Just in time for all those New Year health promises, Australia’s leading scientific research organisation, the CSIRO has introduced Hope, an AI weight loss coach as a part of CSIRO’s Total Wellbeing Diet program.
The weight loss program is a 12-week digital membership that focuses on a high protein and low GI diet formulated by the CSIRO. It currently scores 4.8, the highest rating for weight loss service on Trust Pilot.
The role of Hope within the program is to predict how much weight members can lose by following the 12-week program. The digital coach suggests reasonable weight-loss targets determined from the anonymised database of weight loss results of CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet members.
CSIRO Total Wellbeing Dietitian Pennie McCoy said the launch of Hope came at the perfect time for those looking to set their health goals for the year.
“In designing Hope, the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet continues to prove how the latest science can transform health outcomes, with an innovation that uses data from Australians, for Australians, to achieve enhanced weight loss success throughout the entire program.”
According to CSIRO, 50 percent of members who complete the 12 Week Program meet or beat Hope’s predictions.
CSIRO’s analysis of nearly 11,000 program members revealed that those who weighed in regularly followed the menu plan and tracked their food intake the most achieved a weight loss of 8.1 percent of their starting body weight in 12 weeks, or an average of 7.5 kilograms (16.5 lbs).
Those who engaged in these behaviours the least achieved only a 3.3 percent drop in their weight or 3.1kgs (6.5lbs)—a difference of nearly 4.5kgs (9.9lbs) between the two groups.
While high diligence across all three behaviours resulted in the greatest weight loss of 8.1 percent, results also demonstrated that individuals displaying high diligence across two of the three behaviours were still able to achieve above-average weight loss, losing 7.5 per cent of their starting body weight.
Further, Hope also serves as a coach to encourage participants to engage in behaviours associated with the greatest amount of weight loss.
“Many people feel they have to be really strict to see results. This pressure can lead to unrealistic expectations so it’s really exciting to see in the research findings that there is room for flexibility in a sustainable weight loss journey,” McCoy said.
“With the additional support of Hope, Australians can feel assured that they are embarking on a weight loss journey that is not only proven but also fits into their lifestyle.”
Additionally, as Hope also engages in machine learning and analysis; the more the members interact with her, the more knowledgeable and personalised she will become.
CSIRO says that in the future, Hope will deliver even more personalised advice and insights into the behaviours and habits members can practice to reach their weight loss goals.
