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Sensei debuts mobile weight loss program

Sensei has announced an online and mobile phone weight loss program with features designed specifically for air travelers.

The application eliminates the guesswork consumers face when combining travel and diet. The new airport cuisine option gives Sensei clients the best chance to beat a common dieting challenge and ultimately reach their weight loss goals. In just two clicks via the Web or a mobile phone, air travelers receive meal recommendations available at their airport restaurants.

"The strategy is to encourage lifestyle change, healthy nutrition and weight loss, so we've added cuisine types to our Go Out preparation style in order to facilitate good choices for people on the go," said Bob Schwarzberg, CEO of Sensei, Boca Raton, FL.

"It is available on 150 different mobile phones," he said.

Sensei, an innovator in health and wellness, teaches consumers how to embrace a healthy lifestyle with customized meal plans, fitness tips and encouraging advice pushed directly to the dieter's mobile phone or computer desktop.

Sensei user's meal plan is customized based on lifestyle, cuisine preferences and budget.

Because it serves as a virtual dietitian and coach, the Sensei client is always reminded when to exercise, what to buy from the grocery store, and encouraged to "stick with it" when confronted with various challenges.

These personalized tips are sent directly to the Sensei user through his or her mobile phone and to their desktop helping dieters overcome common weight loss struggles.

Sensei's "eat out" option offers a variety of cuisine types to satisfy even the most selective appetite.

American, Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Thai), breakfast style, Italian, Latin/Spanish/Mexican, seafood and steakhouse meals are all available to the Sensei user.

Cost-conscious consumers have the option of setting their meal plans on a budget, ensuring their meal choices are both healthy and economical.

Sensei's airport meal option is the latest innovation in a string of popular, user-friendly programs.

The company recently launched a budget option which aims to save dieters at least $100/month on food cost and Sensei is the first integrated Web and mobile weight loss program available on the iPhone and iTouch.

It is also available on most BlackBerry models, as well as most AT&T and Sprint mobile phones.

"Our strategy is to continue to enhance our program by addressing our consumer's needs and interests," Mr. Schwarzberg said. "When going out to eat, whether at an airport or anywhere else, more often than not there is more than one choice of restaurant and meal choices are not available on any database.

"We wanted to provide our consumers with healthy choices they could make at any restaurant of their choosing," he said. "It is a step in our roadmap, as we anticipate encouraging and supporting restaurants across the country, that we will offer healthier meals for our consumers.

"We will be incorporating incentives, rewards, and location later this year."

Originally launched in November, 2007, Sensei for Weight Loss is among the first "intelligent applications" available based on Social Cognitive Theory and the science of behavioral informatics - the use of technology to promote behavior change.

The program draws on both Web and mobile technologies to personalize interaction with the user, maximizing convenience and, ultimately, increasing the user's prospects for long term weight-management success.

The experience begins online, where users enter their desired weight, food preferences, eating habits, meal times, exercise routines and other personal information. Sensei's expert system then works with the user to generate a realistic, customized nutrition and fitness plan.

"Sensei is all about making better choices," Mr. Schwarzberg said. "Timely personalized guidance, which in Sensei is offered and or solicited by the consumers, encourages better choices.

"Eating out can frequently result in impulsive choices and having suggestions of meals that are healthy, appealing and personalized makes that easier," he said.