Till today Activ8 was completely focused at accurately mapping your movement patterns. Frequently we were asked if it was not possible to also replace the normal paper food diary so that people can log what they eat in the same system, but only if it is easy to do. By tracking movement / activity and your food pattern you can start to see how they are coupled and work together.
Today the first pilot starts using the new Activ8 food diary functionality. We carefully reviewed what is already available today. Many sites offer the possibility to precisely track what you have been eating during the day. It is quite easy to track your food this way, however we noticed and also received feedback that already after a few days a lot of people drop out as many find it annoying and too time consuming to fill in such a diary. This is mostly caused by the fact that people want to fill in things 100% correct and that a lot of time is spend searching and looking what you exactly ate and how much. Of course with a little practice that can be overcome, but many people do not even make it till that stage. Furthermore many of these alternatives put a lot of emphasis on the kcal value only, which is not a bad start but food is more then only its energy value. A good example of an easy to use food diary is for example myfitnesspal.com.
We tried to approach it a little different. Main starting point is that for a participant we want to make it as easy as possible to track their food, without much searching or thinking. The participant quickly fills in what they ate during breakfast, lunch and dinner including possible snacks and drinks. Filling in closely resembles how things are done using the old fashioned paper alternative: “2 sandwiches with cheese and a croissant with butter”. A participant can also track and enter the kcal value using other food sides or kcal books, but it is not required. 9 out of 10 Activ8 participants are coached by professionals like dieticians or lifestyle coaches that see their participants every week or every fourteen days. For a professional coach it is a piece of cake to quickly couple a kcal value to a meal, but based on their knowledge and experience they are also able to oversee the whole picture and check the balance between proteins, fat and carbs and what a participant drinks and how much. Main advantage of this approach is that a participant can track easily with minimal effort and time spend what he/she has been eating and the coach already before the consult can do the analysis saving time of both coach and participant while still maximizing their experience and knowhow. And all this can also be done, if required, remotely without seeing the participant face to face.
Activ8 makes it easy to couple activity and food intake.
Call of mail us when you want to know more about the possibilities.