According to Christi Brown, a nutritionist that specializes in binge eating recovery, the belief that weight loss apps can help you often start with a misconception about what “health” actually means. “People usually think that in order to be healthy, they have to lose weight. Health and weight loss are not mutually exclusive,” she says, “People think that using these apps will make them healthier, but often what it does is start to create an obsessive personality.” The most common weight loss apps are ones that give you a set number of calories to eat based on information you provide, and then allow you to log and track what you’re eating. Brown notes that these apps are specifically the ones that can be the most damaging when used incorrectly.
While Brown notes that these apps can be helpful to see portion sizes and gain a general understanding of what you’re putting into your body, they may not be fully accurate. “[Many apps] only target your Basal Metabolic Rate, or your BMR,” this is the number of calories your body uses at rest to breathe, grow hair and nails, and other basic functions essential for life. Because these apps may not take into account how many calories you burn throughout the day while moving, whether that’s exercising, walking, doing laundry, or moving around your house, it may present you with a very low number that won’t meet the need your body actually has to function at its best.
“Our bodies naturally find things that are scarce in our life. These apps often put people into very very high calorie deficit, which means we may start thinking of food as scare. What happens then is our bodies tell us we are in danger, or that we need food, which may cause us to binge or overeat if we restrict for too long.” Brown says. You may think that by following the app’s suggestion you are making a healthier choice, but in the long term it is impossible to maintain.
Additionally, because these apps often give you such a stiff calorie allowance, it may tempt you to go for the lower calorie foods, not the most nutritious ones. Brown warns that the calories in foods with no nutritional value, or “air calories” may seem like the safer bet, when really your body is losing out on essential vitamins and minerals. “When something has no nutrients, it goes right through your body, which is why you’re hungry fifteen minutes later.” Conversely, nutrient dense foods take time to digest because they are dispersing all the vitamins and minerals throughout the body, to support all the functions going on internally that are keeping you alive. For this reason, it’s important to focus more on nutritional value rather than calorie count, so using weight loss apps as a guide to health may be counterintuitive.
Ultimately, a healthy lifestyle is all about balance—the same thing goes for weight loss, which is not always the key to health. If you find yourself becoming consumed with numbers and calorie counts, it may be a sign to take a step back. “When health becomes a burden to your life, when it becomes restrictive or obsessive, that is not health at all anymore. Health is physical and mental, when you’re no longer mentally healthy around food anymore because you are obsessively tracking everything you put in your mouth, that’s when it starts to get sticky.” If you want to embark on a weight loss journey, focus instead on the nutritional foods you can add, not so much what you need to take away, and consult with a licensed healthcare provider about creating a plan that works for you and your goals.