Obese or overweight people need knowledge about their body weights, the foods they should eat, and the exercise they need to lose weight. Myfitnesspal is a CHI program that enables users to input data about their exercise habits, diet, current weight, and desired duration. (Anon, 2017). The app analyzes the data and gives users immediate input. The information produced includes the number of calories burned during specific physical exercise and the nutritional value of various foods. Therefore, users can choose their desired types of food and exercises based on the amount of energy and body weight they want to gain or lose.
Part 2: Literature Search on the Domain and Need
Article 1
Name of Article: Obesity
Name of Authors: Foster-Schubert KE, Alfano CM, Duggan CR, Xiao L, Campbell KL, Kong A, Bain CE, Wang CY, Blackburn GL, McTiernan A.
APA Citation: Foster‐Schubert, K. E., Alfano, C. M., Duggan, C. R., Xiao, L., Campbell, K. L., Kong, A. & McTiernan, A. (2012). Effect of diet and exercise, alone or combined, on weight and body composition in overweight‐to‐obese postmenopausal women. Obesity, 20(8), 1628-1638.
Web Address: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3406229/
Demographics
The study used 439 women of different ages from Seattle, WA region. According to Foster‐Schubert et al. (2012), all the respondents were post-menopause, mainly non-Hispanic Whites, and aged 50-75 years. The participants were also overweight-to-obese, had an MBI of about 30 kg/m2, and between 42-52 body fat. The target quality of consumers included those overweight and exercised less than 100 minutes per week. Respondents also had to be diagnosed with diabetes, use diabetes medications, or used menopause hormones within three months before the study to be included in this study.
Question explored
The study explored how calorie reduction, aerobic exercise, and low-fat diet affect change and composition of body weight.
Findings
The study found that adherence to aerobic exercise and dietary interventions enhanced body weight loss. For example, those who monitored their diet for 12 months but did not exercise lost about 7.2kg. On the other hand, those in dietary and exercise program lost 8.9kg (Foster‐Schubert et al, 2012). However, weight loss for those assigned to diet alone was higher than in those assigned to exercise alone. Regarding the composition of body weight, weight loss on the waist circumference was more than on other body parts for those who exercised.
Key data
Key data used in this study include respondents’ health habits, demographic information, body weight history, medical history, and reproductive history. The other data included diet intake, intensity, frequency, and duration of physical activity (Foster‐Schubert, et al, 2012). The authors successfully obtained the data using questionnaire at the end of the 1 year or 12-month research period. For example, they measured body weights using a balance beam scale while hip and waist circumferences were gauged using a fiberglass tape. On the other hand, they measured body fat using a dual X-ray absorptiometry while the levels of physical activities were assessed based on weekly exercises.
Article 2
Name of Article: Journal of the American Dietetic Association
Name of Authors: Lora E. Burke, Jing Wang, and Mary A. Sevick
APA Citation: Burke, L. E., Wang, J., & Sevick, M. A. (2011). Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(1), 92-102.
Web Address: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268700/
Demographics
The majority of the respondents on which this study relied included female particularly the whites of different ages (Burke, Wang, & Sevick, 2011). The target quality of respondents was that each of them engaged in physical activities and monitored his/her diet through self-weighing. The authors did not emphasize on other elements such as body weight and dietary.
Question explored
The study explored the question whether or not self-monitoring is associated with body weight loss.
Findings
The authors used 15 studies to explore the link between self-monitoring and weight loss. In all the surveys, they found a significant relationship between self-monitoring and body weight loss (Burke, Wang, & Sevick, 2011). The study compared therapist judgment or advice to consumers who did not monitor their progress and those who monitored their weight loss through self-monitoring. The authors found that in all studies that used therapist judgment, consumers had insignificant weight loss compared to consumers who monitored their weight loss (Burke, Wang, & Sevick, 2011). That is consumers who monitored their weight recorded more weight loss than those who had incomplete records of their body weight loss progress. Therefore, they concluded that dietary self-monitoring is significantly associated with weight loss.
Key data
Key data used in this study included self-monitoring behavior and weight outcome. The authors succeeded in extracting the data. For example, self-monitoring behaviors were gauged through the number of diaries ‘completed’ and date and time-stamped diaries. On the other hand, weight outcome was measured using weight loss and prevention of weight gain or loss.
Part 3: Analyze how the Application Meets Domain’s Need
Overweight people need to monitor and manage their body weight loss and gain. Myfitnesspal application helps users to measure their body weight and nutrient contents of the food they eat by entering the body weight and types of food in icons provided on the system (Anon, 2017). The application also allows users to enter the types of exercise and duration and then processes the data to indicate calories one will burn by doing such exercises. The application can be accessed on Androids, iPad, and iPhone by downloading or on Google apps by signing in for free. That is, the user needs only to register and can access the service anytime (Anon, 2017). As the user enters the type of food, the system breaks down the content to indicate the nutrient contents including the level of fat, salt, protein, energy, and carbohydrates among others. Therefore, users can easily use the app to choose types of food with their desired nutrient content thus easily managing their body weight.
Similarly, users can choose any type of aerobic and desired duration and the system quickly calculates the calories that one will lose by engaging in a particular exercise. Notably, some people have set the calories they want to lose within a given time. Myfitnesspal shows the exact duration over which the person should exercise in any form of aerobic to lose the desired calories (Anon, 2017). Most importantly, the application offers an endless list of foods and aerobics thus making it useful for all people. The application also includes graphs and charts for one to monitor the progress over time. Notably, the feedback is instant and the application is convenient to use (Lewis, 2005). The figure shows the type of food and breakdown for users.
Figure 1: Myfitnesspal Meal Breakdown
Source: Anon (2017)
However, if a user wants to exercise for 15 minutes h/she does not know the intensity of the aerobic required to ensure that h/she lose calories indicated on the CHI application. For example, people might engage in the same exercise but at different intensities thus lose different calories. Therefore, one has to measure the weight to confirm the results at the end of the exercise. Similarly, the system does not allow users to monitor weight gain or loss during consumption of a particular food (Bearden, 2016). Therefore, the user should measure the weight after a particular period to know the progress in weight loss or gain.
One improvement I would suggest for this app is the improvement to enable it operates without using wireless signals. Sometimes a user might need to login but if there is no signal it will be impossible thus the user cannot record anything in the app (Bearden, 2016). The device should be improved to operate without relying on wireless signals to make it useful in all situations (Lewis, 2005).
References
Anon. (2017). Myfitnesspal. Retrieved from http://www.myfitnesspal.com/mobile/iphone
Bearden, C. (2016). MyFitnessPal review: Pros & cons of top fitness app. Retrieved from https://www.builtlean.com/2013/09/19/myfitnesspal-review/
Burke, L. E., Wang, J., & Sevick, M. A. (2011). Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(1), 92-102.
Foster‐Schubert, K. E., Alfano, C. M., Duggan, C. R., Xiao, L., Campbell, K. L., Kong, A. & McTiernan, A. (2012). Effect of diet and exercise, alone or combined, on weight and body composition in overweight‐to‐obese postmenopausal women. Obesity, 20(8), 1628-1638.
Lewis, D. (2005). Consumer health informatics: Informing consumers and improving health care. New York, NY: Springer.
