Vtrim Community Blog      Vtrim Online

Do you carry a cell phone with a calendar feature or a PDA (personal digital assistant)? If so, you are holding a great tool to keep you on track with your exercise schedule! A recent study at Stanford University found that people who used PDAs programmed to remind them to exercise throughout the day were twice as active as a control group of participants who did not carry a PDA.

In the study, participants were assigned to one of two groups: 1) the PDA group or 2) the control group. The PDA group received PDAs that were programmed to beep a few times throughout the day with reminders to exercise. If the reminder was ignored, the PDA beeped again after 30 minutes. An evening reminder also prompted participants to think about their exercise goals for the next day. In contrast, the control group participants received some exercise handouts to read.

The control group averaged only 2 hours of exercise per week, while the PDA group averaged 5 hours of exercise per week, more than double the control group. So if you need a reminder to fit in more movement throughout the day, try setting your cell phone calendar or your PDA to remind you to get your workout in. The more you keep exercise in the forefront of your thoughts, the more likely you are to get it done!

Welcome to the Vtrim blog! We are excited to have this blog up and running and the opportunity it provides to share more information with you about Vtrim and weight management.

Vtrim Weight Management Program is an ONLINE behavioral weight loss program at the University of Vermont. It is based on over 16 years of research on effective weight management strategies and techniques. Because of the research and science behind Vtrim, you can be sure you are learning the most current, most effective information about successful weight management.

We have a few very important purposes for this blog:

1. To create a network of support for those who are interested in weight management
2. To form a support community for Vtrim participants (current and past) by providing another means of staying in touch with the Vtrim program.
3. To keep you informed about the latest research developments in the field of weight management.

We hope you will enjoy the Vtrim blog and the information you find here. We look forward to corresponding with you, and we encourage you to share your ideas as well as questions or issues you would like to see addressed in the blog.