There are millions of people on Twitter, each doing their own thing. Personally, I am stalking a famous British actor and amusing myself by trying to figure out what Cher means by her tweets. But, what you might not know, there are many people who are turning to Twitter to achieve their weight loss goals. There are so many in fact that there has been a study to track how well the idea works. A book called Your Twitter Diet has also been written by one person who has had success with this social media.

First, the book. Your Twitter Diet was written by Rebecca Regnier who is both a TV host and author from Michigan. The 43 year old started tweeting about her weight loss efforts and successes in 2008. The book came out after she hit her goal and details how to use Twitter to not only lose pounds and inches but to keep them off as well. She is not the only one to have documented weight loss progress and goals on Twitter, however. Both Senator Claire McCaskill and a reporter for the New York Times, Brian Stelter have documented their weight loss by tweeting. McCaskill tweeted about her diet and exercise daily, eventually leading to a fifty pound weight loss while Stelter tweeted every bite that he was eating, losing ninety pounds to hit his goal.

The study, performed by the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health is listed as one of the first of the studies that not only documented but measured the impact that Twitter may have on dieting. The findings of the study have been published to the Translational Behavior Medicine journal. That study looked at a small group of overweight/obese adults and then assigned them to one of two groups. The first group were asked to listen a nutrition and fitness related podcast a few times a week. The second group were also asked to listen to the podcast but to report their activity and make other connections with other group members on Twitter.

The researchers found at the end of the study, which lasted six months, the Twitter using group lost more weight than the other group.

The experts agree that Twitter can function in much the same way that face to face meetings may without the hassle and expense. In areas where limited meeting times are available, Twitter can fill a void. Since you can tweet 24/7, it is also easier to find connections and get the feedback you need, when you need it rather than waiting for a meeting to start.