Health & Fitness Apps - Effective?

[Psamathe]

They seem quite popular (and one family member always wears one of those wrist thingy's communicating with his smartphone.

But a study

Fitness apps found to make almost no difference to users' health
Researchers studied a range of apps and found only one was effective, while others failed to spark improvements or made the problem worse
...
An app developed by the Swedish government to curb drinking among university students actually led to them drink more, while a globally popular fitness app made almost no difference to the weight of those who used it, a review of the effectiveness of health apps has found.
....
And it was found users of the popular fitness and diet tracking app, MyFitnessPal, showed no significant reduction in weight loss or behaviours around physical activity and diet when compared with those who did not use the app.

(Probably a bit unfair for me to highlight the MyFitnessPal mention in the article other than it is one I've heard of befor e(never used any of them myself).

Ian

[Tangled Metal]

I suspect there's an element of you get it of it what you put in. By that I mean most users only half heartedly use the full range of functions of these apps. If you don't record all your meals accurately in a calorie counter part of a fitness app what use is yay function? If you don't wear your fitness tracker on all periods of physical activity and it doesn't have a hrm function then what point is it?

Then there's the question whether these apps really offer anything over a simple notebook and paper or an excel spreadsheet? Some offer some form of coaching and tailored fitness plan. For example fitbit own fitstar iirc which offers such fitness plans.

There's so many tracker apps out there which one is right for you? I'm on strava, Garmin and iirc noom a calorie counter app. I've looked at others too but it comes down to using fitbit with my fitbit Surge but my cycling goes on strava. I don't really look at fitbit app much.

My use of apps are to record my cycling. For fitness I monitor myself. I eat what I need to eat and do at least the minimum exercise for maintaining fitness. With this I've started from a good level of health and fitness and it's easy to maintain.

For those who need to improve health and fitness then no app can do that it's the individual who's got to make the changes. At best an app can be a record if you use it fully. Some might offer advice plans and feedback. If that works for you to receive phone notifications to become active then great. You still have to react and become active.

The truth is apps can't do anything for you wrt health and fitness. You're the only one to affect change. To expect the act of having signed up to an app and superficially using it to result in change then condemn it when it's the human who's not made the change makes little sense to me.

I wonder if the same thing is true with weight watching groups. However human peer pressure can help actual human weight or health groups succeed so probably not the same result of looked into.

[softlips]

My Fitbit and the app have helped me lose 5 stones. The Fitbit showed my activity, I make sure (most days) I burn more calories than I eat. The app has educated me re portion sizes.

I agree it won’t work for everyone, but it certainly has for me.

[mjr]

And it was found users of the popular fitness and diet tracking app, MyFitnessPal, showed no significant reduction in weight loss or behaviours around physical activity and diet when compared with those who did not use the app.

(Probably a bit unfair for me to highlight the MyFitnessPal mention in the article other than it is one I've heard of befor e(never used any of them myself).

The Guardian summary seems misleading. The study concerned is of about 100 people told to use it compared with a control group of 100, not users in general. Two confounders were that some of the control group chose to use the app, which is suspected to make weight loss more likely, while almost a third of the treatment group were lost before the end of the study.

[Tangled Metal]

As I thought, a bit of bunkum made into copy for a newspaper lite on content. Typical guardian!

[Psamathe]

And it was found users of the popular fitness and diet tracking app, MyFitnessPal, showed no significant reduction in weight loss or behaviours around physical activity and diet when compared with those who did not use the app.

(Probably a bit unfair for me to highlight the MyFitnessPal mention in the article other than it is one I've heard of befor e(never used any of them myself).

The Guardian summary seems misleading. The study concerned is of about 100 people told to use it compared with a control group of 100, not users in general. Two confounders were that some of the control group chose to use the app, which is suspected to make weight loss more likely, while almost a third of the treatment group were lost before the end of the study.

I assume you are referring to the study researching MyFitnessPal (rather than the study the report is about).

Ian

[Psamathe]

As I thought, a bit of bunkum made into copy for a newspaper lite on content. Typical guardian! :wink: :D

For me the relevant main point is about how little research has been done into the effectiveness of these apps (given the massive size of the market). So often we see something as "obviously a help" (e.g. Glucosamine & Chondroitin or helmet wearing) yet when it comes to it not a lot of research to back-up the assumption.

Ian

[mjr]

I assume you are referring to the study researching MyFitnessPal (rather than the study the report is about).

Yes, the study the report is about is a literature review that summarises the MFP-using research in an arguable way, alongside many others, then the Guardian summarises it further to make it sound even worse. It's poor journalism IMO.

[eileithyia]

All depends on how you use it....
Using MFP certainly in the early days made me think about what i was eating and whether or not i should have that extra biscuit of slice of toast while at work.... but then again depends how honest you are.
It also showed me how the content of foods stack up, and the underestimation of calories burned ... ie local cafe does a very nice Paradise slice, i was gestimating this to be 60gms, one I bought a slice home to weigh... only to find it was 120gms, so double the calories I thought i was consuming.

Also means I keep an eye on protein content and have increased it.. while reducing sugary stuff.... I am now 4-5kilos lighter.

[Ron]

Another MFP fan here, who found it very effective. It is after all a free weight loss programme which doesn't require attendance at any "classes", so difficult to find anything to complain about! .
I tried unsuccessfully for several years to lose weight after my GP pointed out my weight was above that recommended. After signing up to MFP the weight started to drop off immediately. I didn't have a fitbit or equivalent, but recorded walking and cycling times and distances using associated free websites and my android phone. Measuring exercise added a bit of fun to the tedium of maintaining the food diary by giving an extra daily calorie allowance which in turn "allowed" me to eat a bit of cake or extra dessert and still remain within the daily calorie allowance.
As has been said above the MFP helps to educate the user regarding portion control and which foods to avoid or limit in order to achieve weight loss. Of course it can only be effective if the daily food and exercise diary is completed accurately.

[flat tyre]

My wife started using myFitness pal about 2 months ago. Although not overweight, she was concerned that her weight was increasing. I have to say that it has been very effective....for me, as we eat more or less the same meals I found that I've lost 2kg which I didn't really need to do, although I'm now slap bang in the middle of what is deemed a "healthy" BMI range. Meanwhile her weight gain has ceased, but she has only lost about 1kg.

[Psamathe]

..... I'm now slap bang in the middle of what is deemed a "healthy" BMI range.....

I was shocked by a reaction I got to my weight the other day, indicating what people "expected" normal to weigh. I had to visit a GP (my GP does not know me as I go so rarely and didn't even see my own GP). She commented "you are a bit skinny" to which I responded actually I'm bang in the middle of the recommended BMI range. So she decided to weigh me and did not pursue the matter. I made the assumption that she had become acclimatised to seeing people a bit bulkier and had mentally adjusted her perception of "normal".

(My visit was completely unrelated to my weight)

Ian

[ianrobo]

I responded actually I'm bang in the middle of the recommended BMI range.

my BMI is now 29 which puts me at overweight ! so when I had a visit to the docs for depression he gave me a quick physical and mentioned this and then I told him what I did, needless to say end of conversation at that point !

BMI is totally useless and irrelevant and the waist/hip ratio is a fair better measure ...

For me it is the fact I can get into 34 inch jeans, medium tight t shirts, which tells me all I need to know !

As the apps, I use of course Strava, garmin and MFP and they just help me track where I am which is all the motivation I need

[foxyrider]

I score 27 on the BMI table, several points high for my height (178cm/86kg). When I was under medical supervision last year the medical practitioners pretty much told me that BMI was useless when they are looking at active 'sports people' - denser bones and muscle weight make a mockery of it.

Yes it might give some indication to the average sedentary Joe or Jane but health professionals should know better than to apply it blanket style to the whole population.

Whilst i'd like to be a couple of kg lighter i'd prefer to lose flab of which I have a persistent lump over kg.