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Program aims to tip scales via text messaging  Critics of modern communication devices have likened them to little devils encouraging people to move less in a country facing an obesity epidemic.   But cell-U-lite is a new digital service on the side of the weight-loss angels. Developed by MUSC's Weight Management Center, cell-U-lite offers a unique text-messaging service and provides participants with a simple weight loss tip every day, delivered conveniently to their cell phone or other messaging device.   Cell-U-lite messages are developed by the staff of the Weight Management Center and are designed to provide information, encouragement and reminders. Topics include nutrition, exercise, health, and behavioral and motivational techniques and the objective is to make weight management as much a part of participants' lives as their cell phones, Blackberries and Treos.   “Successful weight management requires a change in lifestyle, starting with your current lifestyle,” said Patrick M. O'Neil, Ph.D., Weight Management Center director. He said that text messaging is a particularly appropriate tool for 21st century weight control. “Few things are as much a part of today's lifestyle as cell phones and other messaging devices. We're trying to add to the better part of that equation by using these devices as weight-control messengers embedded in our subscriber's busy lives. Although not everyone sends text messages, the ability to receive them is increasingly common. That little gadget in your purse or on your belt can now be your weight loss buddy.”   Getting a weight management tip wherever someone happens to be also carries the potential advantage of timeliness. O'Neil experienced this when he was trying the beta version of the program. “I got on the elevator to go to my fourth-floor office on one of my lazier days,” he said. “Just as the doors were closing, my daily tip came in: ‘Just say no to the elevator. By taking the stairs, you'll burn extra calories.’ Talk about your moment.”   Subscriptions to cell-U-lite are free, although subscriber's mobile phone service providers may charge a fee for receiving text messages, depending on their specific service plans. (For questions about these charges, individuals should contact their cellular service provider.)     Friday, Aug. 24, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.