Analyze the Effect of Healthy Behavior on Weight Change and Its Conceptual Use in Digital Behavioral Intervention

Abstract

The gradual increase of negative behavior in humans because of physical inactivity, unhealthy habit, and improper nutrition expedites the growth of lifestyle diseases. Proper lifestyle management may help to reach personal weight goals or maintain a normal weight range with optimization of health behaviors (physical activity, diet, and habits). This study conceptualizes a method to integrate the proposed mathematical model in a digital intervention strategy targeting obesity as a study case. We verify our proposed model with simulated data and compare it with related models based on the defined constraints. We express the mathematical model as a function of activity, habit, and nutrition with the first order law of thermodynamics, basal metabolic rate (BMR), total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), and body-mass-index (BMI) to establish a link between health behavior and weight change. We have used revised Harris-Benedict formulas (HB) for BMR and TDEE calculations. The proposed model showed a strong relationship between health behavior and weight change. The adoption of BMR and TDEE measures following the revised HB formula has outperformed the classical Wishnofsky’s rule (3500 kcal. ≈ 1 lb. or 7700 kcal ≈ 1 Kg.), and the models proposed by Toumasis et al., Azzeh et al., and Mickens et al. with an average standard deviation (σ) of ±2.26, ±2.67, ±2.432, and ±2.29 respectively. This study helped us to understand the impact of healthy behavior on weight change with a mathematical model and its importance in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.