It may surprise you that although there are thousands of apps for healthy living and diets and a few hundred directly related to weight loss and weight management (Breton, Fuemmeler and Abroms, 2011, p. 2) there has been very little study about how well these apps actually work in terms of accuracy and assistance in actual weight loss. Various magazines like Good Housekeeping and personal blogs let you know the author's "favourite app" for tracking weight, but barely any actual research findings are mentioned. As a higher education student I think about these kinds of things and so am a little skeptical about their real utility.
The app I am currently using is MyFitnessPal which Jodie had me download at the start of our pact. It's simplicity is what really appeals to me because my knowledge of calorie counting is incredibly limited. I like the fact I can search for foods and more often than not what I am searching for has already had its data inputted in the app. I love the bar code scanning feature which automatically finds the product I am looking for. When you finish uploading for the day the app will tell you what your weight would be after 5 weeks if you ate everyday the same as you had that day. On days where I had stuck to my goals it was encouraging, and on days where I given myself free reign it would take me aback and I give me a boost to go back to my original course.
The selections for Strength and Cardiovascular exercise are somewhat lacking in variety, for example I searched for High Intensity Circuit Training and other similar variations and found no results for any of them. Also, you can see your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake from the day in terms of a pie chart but it does not track you sodium or sugar intake which can make a big difference. For this reason Jodie uses a different app which she may write a review on at some point. Eventually I may move on to another app, especially as I should probably manage my sugar intake better...
However, for the moment, this app will do. Having an app on your phone does make things easier on your diet. Originally I thought I would find it irritating, but actually I've found it very useful.
The best approach is to search for the items of food you want to eat before you purchase/order them. Say you're in a restaurant, Olive Garden for instance. Before ordering the Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta appetizer, plug it into your app. You may be shocked (as I was) that the entire plate contains 970 calories. Eating half of this plate would have taken up a good chunk of my calorie limit for the day. You can, of course, still choose to eat it. Nothing is really stopping you except your own motivation and willpower, but maybe finding out the details of the dish will make you rethink your choice. The same happened when I stopped at a gas station and wanted an Icee and a creme egg. I plugged them into my app and weighed up whether it was worth it too consume the calories. On a day where I plan to eat very healthy meals with few calories there may be some room for a creme egg. That day I decided to forgo both items. And I actually came away feeling very proud of myself, because my willpower is seriously terrible (I totally ordered the Fonduta anyway that day).
As to how accurate these apps are, that it somewhat up in the air. I have scanned something inaccurately before and the app told me that they had no record of the product so far, so asked if I could input the information myself. Therefore, the app clearly has had user input, and as long as those users were honest and accurate then there is no problem. Without knowing the statistics and research which so far is lacking, it's hard to say how accurate everything will be, so I would definitely double check yourself if you have the information in front of you.
I would still definitely recommend downloading an app. Download a few and see which ones work best for you. Don't rely on it as an exact and completely accurate portrayal of your calorie intake, but use it as an aid to give you a general idea. Hopefully soon research will catch up with technology and we'll see just how useful these things are.
Source: Breton, E., Fuemmeler, B. & Abroms, L. (2011) "Weight loss - there is an app for that! But does it adhere to evidence-informed practices?" in Transitional Behavioral Medicine, 1(4), December, pp. 523 - 529
 |
| Image courtesy of WithingsBlog |
The app I am currently using is MyFitnessPal which Jodie had me download at the start of our pact. It's simplicity is what really appeals to me because my knowledge of calorie counting is incredibly limited. I like the fact I can search for foods and more often than not what I am searching for has already had its data inputted in the app. I love the bar code scanning feature which automatically finds the product I am looking for. When you finish uploading for the day the app will tell you what your weight would be after 5 weeks if you ate everyday the same as you had that day. On days where I had stuck to my goals it was encouraging, and on days where I given myself free reign it would take me aback and I give me a boost to go back to my original course.
The selections for Strength and Cardiovascular exercise are somewhat lacking in variety, for example I searched for High Intensity Circuit Training and other similar variations and found no results for any of them. Also, you can see your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake from the day in terms of a pie chart but it does not track you sodium or sugar intake which can make a big difference. For this reason Jodie uses a different app which she may write a review on at some point. Eventually I may move on to another app, especially as I should probably manage my sugar intake better...
However, for the moment, this app will do. Having an app on your phone does make things easier on your diet. Originally I thought I would find it irritating, but actually I've found it very useful.
The best approach is to search for the items of food you want to eat before you purchase/order them. Say you're in a restaurant, Olive Garden for instance. Before ordering the Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta appetizer, plug it into your app. You may be shocked (as I was) that the entire plate contains 970 calories. Eating half of this plate would have taken up a good chunk of my calorie limit for the day. You can, of course, still choose to eat it. Nothing is really stopping you except your own motivation and willpower, but maybe finding out the details of the dish will make you rethink your choice. The same happened when I stopped at a gas station and wanted an Icee and a creme egg. I plugged them into my app and weighed up whether it was worth it too consume the calories. On a day where I plan to eat very healthy meals with few calories there may be some room for a creme egg. That day I decided to forgo both items. And I actually came away feeling very proud of myself, because my willpower is seriously terrible (I totally ordered the Fonduta anyway that day).
 |
| Image Courtesy of Olive Garden At Home |
As to how accurate these apps are, that it somewhat up in the air. I have scanned something inaccurately before and the app told me that they had no record of the product so far, so asked if I could input the information myself. Therefore, the app clearly has had user input, and as long as those users were honest and accurate then there is no problem. Without knowing the statistics and research which so far is lacking, it's hard to say how accurate everything will be, so I would definitely double check yourself if you have the information in front of you.
I would still definitely recommend downloading an app. Download a few and see which ones work best for you. Don't rely on it as an exact and completely accurate portrayal of your calorie intake, but use it as an aid to give you a general idea. Hopefully soon research will catch up with technology and we'll see just how useful these things are.
Source: Breton, E., Fuemmeler, B. & Abroms, L. (2011) "Weight loss - there is an app for that! But does it adhere to evidence-informed practices?" in Transitional Behavioral Medicine, 1(4), December, pp. 523 - 529
No comments:
Post a Comment