This may be unimportant to you, but... safety first!

FullMelt
FullMelt Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
I have Crohn's disease, so am not always able to stomach a healthy calorie count (don't misunderstand, I can pound an entire large pizza after a good bike ride, but on those sick days..).

An awesome feature that mfp has is the "If every day were like today... you'd weigh xxx in 5 weeks." I totally dig it, as a psychology student and a person fascinated with marketing (though my profession of choice is as a health consultant), this is awesome - max loss 2 lbs per week, always show that 10 pound (healthy and driven) goal that most of us consider an honorable stepping stone - smart. We come, they advertise, mfp makes money and we continue to have access to such an awesome *free* service.

One thing really heats my turbines though...

I have noticed that if I net under 1200Kcals, myfitnesspal STILL says "If every day were like today... you'd weigh xxx lbs in 5 weeks." In my case, I get it, my body will strip every resource available from itself when it is not getting what it needs (this leading to rapid weight losses, often involving a net loss of muscle mass and *strength* - even on a "bodybuilder's" diet). This simply isn't true for everybody. My mom, my active friends? They would die being inspired by this dehumanized response involving a cold and heartless logarithm. Perhaps I would if it were my source of inspiration.

Again, as a psychology student and a compassionate human being (who loves marketing), I think that the structure of this sentence should be dependent on one reaching a healthy goal. If one does not net at least 1200Kcals, I believe it would be socially responsible if this sentence were reworded. Understood, if I net under my BMR, especially with exercise, I will lose weight, but If i net under a healthy limit, we enter the realm of the unknown - my body, your body, her body, once a week, thrice a week, Lord knows.

I am sure many of us come to eat within the means that mfp provides as guidelines, many even ignoring their micro-nutrient intake. The thing is, I wish that when I net under a healthy goal, that inspiring tagline would read differently. I hope for the sake of sustainable, healthy motivation, it would read "if every day were like today... you MIGHT weigh xxx in 5 weeks."

- Paul


Party on, you.

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