Slimming market: always more connected
It surely did not escape you, connected tools and applications are taking a growing place in the field of health. Obviously the slimming market is concerned: it is also increasingly connected. Losing weight remotely, using the Internet, is quite possible today , demonstration.
Applications and connected objects
Difficult to list all the connected applications as they are now in large numbers on computers or smartphones. The CNIL, in a recent report from May 2014 (1) , states that one out of two smartphone owners will soon use a connected health application (by 2017).
A number that challenges. Especially since connected objects are added to this, which make it possible to complete certain online applications. For example in 2013 HapiLabs offered a HapiFork connected fork . His goal ? Helping us eat more slowly, through an intelligent vibration system. The fork records all your eating habits.
HapiLabs seems to have won its bet since a year after the release the company now offers a connected watch. Which also echoes the Runtastic Orbit, a new connected bracelet that has just been announced this summer and which competes directly with the FuelBand SE (from Nike) or the miCoach Fit Smart (from Adidas).
And that’s not to mention the MyBiody Balance, which we gave a complete presentation of in April 2014: a body measurement device that allows you to have specific coaching based on your measurements.
Lose weight remotely, why does it work?
In 2002, Health Web’ers was a pioneer (2) . This company had set up two websites for distance coaching in order to lose weight when the Internet was just getting started. And if the interest was aroused among people who wanted to lose weight, it is because this kind of service made it possible to be put in touch with a dietician at an affordable cost and in a liberated and intimate way .
And this second aspect plays a fundamental role in the relationship that individuals have with their weight loss: the fact of being able to discuss through your screen allows you to remain discreet on certain subjects . This remote relationship takes the form of assistance which is not exclusive, it is quite possible to combine it with a clinical or therapeutic service. Feeling comfortable behind your screen makes it easier to break the ice on certain topics, and to talk about the history of your weight more easily.
This is the advantage of personalized online coaching methods, which direct their Internet users without ever meeting them face to face. A concept which may therefore seem crazy, but which works well because the field of thinness is a field where there is a psychopathology of exclusion, and therefore a pronounced feeling of shame (3) .
Online help can help to regain self-esteem, and to speak more freely about one’s problems. A fundamental point in the success of online applications and connected objects. Far from miracle methods , this personalized coaching is based on a link with a dietician and other professionals in order to modify eating habits in order to lose weight.
Since Health Web’ers (2002), there are now other players specializing in specific coaching , such as MonCoachingMinceur.com , for example . Its managers explain to us why it is possible to lose weight remotely through an extremely interesting interview (below). We thank them very much. The answers were given by Léopold ALBERT and Anaël STOLZ.
MonCoachingMinceur.com : interview
MonCoachingMinceur.com is a good example of a player in the connected slimming market, can you tell us more?
Léopold ALBERT ( manager and co-founder of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): Launched in 2012, MonCoachingMinceur.com is indeed part of the trend of connected slimming services. At the time, we certainly wanted to offer an interactive service capitalizing on the web and its functionalities, but above all an original and complete coaching service allowing effective, healthy and lasting weight loss. To date we have carried out more than 200,000 personalized and free assessments and accompanied thousands of people successfully in their weight loss.
What about your subscribers?
Léopold ALBERT ( manager and co-founder of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): Our number of subscribers is growing steadily because our method has proven itself and is therefore talked about positively. Our reputation for seriousness is progressing and allows us to grow at the rate of the success of our Internet users who are our best guarantee. We have more than doubled our number of subscribers every year.
Many Internet users are wondering about the remote link, through a screen, between the dietician and a subscriber: what are the advantages of such a relationship for you?
Anaël STOLZ ( registered dietitian-nutritionist, nutrition specialist and coach of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): The system we offer offers many advantages, including the freedom to exchange information at any time, simply and without having to travel. to be able to be guided on a daily basis, thanks to simple, interactive and effective tools allowing us, the coaches, to know where the subscriber is in his journey.
The internet medium allows you to manage your schedule freely, to come to us in quieter moments, often sharing greater intimacy, in a more anonymous way – which sometimes facilitates exchanges, especially with the psycho coach.
On the other hand, what are the shortcomings that can be felt during remote support, by interposed computers?
Anaël STOLZ ( registered dietician-nutritionist, nutrition specialist and coach of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): It is obvious that the computer tool has some limitations. We cannot provide the same follow-up as in person, especially in more concrete food re-education, in the application of particular culinary techniques for example. In concrete terms, I cannot ensure as much as visually that the subscriber correctly applies my advice in the kitchen.
Our program can also be perfectly complementary with a dietary follow-up ‘in the field’.
What do you think explains why more and more people are joining connected platforms like yours. Is it mainly the price, more attractive than in the office?
Anaël STOLZ ( registered dietician-nutritionist, nutrition specialist and coach of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): People who join these internet monitoring formulas appreciate the comfort they provide: it is easier and more practical to organize a day to do his consultation when we are ready to give him a few minutes.
This can be a first contact with the world of dietetics for people who have difficulty pushing the door of a specialist. The online service thus appears to be a less expensive solution for quality advice and multidisciplinary follow-up by qualified professionals. The progressive success of these platforms is also due to the results which have proven to be positive and are fueled by word of mouth; they have thus demonstrated their seriousness over time.
Are there certain cases that cannot be handled remotely? For example perhaps beyond a certain BMI?
Anaël STOLZ ( registered dietician-nutritionist, nutrition consultant and coach of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): We cannot in any way substitute for medical advice, which explains why we cannot of course take care of a person with specific pathologies that require dietary monitoring and nutritional regimens on medical prescription.
Similarly, pregnant women who want to lose weight are redirected to their attending physician, as for people with high BMIs, they are often already followed for associated pathologies.
What is the question that in general is most often asked (or that comes up often) by your subscribers during their remote coaching?
Anaël STOLZ ( registered dietician-nutritionist, nutrition consultant and coach of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): No question comes up in a preponderant way, because it is often a question of personalizing the best adaptation of our program on a daily basis, so that the subscriber can find the right rhythm. Everyone has their own issues to which we try to respond in the most personal way possible.
A recurring request is, for example, to look at the food diary, in order to provide a critical analysis and sound advice on the subscriber’s general dietary habits.
Do your Internet users opt more for the “Integral Program”, or for the “Express Program”?
Léopold ALBERT ( manager and co-founder of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): Without comparison, the complete program! which is by definition more complete and more durable but also more interactive. The express program responds more to short-term objectives. Besides, we encourage the people of the express to register their approach over time with the full program afterwards. Our goal is not to see people again every year!
If you don’t mind, could you tell us what your average audience is? (simply in terms of age and gender).
Léopold ALBERT ( manager and co-founder of MonCoachingMinceur.com ): Our audience is very clearly female: 90% even! On average between 25 and 40 years old I would say but age has no limit. We obviously refuse to follow minors but we have people over 70 sometimes. Given that our method adapts to different profiles, that it is not set in stone and that coaches can adapt their advice, all profiles find their account with MonCoachingMinceur.com, regardless of age, dietary profile and weight loss goal.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.