MyFitnessPal: mHealth Applications

Lorayna Lucero

Health Science, California State University Channel Islands

Prof. Ashley Winans

HLTH 302-003

May 1, 2022
Introduction

There were many different mobile health(mHealth) applications that would benefit

consumers by helping manage any chronic conditions, or just to keep tracking any physical or

mental wellness. For my specific goal of losing weight and maintaining physical activity, I

decided to use the mHealth app called MyFitnessPal. In my life, I have never taken my weight

too seriously because I never thought of the consequences of eating junk food or drinking sugary

drinks could do to my body. Over time, that way of thinking changed and in the last few years, it

drastically changed when my nephews were born. The main reason for me to lose weight and

keep up with physical activity is to keep up with the little boys running around, and showing

them what good nutrition looks like. Before downloading the app, I wanted to look at the reviews

first. I found an article that was written by a blogger who used the app for thirty days. In a blog

post by Megan Ayala, she said, “The bottom line is that regardless of what your health and

fitness goals might be, MyFitnessPal is an amazing tool available to you at no charge.” After

reading her blog post about why the app was an important tool for weight loss, I made a decision

to download it and try it out. The app MyFitnessPal covers both of my goals of losing weight and

keeping up physical activity because the app had areas for logging in my food, and water intake,

counting calories, coming up with meal plans, tracking physical activity, and measurements of

my body.

Body Paragraphs

To begin with, for the last month or so of using MyFitnessPal, I have seen minor changes

in my appetite and energy levels. In the beginning, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing with

figuring out a meal plan and finding time to work out. In the first two weeks of using the app, I

was using the free features, which is where you logged in food, water intake, and physical
activity. It wasn’t until I decided two weeks into using the app, that I will upgrade to the

premium feature on MyFitnessPal, that the app had a one-month free trial using premium

features. With premium features, you get personalized goals, ad-free, meal plans, analysis and

insight on food intakes, guided fitness routines, and nutrition tracking. Using the premium

features was working better with what I wanted to do because it gave me a guideline on what I

needed to follow. For the most part, using the app was not that difficult to use. For tracking the

food portion, there was an option to scan a barcode to get all the nutritional value, but if you

didn’t have the barcode you simply just give a description in the search area, and the results

come up with what you are looking for, and you put the serving size. That goes the same with

water intake, you can either estimate how much water you drank or you could input the cup size.

The only difficult thing about the app is figuring out which meal plan and fitness plan are right

for you. I haven’t fully pledged myself to any meal plans or workout plans because I am still

testing out which one is right for me. I go into one plan and try a few recipes, and I try out fitness

exercises to see what works. The app does not take too much time out of someone’s day, but I

often forget to keep logging in food and water, but the does allow me to go back to the day I

missed and input what I ate and drank that day.

Adding to the discussion, I have been using the app for about a month, and have noticed

my health slightly changing. Although it has only been a month into using the app, I have seen

changes in my attitude, sleep schedule, and energy levels. All these changes I have noticed, are

good except for the fact that I am getting too aware of the fact of what I am eating. I have also

lost a few pounds, but not a whole lot because my plan is to take things slow and not rush into

losing a whole bunch of weight because I also want to maintain a stable weight. With the

changes, I have seen in myself, I noticed my attitude has been a lot better, I feel a little happier,
see things clearer, and I am more aware of my surroundings. I have noticed that my sleep

schedule has been getting a lot better, I normally would get my eight hours in but I would still

feel tired waking up, but now I wake up feeling refreshed. I also have more energy that can carry

me throughout the day because I would just lose energy in the middle of the day and I wouldn’t

have any energy left in the tank to go on. I would need to continue using the app to see any major

changes within my body, but I am noticing the small changes which is a good thing because you

need little victories every now and then.

In addition to the above, after using the app for a month I would recommend others to use

this app. For the people who want to keep track of their food, and physical activity this app is for

them because it is the free features that come with just signing up. If a user wants a more

in-depth meal and fitness plan, I recommend paying for the premium features. The premium

features cost twenty dollars monthly or eighty dollars annually, but you can sign-up for the

month free trial. The most important thing to remember about using this app, is you need to hold

yourself accountable when tracking your food. According to Patel et al. 2020, “Consistent

Trackers lost twice as much weight as Inconsistent Trackers at 1- and 3-months, and almost three

times as much weight at 6 months.” This example means that if someone is consistent with

tracking their food and keeping up with fitness plans and meal plans, they are most likely to lose

weight and maintain that weight loss. I would also recommend using MyFitnessPal long-term

instead of a month because you will see results over time. I also recommend the app because I

found nothing wrong with using the app, it was quite easy to use. When you first download the

app, a tour on how to use the app appears and it was easy to follow. Using the app is pretty

straightforward, with finding the progress reports, nutrition reports, and getting reminders to

input your food for the day. Although the one thing I would change about the app is the layout
and design. The app itself needs an upgrade because it looks boring and plain, it does not look

user-friendly, but it is user-friendly. I would also change the layout of the app, such as the home

page just has the calorie counter, and then a bunch of ads promoting recipes and workouts.

Overall, I would recommend the app to users who are looking to lose weight, gain weight, or

even maintain weight.

Conclusion

To bring this discussion to a close, there are many options for mobile health applications

that can help manage any chronic diseases, track fitness activity, or mental wellness. For the

mHealth app, I decided to use MyFitnessPal for my specific goals of losing weight and tracking

physical activity. The MyFitnessPal app provided all the necessary tools, I needed to succeed to

have a healthier journey. Within the app, the free features has tracking nutrition, water intake,

and physical activity. There is a premium feature that costs money, but I think it is worth paying

for the features because it comes with meal plans and fitness plans that make being healthier

easier. Although I only used the app for a month, I have seen slight changes in my behavior,

appetite, sleep, and energy levels. To see more changes within myself, I would need to use the

app for a longer period of time, such as six months to a year. For the time, I have spent using the

app I would recommend others to use the app to lose or gain weight. All in all, I am gaining a

greater understanding of the journey of losing weight, meaning that it takes time and patience,

and I need to trust the process. Using this app has been a great learning experience because now I

know what to do with meal prepping and planning a fitness routine.

 References

Ayala, M. (2022, March 10). Myfitnesspal review: What I learned after 30 days (2022).

PatriciaandCarolyn.com. https://patriciaandcarolyn.com/myfitnesspal-reviews/

Patel, M. L., Brooks, T. L., & Bennett, G. G. (2020). Consistent self-monitoring in a

commercial app-based intervention for weight loss: results from a randomized trial. Journal of

Behavioral Medicine, 43(3), 391–401.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1007/s10865-019-00091-8