Editorial: Get on the Internet weight-loss plan

The Internet has a way of removing social obstacles. Whether writing status updates on social… The Internet has a way of removing social obstacles. Whether writing status updates on social networking sites — anonymous or not — or composing e-mails, people in an online community take risks they normally wouldn’t take in person.

As everyone should know by now, removing certain obstacles can end in tragedy — take for example electronic harassment and Internet-facilitated criminal activity. But opening people up to take risks is not always a bad thing. In fact, giving people a shelter of silicon chips and copper wires can empower them to make great decisions they otherwise wouldn’t — like losing weight.

Enter online weight-management courses.

An article in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education describes new reasons college students are finding to shed extra pounds and maintain healthy bodies. The article highlights a popular weight-loss program started two years ago at the University of Texas at Arlington. Students who enroll in the online “Exercise and Weight Management” course set personal weight goals, blog about reaching those goals and get a grade at the end of the semester.

In terms of brilliant courses that warrant copying-and-pasting on other college campuses, Texas might have struck gold. For one, an individual’s health is often a personal issue, and displaying one’s health in public — by, for example, meeting weekly with 30 others for a weight management course — can be uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that many might not bother to seek health guidance altogether.

As Christopher Ray, a University of Texas kinesiology professor quoted by the Chronicle, said, “The students who were most in need of weight-management help were probably the students who were most reluctant to come to face-to-face classes.”

What the course does best is offer valuable guidance to students who naturally desire a healthier body but don’t want to shout out their desire in front of throngs of others.

The anonymity of participation is one powerful incentive this course introduces; another is the grades.

The GPA is a great running buddy, though don’t trust it to spot you on the bench press.

Performing well in class is a major driving force behind the activities of most students, at least the devoted ones. And it’s an ingenious way to help students meet their self-developed weight loss goals.

For those who see incentivizing healthy habits with transcript-affecting grades as an unholy intrusion of Big Brother University’s values into the lives of its independent students, remember, at U Texas-Arlington the class is an elective, and nevertheless enrollment is popping at its seams.

If more higher education institutions inaugurate similar programs, the cause of college students’ health will take a step forward.