In April 2013, Marketdata Enterprises, Inc released its biennial (meaning once every two years!) “The US Weight Loss and Diet Management Marketplace (12th Edition)” report. According to the study, 108 million Americans diet. That’s more than a third of the entire population of the United States. Regarding the market, the weight loss market grew by 1.7% in 2012 with revenues of R$61.6 billion in 2012 compared to R$60.6 billion in 2011.

Strictly speaking, 1.7% growth is pretty flat, but there are 2 factors to put into perspective:

The first is that the market value is still huge (we’re talking billions of dollars here) and industry revenue is still projected to grow 2.6% in 2013. The main change in the market is seen in the consumer behavior, with the rise of online diets and the generation of dieters on their own. Online diet revenue is estimated at $1.1 billion, but it is growing at 8% per year, which is quite fast compared to overall market growth. We’re talking about websites like Sparkpeople.com, Fitday.com, and myfitnesspal.com.

The second trend that concerns DYI dieters is obviously related to the hundreds of mobile apps that help people lose weight. Today we are going to review the free application Lose it! through the prism of health gamification, which is one of the most popular applications with more than 20 million estimated downloads in the Appstore and Google Play store.

Lose it! describes himself as someone who helps you set a “daily calorie budget, track your food and exercise, and stay motivated to make smarter decisions and achieve your goal. We think it’s the best and easiest system of weight loss available.

As of December 2013, Lose It! claims it helped people lose 26 million pounds (almost 12,000 tons). That’s quite an impressive figure (the equivalent weight of over 7,500 cars!).

There are several great features available in the app; We’ll take a look at 5 of them and see how they’re using game mechanics to make it a successful example of gamification in healthcare.

Progression dynamics

It all starts with setting a goal for yourself. You enter information about yourself so the app defines your metabolism, defines how much weight you want to lose, and then the app calculates a personalized program for you.

After setting the Weight to Lose goal, a graph is displayed to give the user a simple visual representation of their goals through use of the app.

Fixed interval reward schedules

Every 24 hours, users receive a daily calorie budget (the app’s virtual currency) and must manage it through nutrition, exercise, exercise, etc. The goal is to have a ‘green day’, which means you need to watch your calorie budget.

achievements

It’s no surprise to see that Lose It! gamifies the use of the application through badges. Although the designs are a bit dated, they are actually quite well thought out and reward the user for accomplishing different things:

– Simply logging in (Congratulations on logging in, etc.)

– Short-term performance (First weight loss, etc.)

– Long-term performance (last 4 weeks of use)

complementary games

Lose it! integrates with the most popular health and fitness devices and apps available—we’re talking wireless scales, pedometers, workout apps, and more—for a truly seamless connected experience. For example, users can sync Lose It! with their NikeFuel Band that allows them to integrate the app to their other devices.

real time feedback

Lose it! allows users to connect with friends, family, colleagues, etc. You can motivate your teammates and support players who are less active in the app. It’s kind of a support group, but what it does is it uses the community as a way to generate repeat use of the app.

Despite a very competitive environment, Lose It! manages to play its cards well thanks to a very well thought out app that puts itself in the user’s shoes. The app’s design takes advantage of relevant game mechanics that make the experience personal, engaging, and highly motivating. We consider it a great example of gamification in healthcare.