Assessing the Bite Counter

Self-monitoring is an important component of behavioral management of obesity. The Bite Counter is a wrist-worn device which detects the motions characteristic of taking a bite of food or a drink of liquid, to provide the wearer with a cumulative count of bites and sips over the day. In earlier studies the method was shown to accurately count bites across a wide variety of foods, utensils and subject demographics, and to provide an unbiased intake measurement. The proposed work will continue to improve the bite counting method by adapting to varying eating rates, develop a self-managed bite count-based weight loss protocol, and perform an independent test of the protocol. An improved Bite Counter device will also measure activity (steps).