Today is the 8-day anniversary of my iPhone, and in those eight days a whole bunch of people have asked if I've lost weight. At first I thought it was just that the iPhone made me look thinner — you know, like a good pair of jeans. But this morning I stepped on the scale and sure enough, I've lost four pounds.
I've done a retrospective analysis of the past 8 days of my life, and I think all four pounds can be directly attributable to significant iPhone-related lifestyle changes:
| More time spent surfing while standing up with iPhone, rather than seated with Macbook Pro | .1 |
| Walked to two meetings I previously would have driven to, because I can leave my Macbook at the office and can walk further when I'm not carrying it | .5 |
| Took kids for a long stroller ride while chatting on my Bluetooth headset | .25 |
| Elimination of snacking while waiting for Treo to S-L-O-W-L-Y load a web page | .5 |
| Skipped dinner because I got into bed with my daughter and my iPhone and couldn't tear myself away from the iPhone even after my daughter fell asleep | .25 |
| Walked to the bus after a meeting (rather than bringing the car) because I was able to have a walking-meeting-by-iPhone rather than rushing back to the office | .25 |
| Found a healthy recipe for dinner on Epicurious rather than ordering Thai food | .25 |
| Used iPhone during drive to work to access bank account, pay Visa card so there'd be money for groceries, rather than foraging for whatever (inevitably) higher-cal food happened to be in the cupboards when we got home | .75 |
| Avoided scheduling a meeting during my workout time because I was able to review an accurate current schedule on my iPhone | .25 |
| Overall reduction in anxiety-related snacking due to increased sense of well-being from iPhone-y goodness | .75 |
| TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS | 4 lbs |
When you compare the up-front cost of an iPhone the cost and performance of other weight loss programs, four pounds in a little over a week looks like a pretty good deal:
- If you sign up for Jenny Craig, you'll pay $77 to $119 per week (not including food) to lose 1-2 pounds a week; if it takes you seven weeks to lose 10 pounds, that translates into about $585 (compared to just $499 for a 16 GB iPhone, which at the current rate, will have me down by 10 pounds in just 2.5 weeks).
- NutriSystem charges $293 per month (including food), and you can figure on losing ten pounds in four to ten weeks — so figure it may cost as much as $732 to lose the weight an iPhone can take off in just four weeks.
- People lose weight faster on the Zone — something like 8 to 10 pounds a month — but it costs $40 per day; you could buy two iPhones for that money — with Bluetooth headsets!! — and lose weight with a friend.
Coming soon, the latest Apple campaign: iSkinny.
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