A recent study highlights the emotional toll of fitness and calorie counting apps, uncovering feelings of shame and demotivation in users. Researchers advocate for a holistic approach to health and wellness, emphasizing overall wellbeing over rigid metrics.
Some users of popular fitness and calorie counting apps experience feelings of shame, disappointment and demotivation, potentially undermining their health and well-being, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and Loughborough University.
The study, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, analyzed 58,881 Twitter posts related to five widely used fitness apps: MyFitnessPal, Strava, WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Workouts by Muscle Booster, and Fitness Coach & Diet: FitCoach.
The researchers employed AI models to filter out 13,799 posts identified as carrying negative sentiment, and then grouped these posts into broad themes.
The findings revealed that users expressed shame at logging “unhealthy” foods, irritation at notifications to log calories or reduce sugar intake, and disappointment with slow progress towards algorithm-generated targets.
These emotional impacts often led to demotivation and abandonment of fitness goals, contrary to the intended use of these apps.
“Few studies have looked at the potential detrimental effects of these apps. Social media provides a huge amount of data that could help us understand these effects. By using AI, we were able to analyse this data more quickly,” senior author Paulina Bondaronek, a senior research fellow at the UCL Institute of Health Informatics, said in a news release.
“In these posts, we found a lot of blame and shame, with people feeling they were not doing as well as they should be. These emotional effects may end up harming people’s motivation and their health,” she added. “Instead of very narrow, rigid measures of success relating to amount of weight lost, health apps should prioritise overall wellbeing and focus on intrinsic motivation – i.e., the inherent enjoyment or satisfaction in activities.”
The research highlighted how rigid calorie targets and exercise metrics could foster negative emotional responses. Users struggled with complex calorie tracking, technical errors causing data loss, and the emotional burden of daily logging. Some reported being given unrealistic or unsafe calorie recommendations by their apps.
“When we send behaviour change tools out into the world, it’s so important that we check if they have any unintended consequences,” added co-author Lucy Porter, a senior research fellow in the the UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences. “Listening to users’ reports on social media has shown that fitness apps can sometimes leave users feeling demoralised and ready to give up – which is the exact opposite of what these tools are supposed to do!
The team also noted the potential for fitness apps to generate avoidant behaviors. Challenges in meeting app targets often resulted in users disengaging from their goals altogether. One user even noted, “If you allow [MyFitnessPal] to prescribe your calories you’ll end up with a deficit that’s unachievable, unsustainable and very unhealthy. You could also starve to death ….”
Bondaronek stressed the need for kinder self-monitoring practices.
“We need to learn to be kinder to ourselves. We are good at blaming and shaming because we think it will help us to do better but actually it has the opposite effect,” Bondaronek added.
Co-author Trisevgeni Papakonstantinou, a doctoral student in the UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, highlighted the power of AI in drawing insights from naturalistic data.
“Unsupervised machine learning (or we can say AI) lets us analyse insights from real-world social media data that would otherwise be inaccessible. By using these tools, we can turn naturalistic data into actionable insights for public benefit – and do so at scale, and at no cost,” Papakonstantinou said.
In conclusion, the study recommends a shift from rigid goal setting in fitness apps to a focus on holistic well-being and intrinsic motivation, potentially transforming the way these tools support users’ health journeys.
Florence Sheen, from Loughborough University, and Maria Ceka, from the University of Westminster, co-authored the study.
Source: University College London