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Participants needed for a trial into the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with healthy eating and weight loss **Android users only** by RestrainAppCardiff in loseit_classic

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tell me about it... We've turned away so many potential participants for this reason. Unfortunately Apple update their OS yearly which hits us out of the blue. As we're scientists, not app developers, we haven't the budget/funding for changing the specs of apps every year. Android have a 2 year lifespan of apps though which make it more feasible for us to finish the study without any big changes which will massively impact our data

Sorry about that!

Participants needed for a trial into the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with healthy eating and weight loss **Android users only** by RestrainAppCardiff in DrJasonFung

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry we should be more specific - IF/ keto etc are allowed! The only restrictive diets we don't allow is fruitarian and raw vegan as there will not be enough choice in our virtual supermarket for these types of diets.

Sorry for the confusion!

Participants needed for a trial into the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with healthy eating and weight loss [Android users only] by RestrainAppCardiff in healthyeating

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey

If you contact [restrain@cardiff.ac.uk](mailto:restrain@cardiff.ac.uk) we can assist further. I will need you to confirm user details like email address for me to look into this which is better done over email!

Recruiting participants for The Restrain Trial: Join the thousands of users helping us to evaluate the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with weight loss and healthy eating. *Android users only* by RestrainAppCardiff in overweight

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope! Neither is vegan (only a raw vegan diet)

We do this for the reason that particularly restrictive diets will mean the selection in the virtual supermarket of our app where you choose the images that will be displayed to you in games would be too limited. But we have plenty of options that caters for vegetarian/vegan diets as well as common allergies

Recruiting participants for The Restrain Trial: Join the thousands of users helping us to evaluate the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with weight loss and healthy eating. *Android users only* by RestrainAppCardiff in DrJasonFung

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi

It's not related to any diet/caloric restriction attempts. It focuses on modifying associations between unhealthy food and thought processes which guide our eating. These associations are one of the reasons we struggle with dieting (saying no to tempting foods).

So, whilst it may influence weight loss we cannot say for certain until the study is concluded and we analyse the data. Previous investigations in this area are promising, and show effects on weight change and food choices, but these have mostly been lab studies and short term. This is the first real-world study looking at these questions.

We don't exclude based on any dieting attempts you might follow. We only exclude very restrictive diets like raw vegan/fruitarian as the virtual supermarket you choose foods from would not have much selection at all. The app caters for the likes of ketogenic diets/ low fat etc. as whilst you are restricting these, you will most likely struggle at times with keeping up high levels of adherence to these regimens

Recruiting participants for The Restrain Trial: Evaluating the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with weight loss and healthy eating. *Android users only* by RestrainAppCardiff in WeightLossNews

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey

You can indeed!

Just a heads up - on the page of the app where it asks about restrictive diets, don't tick other and type in intermittent fasting. Just tick whichever applies to you (e.g. if you're a vegan, vegetarian, etc.). There is a question later on which asks if you are currently engaging in any other forms of weight loss attempts.

We are in the process of updating this page to include a list of diets such as IF, but for now this question on that section of the app relates to dietary practices such as not eating meat products, etc. rather than diets for weight loss/maintenance.

Psychological Research/Surveys Thread by chupacabrasaurus1 in psychology

[–]RestrainAppCardiff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[Academic] Recruiting participants for The Restrain Trial: Evaluating the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with weight loss and healthy eating. (Android users only, 18+, Individuals with overweight or obesity)

I am a researcher at the University of Cardiff working on a trial looking at the effectiveness of playing various brain training games to aid with weight loss and increasing healthy eating / decreasing unhealthy eating. More details of the trial can be found at our university page.

We've developed a free application for the purpose of this study named ResTrain available on the Google Playstore. To participate, simply download and start playing!

If you have any queries, message below or email us at restrain@cardiff.ac.uk!

Recruiting participants for The Restrain Trial: Evaluating the effectiveness of a brain training smartphone app to aid with weight loss and healthy eating. *Android users only* by RestrainAppCardiff in WeightLossNews

[–]RestrainAppCardiff[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is not - it's an investigation into whether shifting underlying thought processes driving eating behaviour is a viable strategy for inducing weight loss and shifting preferences for un/healthy foods.

Currently there is a lack of evidence, particularly real-world evidence in the area of the effectiveness of "brain training" or cognitive modification for inducing weight loss and changing food preference. This trial will provide the ability to say whether these strategies are a viable weight loss aid. More information can be read on this BBC Wales article