<p>People in a Weight Watchers program who received motivational and reminder text messages lost an average of 4.5 pounds more in a 12-week period than those who were left to their own volition, a newly published study found. Text messaging also showed promise for increasing exercise and promoting other healthy behaviors, according to researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Va.</p><p>The article, newly published in the scientific journal CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, describes what researchers said is the first study to look solely at text messaging as a means of enhancing clinician-patient communication for the purpose of behavior change. "Nothing before isolated SMS by itself," said lead author Claudia Bouhaidar, a researcher at the VCU School of Nursing.</p><p>In addition to the weight loss, which corresponded to about 3 percent of body weight, Bouhaidar and her team found a "trend toward an improvement in eating behaviors, exercise and nutrition self-efficacy in the intervention group," though no significantly significant differences from a control group. However, nearly 80 percent of the 28 participants said that text messages helped them in their struggle to adopt healthy habits.</p><p>"The message by itself helped as a reminder to [eat well and exercise more]," Bouhaidar said.</p><p><a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/26806/study-finds-text-messaging-effective-for-weight-loss/">Keep reading...</a></p>