live Success Stories page
Example1:
Example2:
Example3:
Example4:
Example5:
Example6:
Example7:
Example8:
Example9:
