evaluation

1. Evaluation of MyFitnessPal
Summer Johnson
Eating a healthful diet and being physically active are both important parts of achieving
and maintaining a healthy weight. Smartphone applications are being developed to help promote
and provide opportunities to acknowledge and change health behaviors. MyFitnessPal, ‘is one of
the most popular health and fitness4’ application available and has a job to inform and draw
attention on food and beverages that are being consumed on a daily basis.1 This application
operates by inputting a personal log that requires information and conscious effort. Information
of daily activities, such as if you have a desk job or an active job, what you are eating and
whether you want to maintain or lose weight.1 To fulfill calorie and nutrition requirements it
takes one’s personal information that one enters and recommends how much calories are needed
for the rest of the day. However, due to the vast amount of smartphone applications that are
promoting healthy lifestyles, proper evaluations on quality and evidence based information is
recommended to be collectively judged and researched. The purpose of this paper is to examine
the quality of MyFitnessPal as a tool to maintain a healthy calorie count for your body which
will be evaluated based on its efficacy, accuracy, ease of use, and ratings of current users.
Judging the efficacy of a smartphone application is to evaluate if it actually works for the
purpose it is supposed to hold. This application is designed to “help you take your extra pounds
off” by a conscious log of your food intake in a diary, which is one of the most reliable way this
application is constructed to work. One way to determine if an application works for promoting
behavior change (something called efficacy within scientific circles) is to examine how many
evidence-based features the application includes. According to Baranowski in Obesity research,
MyFitnessPal incorporates several evidence based techniques such as setting goals, monitoring

2. intake, and making the users acknowledge how to attain positive behavioral change5. Based on
this, while no randomized trials exist, the use of evidence-based intervention strategies increases
confidence that the application may “work” to help individuals lose weight. This was also
supported by research of Pagoto et al. Pagoto et al compared application features to the Diabetes
Prevention Program. According to the Huffingtonpost, results from this study found 25% of the
Diabetes Prevention Program was incorporated into MyFitnessPal. Again, while low, it did
choose effective components and thus there is some likelihood that the app can support behavior
change.6 Entering personal records of dietary intake and physical exercise is recorded on a daily
basis to inspire increasing calorie awareness. The application also provides social support from
friends and other users connected with social media through Facebook or Twitter to share
motivational and inspirational stories and recipes to gain insight on food and calories to track
health. While these are not necessarily evidence-based features per say, it is plausible that these
features will further improve the likelihood that the app can promote behavior change.
Recording accurate information for a calorie count is to be precise with nutrient facts. In
order to evaluate MyFitnessPal, I compared the nutrient details on the application with the
(USDA) United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National
Nutrient Database.3 Comparing the nutrients of raw spinach that were illustrated in the
application to those from the USDA website and encountered that the application was few with
errors, such as the Iron in the application is showing 12% as USDA shows about 17% with the
conversion of 2.17mg out of the 80g of spinach that was in the diet.3 The accuracy for comparing
the applications nutrients to the USDA nutrient database is adjacent for spinach. With some of
the USDA databases not matching up, the application has the option to scan the barcode of the
item, as well as it identifies specific brands. One such brand I checked was Skippy creamy

3. peanut butter, which checking the facts to the container, they are accurate to the product
information received on the application. Even facts that pop up under the added ingredient on the
applications such as “a good source of Vitamin E” is accurate since it is also on the container.
Accuracy is significant in a nutrient based calorie counter because it provides information that
has to be evidence based and reliable. Thus, based on my review, MyFitnessPal appears to
provide accurate information that is proven true with other scientific facts, such as USDA, and
the direct container label.
MyFitnessPal is an easy application to use because of its simple layout and
straightforward interface. Based on “keepitsuable” check list this application met 22 out of 25
requirements. Fulfilling easy navigation, clear font, successful color usage, and technologically
advanced features. The design of the application is simple even though it has many options in the
navigation bar such as a food logging diary, nutrition, blog, progress, recipes, and even goals and
reminders. The font is clear and easy to read, with correct color schemes of green for calories
that are left for the day and red for too many calories consumed for the day or fats consumed.
Using colors such as green for “go” and red for “stop” there is a motivational look that is
successful. The application appeals to a large audience since you can personalize it to fit your
own needs, weight, and goals, though it may be more recognized by those who are willing and
wanting to improve their health. Though this application does not fulfill any auditory feedback or
any sounds, it is still one of the developing applications that includes strategies that provide
technology enhanced features.2 Even with advances in technology providing barcodes and social
media options such as twitter or blogs to follow for motivation, MyFitnessPal is time consuming.
It is time consuming with all the input options since MyFitnessPal is providing over 5,000,000
foods and still growing daily4 and in that case can be a downfall and/or a positive note1.

4. The Google Play website shows very positive feedback of MyFitnessPal through tweets
and person experiences with the application. Out of 960,286 total people that have utilized this
application, 714,000 people rate it with five stars with the average overall rating of 5 out of 5
stars. Common responses are positive with the tracking such as a fans response on the
Huffingtonpost that says, “the ability to easily track my calories throughout the day help me
make good decisions and plan”. Even with inaccurate data based foods that were found, the
application is still helpful for being aware of what is entering the body and how much should be
entering certain body types, which is a more accurate estimate than off the top of one’s head. It is
said to be a very helpful tool for trying to be more health conscious which is important for a
health and fitness application.
With increasing numbers of smartphone applications that are promoting behavior change
and health information, it is important to evaluate their quality for users to be able to know
whether or not the methods and strategies are reliable. By comparing qualities of MyFitnessPal
to recommendations for effective calorie counting smartphone applications in the research, being
able to better evaluate its efficacy, accuracy, ease of use, and user ratings. The applications
efficacy was recognized for its incorporation of personal input and goal concepts, and its
accuracy was established when compared to a trusted source for health information such as
USDA. The applications ease to use was based on qualities recommended in “keepitsuable”
checklist for smartphone applications, and user ratings from the website where the app can be
downloaded. A more positive stance when it comes to calorie counting and the possibility that it
can be used by health professionals in their recommendations with an overall comprehensive
evaluation of this applications leads MyFitnessPal to be successful as a health promoting and
behavior changing application!

5. References:
1. "MyFitnessPal [Android App Review]." Android Central. N.p., 24 Mar. 2012. Web. 08
Apr. 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.androidcentral.com/myfitnesspal-android-app-
review
2. University of Massachusetts Medical School. "Evaluating mobile weight loss apps on use
of evidence-based behavioral strategies." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 October 2013.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131008091715.htm
3. "Foods List." Foods List. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015. Retreived from:
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods
4. MyFitnessPal- Calorie counter. Android Apps on Google Play Web site.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfitnesspal.android accessed April 7,
2015
5. Baranowski T, Cullen KW, Nicklas T, Thompson D, Baranowski J. Are current health
behavioral change models helpful in guiding prevention of weight gain efforts? Obesity
research. 2003;11 Suppl:23S–43S. doi:10.1038/oby.2003.222.
6. Pagoto et al. Almendrala, Anna. "Which Weight Loss Mobile App Should Doctors
Recommend Most? Almost None Of Them." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Retreived from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/weight-loss-mobile-app_n_4066022.html