What type of people are attracted to Myfitnesspal?

sirtxt

I have been using MyFitnessPal for 1 month as of today - I have lost 10 lbs!!! From the minute I started using the app, I was hooked. I have been telling everyone about the success I have had and how great the app is. Some people seem to be interested, while others tend to just give me a polite "I will have to look into that" or "I have done food logs before...."

I am curious if the concept of journaling your food and exercise only appeals to certain types of people. Personally, I am a very detailed oriented, fact based and pro and cons type guy. Math and Science are my favorite areas of study. The people that seem to have an immediate interest tend to be like me. The ones that tend to give me the polite answer, tend to be less like me.

So, I am curious if all Myfitnesspal user share a common characteristic. Is it a personality trait? Are we all good at something?


In food logging curiosity,

John

Hannah_Banana

I would say sort of. I am a visual person, I make charts and graphs of every day concepts - and if I refuse, they just swim around in my head. If I don't see it, if I can't chart or plan it, it kind of ceases to exist for me.

Not sure if you are familiar with the xkcd comics, but that guy gets me. :ohwell:



*Edited to correct butchering the name of my favorite comic's series.

krystle1001

I personally like to have a "plan", a list, or some sort of preparation in most things I do, so I probably fit into a similar personality type as yourself. But I think most people who are interested in the myfitnesspal app have tried various diet plans in the past and have failed, much like myself. When I first discovered this app, thanks to my sister, I couldn't believe how easy and user friendly the nutrition logging was. I liked that the food database has zillions of foods already entered, and I really like how it breaks down everything and not just your calories, since I tend to focus just on counting calories without taking anything else into consideration, like the sugar, carbs, protein intake. I've lost about 26lbs using myfitnesspal, and have logged in for 60 days straight! I LOVE the community of people who use this app and I seriously enjoy and use myfitnesspal more than facebook! There's no other place on the internet to go and meet people who deal with similar health/weight issues and struggles. The encouragement and success stories are sometimes the only thing that can keep my motivation us when I have a bad day and think about eating some crap or skipping the gym for a couch surfing session. And seeing EVERYTHING I eat really holds me accountable for it. I honestly don't see myself leaving myfitnesspal anytime soon!

tasharock

Engineer here. Love math, love science.
This site is my bff.

SirBonerFart

I like the large food database

And the forums make me feel like a genius

2essie

I am a gadget freak. I love my android tablet so it gives me more time (and a reason) to play on it.

Edited to say I wasn't brought up in the technical era so I am self taught at all this and it is relatively new to me

NumbrsNerd

Dorky, OCD-type personality here. I need to have a goal and a plan, I need to see progress towards that goal visually, I need reassurance that I really ate only XX number of calories.

I am not a wing-it type of gal.....

darrensurrey

Good question. I have a science/IT/maths background and am analytical and plan things. I like to do things properly and "get **** done". So the logging system of MFP is bloody useful. If it didn't exist, I'd have created an Excel spreadsheet that would be a rough version of MFP. (I actually did something similar for gambling purposes - spent about two weeks of my life including much hair pulling designing a spreadsheet for calculating odds and then found out it already existed. :laugh: )

granitendirt

My personality is pretty moderate (ie, not really "Type A" or "Type B", equal use of left brain/ right brain...).

What attracted me to MFP is:

1) I have two friends who had great success using this site, and

2) It's a daily reminder that this is something I'm actively working towards; otherwise, I tend to get distracted and forget, and

3) Whenever I would try and lose weight in the past I would severely under-eat and fall into dangerous patterns of restrictive behavior. MFP shows me that a day that I might have considered in the past to be a food fest was actually within my daily goal. No anxiety or wondering!

Shelley6591

I'm very organized and a big control freak and I love all forms of technology, I'm also very visual, the fact that I can log everything on my phone really appeals to me. Everyone has asked my secret so I tell them and so far no one gets it, they say it's too much work or they logged before and it didn't help. Seriously I have a full time job and two kids who are very active and in sports and a husband who works 2 jobs so I do it all on my own a lot, if I have time most people should be able to do this too. Honestly I think they're not motivated and that's their business/loss I guess, I just wish I knew about this about 50 pounds ago!

MelsAuntie

The other day somebody defined MFP as standing for "Muscles, Fatties, and Pervs." True enough to be hilarious. All kidding aside, it's a great place to get the structure ( keeping track of calories and exercise) to make the job much easier.

jennrox78

I like the large food database

And the forums make me feel like a genius

haha.

Janice2Shakira

I'm not a math girl, definitely a liberal arts type. However, I know I need structure in order to achieve a goal, I simply cannot be trusted if left to my own devices

BattleTaxi

I very detailed in everything. I over analyze and I'm a little OCD about certain things. Being able to create a record of my progress and communicate with other like-minded people led me to utilizing this app and posting on the forums. I'm an artist and a computer nerd - not sure if that makes a difference!

paulyoung1703

<snip>

Not sure if you are familiar with the xcld comics, but that guy gets me. :ohwell:

You mean xkcd?

Anyway, facts, figures, graphs, data, stats; logging this stuff is great. I also keep an external s/s with metrics that MFP doesn't offer.

cmcollins001

I like the large food database

And the forums make me feel like a genius

Because you are...you really really are!!

clarkeje1

I would say sort of. I am a visual person, I make charts and graphs of every day concepts - and if I refuse, they just swim around in my head. If I don't see it, if I can't chart or plan it, it kind of ceases to exist for me.

Not sure if you are familiar with the xcld comics, but that guy gets me. :ohwell:

I'm a visual person too. Plans and lists work well for me also.

raychulj

I'm a planner. I like graph, maps, lists. I have piles of lists. Calorie counting appealed to me because it leaves no guess work. It organizes my diet for me so I don't have a mountain of half filled notebooks lying around.
I'm am also in the best shape of my life because of the upperhand it gives me.

xeno8604

I have always excelled in math and anything analytical and this site helps put all the numbers together. I like how u can pull up stuff from a giant database and add to it to get it all done.

Also the phone app is awesome esp with the scanner

toothpastechica

I'm not a math girl, definitely a liberal arts type. However, I know I need structure in order to achieve a goal, I simply cannot be trusted if left to my own devices

This is me as well. I am all arts and relationships (I work in a social work field), but I am also a kinesthetic learner, so I get much more out of eating healthy (and fitness) if I have to physically imput the data and understand why it is good (or isn't good) for me and what effects certain foods/habits have on my body. I decided to get in better shape and take care of my healthy mostly for stress relief and to be good lifestyle role model to the people I come in contact with at work.

DocMarr

Visual person, academic (so I like accumulating data over time) and a 'fine detail' person.

I have logged 664 days straight on MFP - and I don't mean I have just logged in to the site, I mean I have logged ALL my food and drink every day (including 2 Christmas days now) for the past 664 days. I like having a complete set of data.

I also have a fitbit that records my output too - this helps me match my intake with my output and I have managed to maintain my weight to within a pound for the past year.