Recently, my friends and I have come across the app “My Fitness Pal” for your phone. To use this app you begin by filling out general information about yourself such as weight, height, age, daily activity, exercise regimen, and weight goals (lose, gain, or stay the same). After you have submitted this information, the app spits back an estimation of your daily calorie consumption. With this date you are now able to record what food you’ve eaten and the app tells you how many calories you have consumed and how many you have left. You are also able to
record your workout and it increases the amount of calories you can have based on the amount of calories you burned in your workout. At the end of the day, you end your “diary” entry and the app projects what you will weigh in a certain number of weeks that you set at the initial time if you continue on the path. All the while, the app keeps track of your progress.
After using this app for a week I have learned a few things. The daily food diary allows me to be more aware of what I’m eating helping me keep my calorie consumption at a healthy level. This is very helpful because it raises awareness. The app has a plethora of different foods from a variety of sources, including Sodexo who provides Colby’s food, with calorie estimations. I have found that there are actually a lot less calories in things than I thought, but it also seems as though I should eat less (of unhealthy foods) than I had before. While I think it is immensely helpful to record the food you eat to make conscious decisions and lead a healthy lifestyle, it is not for everyone.
The downfalls of this app aren’t harmful, but do have implications. For one, I have noticed that my friend and I do not engage in conversation when we are looking at our phones entering the food we ate into our “diaries.” Of course, this is only a short period of time, but I can see how it can be annoying to those around you. This app could also cause food obsessions but more likely, it can be manipulated. It is easy to “forget” about the brownie you ate or claim you ate only ¾ of a slice of pizza rather than the whole thing. While this isn’t harmful, the app may project results that you do not reach, which could be frustrating.
However, if you are the kind of person who likes control and can be honest with yourself, this is a very helpful app. If you are happy with your already established regimen I would say this app could be annoying or unnecessary. Like anything, it’s hard to evaluate someone without personal contact so it’s not 100% accurate, but I have found it helpful and will continue using it for a while longer.
Have you tried “My Fitness Pal”? Les us know what you think! Do you have any helpful hints?
Photo Source:
http://myfitnesspal.com