safefood launches new free weight loss app, ‘weight-mate’

A free smartphone app to help people lose weight in a healthy, sustainable way has been launched today by safefood. “weight-mate” from safefood is free to download for both iPhone and Android and is available in the App Store and Google Play. The app has been developed to encourage long term weight loss for those that are overweight or obese.

Developed by nutritionists the safefood app features a daily food and physical activity tracker as well as more than 400 calorie-counted recipes and meal plans. Users can plan and track their meals and activities to help them reach their own weight loss goals.

The app also features a ‘Groups’ function whereby users can set up their own weight loss or physical activity group in their own community or workplace or join an existing group in their local area via the app.

Speaking about the development of the app, Richard Murphy, Head of IT, safefood said, “We believe the creation of weight-mate is a huge step in the right direction towards a healthier Ireland. Almost three out of every four adults now carry smartphones and developments in technology and mobile usage have created an opportunity for people to lose weight with the help of an app.”

“Before creating weight-mate, safefood assessed the requirements of the Irish population and determined that what was needed was the provision of an app that included both nutritionally-balanced meal plans and passive health tracking”, continued, Richard Murphy, Head of IT, safefood “Working with Showoff, the development company, we integrated weight-mate with Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit, Withings and Jawbone, all of which provided us with a huge amount of data that we could use to help our users better understand about a healthier lifestyle.”

Key features of weight-mate:

· It’s a completely free, independent weight loss tool developed by safefood

· weight-mate will provide you with nutritionally-balanced meal plans developed by a team of nutritionists to suit your tastes. There are over 400 recipes on the app.

· You’ll get motivational tips and advice

· Get news of events in your local area

· You’ll achieve rewards as you reach key goals

· You can integrate weight-mate with HealthKit and other exercise tracking devices on your phone

· You can find a group to support you in your own area or you can set up your own

· Receive regular notifications to help keep you on track for a healthy weight

Speaking about the development of the app, Shane Byrne, co-founder and CEO of Showoff said, “We developed both the iOS and Android apps natively and the entire backend solution was built on Ruby on Rails as we find that this is the best solution to support rapid growth and scalability, as well as being easy to iterate upon. We also integrated ‘3D touch’ dynamic short cuts for even faster accessibility of the key features of the app.”

Launching the app, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said: “Lots of people think about their health and weight at this time of year. That’s a good thing, because although obesity levels have stabilised, the recent Healthy Ireland survey showed that 60% of Irish people are overweight. But if you are planning to lose weight, you need a plan and you need good advice. weight-mate can give you a helping hand by suggesting healthy meals, helping you to set goals and giving you encouraging hints.

“In Health, the focus is generally on the day to day problems we face but we will never get on top of these or get budgets under control in the long-term if we don’t improve our health as individuals and as a nation. Being healthy starts with personal responsibility, but the Government also has a role to play. That’s why we are supporting weight-mate, and why we are also pressing ahead with new legislation to make calorie information compulsory on food displays.”

Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, Director, Human Health & Nutrition, safefood said “When it comes to weight loss, the facts of the matter are that quick-fix, fad diets are unsustainable and ineffective and we know that it only leads to people ‘yo-yo’ dieting and regaining the weight they’ve lost or in some cases, even becoming heavier”, continued Dr Foley-Nolan. “Our free weight-mate app helps people to set goals, make realistic plans to eat better and exercise more and monitor those; we know from behaviour change studies that these techniques help people to stick with healthier habits for the long-term. Our app is aimed at the general adult population, not associated with any commercial product and developed by qualified nutritionists”