Using Apps & AI to Hit Your Goals. The Pros & Cons...
By: Jillian Foley, RD, LDN
Nutritionista
It wasn't that long ago we were resistant to the newest apps; finding them too complicated to get use to and feeling more comfortable with old-school methods. Now, with the growing number of apps and AI, if you are still resistent to trying it, you're gonna get left-behind. Let me break down the pros and cons of the most common types of technology to support your goals.
The fitness watch was one of the first forms of tech support that people adapted to. Companies like Fitbit and Garmin took your standard pedometer and created a step tracking,heart rate monitoring, calorie counting device. Now it's advanced to tracking things like sleep, stress levels, Vo2 max, and can even detect A fib.
Pros:
Watching your stats can be instant gratification. Doing a workout or taking a walk doesn't make you automatically stronger, but seeing the stats on your watch can be rewarding and leading to more consistency.
Seeing the numbers can help you make educated choices. For example, if you see that you burned 200 calories in a 1 hour walk, you may hesitate before grabbing the 350 calorie donut at work. Or, if you know you can comfortably hold 140 bpm when you run, then when you take a spin class and your heart rate is 120 bpm, you know you can increase your effort.
Cons:
Believing it's completely accurate and allowing it to upset you. As we already know with technology, it's not 100% accurate and obsessing over a calorie burn that you believe should have been higher or a Vo2 that drops isn't worth getting mad at yourself for it.
Food trackers like My Fitness Pal and Lose It have taken the place of traditional food journaling and seem to be something a lot of people are using lately.
Pros:
It can help you be more matter-of-fact about calories. For example, instead of being angry with yourself for having 2 slices of pizza, it can show you that it was 600 calories and you can move on. This can also help you make decisions on what's worth it to eat.
It also helps keep you honest about what you eat in a day that you otherwise may not acknowledge, like the couple times you tasted the dinner and the snack you grazed on in the kitchen.
Cons:
Obsessing or being discouraged about the uncertainty of calories in certain foods. Again, this app isn't 100% perfect and you may find different calorie ranges for certain foods. It's ok to make a best guess. It should be used to learn about what you eat, not control everything you eat.
Obsessing over the macro percentages. Not every day is exactly the same, so to expect your macros to always be hit is impractical and can create an all-or-nothing mentality.
Chat GPT and other AI apps are the newest to the technology world and can be intimidating, but with a little practice they can be an incredible tool when used properly.
Pros:
AI can be a great tool for talking out problems. The same way a nutrition or therapy session helps you work out problems, these programs will ask questions to the problems you give it, helping you come up with a decision quicker. It also remembers things you've said to it before, so over time it will understand you and offer appropriate suggestions to your requests.
It can map out your progress with you based on the numbers and information you give it. For example, when I told it how often I was practicing my bench and what my goal was, it gave me a plan and projected outcome if I were to follow through.
It can help break down the calories and the nutrition content of recipes and even pictures of your food in seconds, making it far easier than breaking it down yourself.
Cons:
It isn't a replacement for human interaction. While it's been programed to respond like a human, it is still just a tool. I've seen patients rely heavily on Chat's recomendations, only to be disappointed when what they were trying to do was too perfect and unachievable. "Robots", not yet anyway, don't understand the true psychology of humans and how they differ in how they accomplish things based on biases and past experiences.
It's not completely accurate. It makes mistakes, and not recognizing this can lead you down the wrong path. Working on your health is a learning process, and it's important to question what it says sometimes and find other resources of fact-checking.
Smart Scales have been increasingly popular lately. These scales show more than just traditional weight and give people information they never had before.
Pros:
Because these scales show muscle, fat and water percenages, it helps people become less obsessed about just the number on the scale. Scales fluctuate based on muscle, water/salt retention and bowel movements. Now people can understand these stats better and see the progress differently rather than believing they can't lose and gain to quickly.
Because you have more data, you can do experiments with your eating and/or exercise techniques to see if it results in any changes in body fat or muscle mass.
The data is typically saved to an app on your phone and is great for tracking for you.
Cons:
Becoming obsessed over body composition isn't worth it. We all have different body types and if you are putting the work in but you don't seem to build enough muscle in a certain muscle group, that doesn't mean you're failing. We can't fight the genes we are giving and the recommendations on these scales are generalized.
These are just some of the ways that these tools can help assist you in your journey. Life can be hectic and if there are tools to help, then you should use it. I'm sure there are others that I haven't mentioned and some that are being created as I finish this post. I'd love if you left a comment and shared what your go-to is, or what I left out.
Jillian Foley, RD Nutrititionista is a Registered Dietitian that specializes in Food Therapy. She believes that weight-loss & disease prevention/management is 20% food education & 80% psychological. She owns her own practice, accepting most insurances virtually or in person & offers courses to help you reach your goals quicker. You can find more info @www.Nutritionista267.com Follower her on IG @Nutritionista_1
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