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The weight loss blogosphere: an online survey of weight loss bloggers

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Blogging is a form of online journaling that has been increasingly used to document an attempt in weight loss. Despite the prevalence of weight loss bloggers, few studies have examined this population. We examined characteristics of weight loss bloggers and their blogs, including blogging habits, reasons for blogging, like and dislikes of blogging, and associations between blogging activity and weight loss. Participants (N = 194, 92.3 % female, mean age = 35) were recruited from Twitter and Facebook to complete an online survey. Participants reported an average weight loss of 42.3 pounds since starting to blog about their weight loss attempt. Blogging duration significantly predicted greater weight loss during blogging (β = −3.65, t(185) = −2.97, p = .003). Findings suggest that bloggers are generally successful with their weight loss attempt. Future research should explore what determines weight loss success/failure in bloggers and whether individuals desiring to lose weight would benefit from blogging.

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Acknowledgments

Martinus Evans is a recipient of the Multicultural Scholars Program funded by The Graduate School of the University of Connecticut. Ailton Coleman is a recipient of the Crandall-Cordero Fellowship funded by The Graduate School of the University of Connecticut. Support for Dr. Waring provided by NIH grants KL2TR000160 and U01HL105268.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Martinus Evans MS & Pouran D. Faghri MD, MS, FACSM

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave North, Worcester, MA, 01655, USA

    Martinus Evans MS & Sherry L. Pagoto PhD

  3. Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University, North Chicago, IL, USA

    Kristin L. Schneider PhD

  4. Department of Quantitative Health Sciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

    Molly E. Waring PhD

  5. Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Matthew C. Whited PhD

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Bradley M. Appelhans PhD

  7. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and The Miriam Hospital, Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Andrew Busch PhD

  8. Center for Public Health and Health Policy, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Ailton S. Coleman PhD

Authors
  1. Martinus Evans MS
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  2. Pouran D. Faghri MD, MS, FACSM
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  3. Sherry L. Pagoto PhD
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  4. Kristin L. Schneider PhD
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  5. Molly E. Waring PhD
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  6. Matthew C. Whited PhD
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  7. Bradley M. Appelhans PhD
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  8. Andrew Busch PhD
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  9. Ailton S. Coleman PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martinus Evans MS.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest and adherence to ethical principles statement

Martinus Evans receives advertisement income from his weight loss blog, www.300poundsandrunning.com. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Additional information

Martinus Evans, M.S., is a Clinical Research Assistant at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Implications

Practice: Incorporating blog writing, which mainly provides social support and accountability to the writer, as part of a behavioral weight loss program may assist with weight loss.

Policy: Before investing in making blogging or online journaling as part of remotely delivered weight loss programs, resources should be devoted to exploring who benefits from blog writing.

Research: Research is needed to explore whether individuals who desire to lose weight would benefit from writing blogs, and/or from reading others’ weight loss blogs, during remotely delivered behavioral weight loss interventions.

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Evans, M., Faghri, P.D., Pagoto, S.L. et al. The weight loss blogosphere: an online survey of weight loss bloggers. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 6, 403–409 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0350-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0350-z

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