Diet and fitness apps are often promoted to improve health. It’s beneficial if it could help develop an appropriate fitness routine, healthier diet, and correct maladaptive eating. Nutrition and fitness make medical records storing, over time changes monitoring, and personalized feedback easier. To be successful in self-monitoring and using calorie counting apps, users must regularly enter their data on the app to get an automated personalized recommendation. However, the way an app is designed can affect the attitudes, physique, nutrition, and behavior of its users. Explore how fitness apps impact their user physically, behaviorally, and psychologically by reading the following research studies below.
1. Motivates user
Sixty healthy, young adults were recruited from a campus community in Hyderabad – a South Indian city. They were 18 to 45 years old who were willing to reduce weight. To conduct the study, they were divided into two groups. Calorie counter and fitness apps selection was conducted in March 2016. For eight weeks the intervention group used one of the top three most popular apps which are Samsung’s S Health, MyFitnessPal, and FatSecret’s Calorie Counter. Results of the study showed that there’s no remarkable difference observed in the participants’ anthropometry or food consumption. Despite that their influence in bringing weight change or dietary patterns was limited, the apps were motivational and helpful in self-monitoring. Moreover, a 13.33% increasing trend in physical activity in the intervention group has been noted which could probably be attributed to the app’s ‘pedometer’ feature which automatically tracks the exercise activity of the users, thus making them motivated to be active. (1)
Another study that’s been published in 2020 assessed the effect of apps on its users. 143 adults with an average age of 38 years were the participants in this investigation. The findings of this study yielded that nutrition-information apps can be effective in overcoming personal limitations in approaching healthy food. It also decreases barriers to eating healthy food perceptions and improves users’ objective and subjective knowledge of healthy food. (2)
2. Physique changes
A research paper about Nutrilize app was published in 2022. For two to three months, 34 individuals participated in the study of the nutrition app. The subjects were slightly overweight but not yet obese. They want to improve their health and well-being but not focus too much on weight loss. During the study, some of the participants used the app while some had general nutritional advice via email. Some only used Nutrilize app for two months while others utilized it for three months. Outcome of the study demonstrated that the nutritional app can positively affect nutritional behavior. However, energy intake has been reduced and some had minimal physique changes only. This result could be partially attributed to the intervention’s duration and concentration on nutritional health instead of weight loss. (3)
3. Anxiety, obsession, dependency
Most apps are tested among healthy, and active adults. But in 2021, diet and fitness apps were tested on those who have eating disorders, thus it was able to highlight the unintended and unanticipated effects of using these apps on this kind of population.
Fitness apps can trigger and exacerbate symptoms of eating disorders if the user overuses them and concentrates much on quantification and getting certain types of diet feedback. In this study, 24 university women aged 18–23 years old were recruited. The selected participants have different nationalities. Moreover, they were either formally or self-diagnosed with eating disorders and had an eating disorder anywhere from two months to seven years. They also have used diet and fitness apps anywhere from two months to eight years. Most of them used MyFitnessPal, though some utilized other diet and fitness apps that have similar features with it. The subjects were interviewed, completed surveys and performed a think-aloud exercise where they had to speak out loud about what they were thinking and feeling while interacting with the app. Findings of the study revealed that several unintended and unanticipated negatives can occur when people with eating disorders use diet and fitness apps. This includes: [1] becoming calorie-counting obsessed especially when they developed a fixation on numbers because of the app’s quantification feature. In some participants, this changed their food relationship and worsened their eating disorder behaviors. [2] Developing obsessive thoughts around food, exercise, food intake logging, and following rigid diets. [3] Being dependent on the app, having anxiety when they stop using it, and being compelled to re-download it to relieve their anxiety. [4] Competing with themselves and with the app to eat less and less each day, because eating, exercise, and tracking have been gamified by the app. [5] Seeking approval from the app. These users tend to feel better and enjoy being rewarded when they’re being sent with progress acknowledgment feedback. This usually happens when they consume less than their allotted calories. However, when the feedback shows them, they exceeded their calorie budget, they feel guilty, embarrassed, and ashamed. [6-7] Experiencing extremely negative emotions and motivation when they receive negative messages because they surpassed their caloric budget. (4)
Improper usage of the app and too much reliance on it can lead to unintended negative consequences. Additionally, it can result in secondary effects that includes increased health issues, and disrupting healthy routines and practices related to personal relationships, school, work, and social dealings. While this research has shown that these apps have both positive and negative impacts, it is also important to remember that the success or failure of using these apps depends not only on the app’s design but how the user utilizes it. Sound judgment in using the app is needed to make these apps helpful not destructive.
Whether the users’ focus is to lose weight, eat less, gain weight, eat more, or recover from an eating disorder, nutritional and fitness apps should be properly designed, and must be versatile if they are offering it to the public in general. App makers must be clear about their intended users, and if their app does not cater to people with special conditions, notices and reminders should be provided to inform them that their app may not fully benefit them. Proper guidance must be at all times provided to its potential users.
Apps are indeed helpful in self-monitoring and tracking calories and physical activity. But it’s helpful to remember that continuous counseling and encouragement is important to to improve diet and eating behavior, especially for those with special conditions. People can be effectively helped if the feedback and recommendations being provided are personalized, have taken into consideration the user’s personal characteristics, and based on real-life context. These areas must be explored and considered to enhance user experience.
We have written a review about a calorie-counting app that we previously looked into. Click here to see the features that we liked in this nutrition app that you may not find in other apps. The article is not a sponsored post, and our assessment of this app is based on objective evaluation.
References:
- (1) Banerjee, P., Mendu, V. V. R., Korrapati, D., & Gavaravarapu, S. M. (2020). Calorie counting smart phone apps: Effectiveness in nutritional awareness, lifestyle modification and weight management among young Indian adults. Health informatics journal, 26(2), 816–828. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458219852531
- (2) Samoggia, A., & Riedel, B. (2020). Assessment of nutrition-focused mobile apps’ influence on consumers’ healthy food behaviour and nutrition knowledge. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.), 128, 108766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2019.108766
- (3) Hauptmann H., Leipold N., Madenach M., Wintergerst M., Lurz M., Groh G., Böhm M., Gedrich K., Krcmar H. Effects and challenges of using a nutrition assistance system: results of a long-term mixed-method study. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction (2022) 32:923–975. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-021-09301-y
- (4) Eikey, E. V. (2021). Effects of diet and fitness apps on eating disorder behaviours: qualitative study. BJPsych Open, 7(5), e176. doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.1011
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