{"id":431,"date":"2016-02-22T10:37:26","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T15:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eiq.knx.mybluehost.me\/website_78d26930\/bigdatacourse?p=431"},"modified":"2016-02-22T10:37:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T15:37:26","slug":"lose-it-losing-weight-and-gaining-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/lose-it-losing-weight-and-gaining-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Lose It!: Losing Weight and Gaining Guilt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lose<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the self-tracking apps I have on my phone is Lose It!, an app intended to help its user lose weight by tracking their food intake and their exercise. \u00a0After the user inputs their desired weight loss targets, the app creates a daily calorie allowance, and counts all food and exercise either for or against it. \u00a0At the end of the day, that day is either highlighted as red or green, depending on whether the calorie count was exceeded (bad, red) or not yet reached (good, green). \u00a0The app also shows weekly trends and encourages the user to weigh-in regularly, to see if the goals are being met. \u00a0This app requires regular, consistent use to work correctly; all food and all exercise must be put in without forgetting, which encourages the user to input information into the app after every meal or session at the gym. \u00a0Optional information inputs include weigh-ins, body fat percentage, BMI, and other specific health calculations, but these are not required for the basic functions of the app. \u00a0This app has the possibility to post to social media, but I do not allow it to do so because I don’t really need everyone in my life knowing how much I weigh or how often I exercise or eat pizza. \u00a0The app itself encourages me to stay on track, and the privacy concerns of letting other people know this information outweigh any potential benefit I could get from doing so.<\/p>\n

I could see this app being immediately helpful for those who want to lose weight, or even for those who for health reasons want to track their nutritional intake and exercise. \u00a0The optional inputs allow for long-term usage that can help people see how their habits have impacted their health over time. \u00a0Information from this app, if accurate, could also be used by health professionals to see if their patients are following through on doctor-given mandates, or just to track\u00a0possible causes for the patients’ health issues.<\/p>\n

I stopped using this app after several weeks, not because it was ineffective but because of how ashamed I felt if I didn’t meet the daily caloric requirements. \u00a0Seeing that red bar affected me emotionally, and made me feel bad for going even 10 calories over what I was arbitrarily allowed by the app. \u00a0The negative emotional impact of the app outweighed the small health benefits I was getting from it. \u00a0To replace the work the app had done, I used a friend as an accountability partner, and we began going to the gym together. \u00a0I don’t ever weigh myself (as I don’t really want to lose weight, I just want to be healthier), and I work out more frequently and with less stress.<\/p>\n

In many cases, self-quantifying can be helpful, and providing that information to professionals might provide a more nuanced approach to all-around health. \u00a0But in some cases, like mine, self-tracking has negative emotional externalities that aren’t often considered. \u00a0It’s important in every individual’s case to think about what their priorities are, and balance those against the emotional and privacy concerns that self-quantifying might bring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  One of the self-tracking apps I have on my phone is Lose It!, an app intended to help its user lose weight by tracking their food intake and their exercise. \u00a0After the user inputs their desired weight loss targets, the app creates a daily calorie allowance, and counts all food and exercise either for
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjsylvia.com\/bigdatacourse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}