Building Habits Together Online Weight Loss Program

The purpose of this pilot trial is to evaluate the feasibility of a program where 70 adults with overweight or obesity will receive online weight loss counseling delivered via a private Facebook group, but be randomized to the Habit app (developed by the investigators) or MyFitnessPal, a commercial calorie tracking app. Participants randomized to the Habit app will be asked to record their weight daily, monitor their dietary temptations, plan their exercise, and solve diet and exercise related problems. The temptation tracker helps users identify triggers and track when and why those triggers lead to dietary lapses. The exercise planner allows users to plan their exercise for the week and track whether they completed or missed the exercise and why they missed it. The Habit app provides insights to users about the patterns of their dietary lapses and exercise habits. The problem solver feature helps users identify their biggest problem with diet/exercise and then asks a series of questions to help the app provide tailored solutions to the participant to work on. Participants randomized to MyFitnessPal will track their calorie intake and exercise daily during the intervention.