Newsmaker: Sherry Pagoto on virtual coaching and weight loss

More people are turning to food- and fitness-tracking websites and mobile applications to help them lose weight, according to a story in the Monday, Feb. 13, Boston Globe that includes insight from Sherry Pagoto, PhD, associate professor of medicine and a licensed clinical psychologist at the UMass Memorial Weight Center.

Dr. Pagoto says the online tools are “the wave of the future, in terms of changing behavior.”

Pagoto is also featured in the Globe’s “Get Moving” blog, in which she talks about her “plank-a-day” abdominal workouts and how social media can motivate friends. She and a pal challenged Twitter followers in June to post photos of themselves planking. Now there are about 2,100 people Tweeting those workouts daily, Pagoto says.

Read the full story here:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2012/02/13/dieting-there-app-for-fat/jmrjVn52IZIi3gQeQ8jGDI/story.html

Read the blog here:
http://boston.com/lifestyle/health/fitness/getmovingblog/