ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2017
Factors Associated With Weight Change in Online Weight Management Communities: A Case Study in the LoseIt Reddit Community.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying Social Media-Based Interactions That Help Adults to Adhere to Weight Loss Goals: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of influences on engagement with remote health interventions targeting weight management for individuals living with excess weight.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Pooled it
- Using Social Media to Understand Web-Based Social Factors Concerning Obesity: Systematic Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of social media interventions on physical activity and dietary behaviours in young people and adults: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Pooled it
- Improving the Theoretical Understanding Toward Patient-Driven Health Care Innovation Through Online Value Cocreation: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Web-Based Digital Health Interventions for Weight Loss and Lifestyle Habit Changes in Overweight and Obese Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Pooled it
- Social media use for nutrition outcomes in young adults: a mixed-methods systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2018Pooled it
- Coach-Assisted eHealth With Group or Individual Support for Employees With Obesity: Randomized Controlled Trial on Weight, Body Composition, and Health Metrics.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Personalized Web-Based Weight Loss Behavior Change Program With and Without Dietitian Online Coaching for Adults With Overweight and Obesity: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- 'Remember, You Are Not Alone': A Qualitative Internet-Mediated Study of Anxiety Among Adolescents on Reddit.International journal of mental health nursing · 2025Article
- User Satisfaction With Pregnancy Management Apps in Mainland China: User-Generated Content Analysis and Text Mining Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The Impact of Digital Technology-Based Exercise Combined With Dietary Intervention on Body Composition in College Students With Obesity: Prospective Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Exploring the Acceptability of the STOP Method for Addressing Weight Loss Misinformation on Social Media: An Interview Study.Obesity science & practice · 2025Article
- Review
- Exploring successes, barriers, and enablers in the one-year digital Healthy Weight Coaching.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Why more successful? An analysis of participants' self-monitoring data in an online weight loss intervention.BMC public health · 2024Article
- A Qualitative Exploration of Patient and Staff Experiences of the Receipt and Delivery of Specialist Weight Management Services in the UK.The patient · 2023Article
- The Effectiveness of eHealth Interventions for Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance in Adults with Overweight or Obesity: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.Current obesity reports · 2023Review
- A Large-Scale Observational Analysis of Social Media Data Reveals Major Public Misperception of the Attainability of Drastic Weight Loss by Dieting.Obesity facts · 2023Article
- Characterizing the Prevalence of Obesity Misinformation, Factual Content, Stigma, and Positivity on the Social Media Platform Reddit Between 2011 and 2019: Infodemiology Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent research has shown that of the 72% of American Internet users who have looked for health information online, 22% have searched for help to lose or control weight. This demand for information has given rise to many online weight management communities, where users support one another throughout their weight loss process. Whether and how user engagement in online communities relates to weight change is not totally understood.
objectiveWe investigated the activity behavior and analyze the semantic content of the messages of active users in LoseIt (r/loseit), a weight management community of the online social network Reddit. We then explored whether these features are associated with weight loss in this online social network.
methodsA data collection tool was used to collect English posts, comments, and other public metadata of active users (ie, users with at least one post or comment) on LoseIt from August 2010 to November 2014. Analyses of frequency and intensity of user interaction in the community were performed together with a semantic analysis of the messages, done by a latent Dirichlet allocation method. The association between weight loss and online user activity patterns, the semantics of the messages, and real-world variables was found by a linear regression model using 30-day weight change as the dependent variable.
resultsWe collected posts and comments of 107,886 unique users. Among these, 101,003 (93.62%) wrote at least one comment and 38,981 (36.13%) wrote at least one post. Median percentage of days online was 3.81 (IQR 9.51). The 10 most-discussed semantic topics on posts were related to healthy food, clothing, calorie counting, workouts, looks, habits, support, and unhealthy food. In the subset of 754 users who had gender, age, and 30-day weight change data available, women were predominant and 92.9% (701/754) lost weight. Female gender, body mass index (BMI) at baseline, high levels of online activity, the number of upvotes received per post, and topics discussed within the community were independently associated with weight change.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that among active users of a weight management community, self-declaration of higher BMI levels (which may represent greater dissatisfaction with excess weight), high online activity, and engagement in discussions that might provide social support are associated with greater weight loss. These findings have the potential to aid health professionals to assist patients in online interventions by focusing efforts on increasing engagement and/or starting discussions on topics of higher impact on weight change.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.