Easier food tracking to help adults with obesity stick with weight-loss treatment
Official title: Microrandomized Trial to Optimize Use of Burden-reducing Self-monitoring Approaches in Behavioral Obesity Treatment
Funded at Miriam Hospital · NIH-11335603 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests simpler, lower-burden ways of tracking food and weight to help adults with obesity keep up with treatment and lose more weight.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Miriam Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Providence, United States) |
| Project start | May 15, 2024 |
| Project end | March 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $508,912 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DK136216-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11335603 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults aged 18 and older with overweight or obesity who are taking part in or planning to join a behavioral weight-loss program are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not trying to lose weight, minors under 18, or individuals for whom self-monitoring is unsafe or inappropriate (for example certain active eating disorders) may not benefit from participation.
What this research studies
You would try different ways of tracking what you eat and your weight, with the program switching methods at planned times to see which ones you can keep doing. The team will compare detailed daily logging with simpler, less-burdensome approaches and will repeatedly randomize which method you use so they can learn what works best for whom and when. They will collect your adherence data and changes in weight over time to personalize future recommendations. The goal is to figure out how to reduce the burden of tracking so people stay engaged in behavioral weight-loss programs.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could make tracking easier to maintain and improve weight-loss outcomes by matching the right tracking method to each person and time.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work suggests lower-burden self-monitoring can improve adherence and weight loss for some people, but there is not yet agreement on which methods to use or when to switch them.
Where this research is happening
-
Miriam Hospital
Providence, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Thomas, John Graham — Miriam Hospital
- Study coordinator: Thomas, John Graham
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.