Why fitness apps might be harming your health

Fitness apps promise control, progress, and motivation. They give users charts, targets, and streaks that turn effort into measurable success.

But a new study led by researchers from University College London and Loughborough University shows that these apps can also create shame, disappointment, and burnout. Instead of lifting confidence, they sometimes chip away at it.

The researchers looked at how users talk about their experiences online – and the findings reveal how digital tracking can quietly damage well-being.

Users share app struggles

The researchers analyzed 58,881 posts on Twitter, written before it became X. These posts focused on five popular fitness and calorie-counting apps.

Artificial intelligence helped the team filter out 13,799 posts showing negative emotions, which were then grouped into themes.

The pattern that emerged was striking. Many users felt ashamed when logging “unhealthy” foods, annoyed at constant reminders to record meals, or disappointed when progress slowed.

“In these posts, we found a lot of blame and shame, with people feeling they were not doing as well as they should be,” said Dr. Paulina Bondaronek from UCL’s Institute of Health Informatics. “These emotional effects may end up harming people’s motivation and their health.”

Fitness apps cause stress

Some users felt “pestered” by their apps’ notifications. Each reminder to log calories or limit sugar became a test of willpower.

The research team noted that for some people, this constant monitoring led to demotivation and withdrawal. The tools that were supposed to support discipline made people want to give up altogether.

In one example, users expressed frustration with the complexity of calorie tracking. Apps often lacked the personalisation needed to reflect real life.

One person pointed out that they couldn’t log breastfeeding – an activity that burns significant calories. Others faced even stranger situations.

One user reported being told by an app that they needed to eat “−700 (negative 700) calories a day” to reach their goal.

Another said, “If you allow [MyFitnessPal] to prescribe your calories you’ll end up with a deficit that’s unachievable, unsustainable and very unhealthy. You could also starve to death.”

Fitness apps give false goals

The study showed that many fitness apps base targets on user-entered weight goals rather than public health standards like NHS calorie recommendations.

These algorithmic calculations can easily set dangerous or unrealistic goals. For users, that turns daily tracking into a source of stress. When progress doesn’t match what the screen demands, disappointment follows.

“Few studies have looked at the potential detrimental effects of these apps. Social media provides a huge amount of data that could help us understand these effects. By using AI, we were able to analyse this data more quickly,” Dr. Bondaronek.

She added that the reliance on data alone might overlook what really keeps people healthy.

“Instead of very narrow, rigid measures of success relating to amount of weight lost, health apps should prioritise overall wellbeing and focus on intrinsic motivation – i.e., the inherent enjoyment or satisfaction in activities.”

Guilt replaces progress

When users missed daily goals or lost a “streak,” it triggered guilt and frustration.

“Where individuals faced difficulties in keeping within the targets set by the app (e.g. losing a ‘streak’ or not meeting their daily goal) this appeared to contribute to avoidant behaviors (‘do NOT put Percy pigs into MyFitnessPal’) or complete disengagement (‘back to eating lotus biscoff spread out of jar’),” noted the study authors.

Some users felt driven to exercise only because of guilt. The team cited one person who “expressed an intention to go to the gym in response to not meeting their calorie intake goals, describing themselves as ‘miserably’ stuffed.” This shows how negative feedback replaced enjoyment with punishment.

“Self-monitoring and action planning are powerful behaviour change techniques. But we over-use them. We need to learn to be kinder to ourselves. We are good at blaming and shaming because we think it will help us to do better but actually it has the opposite effect,” noted Dr. Bondaronek.

Technology meets psychology

Study co-author Dr. Lucy Porter from UCL’s Division of Psychology & Language Sciences said that it’s important to check whether behavior change tools have any unintended consequences.

“We know from previous research that feeling ashamed and miserable about yourself is not going to support healthy, long-term behavior change,” said Dr. Porter.

“What we need to know now is how pervasive these effects on morale and emotional well-being are, and whether there is anything that can be done to adapt fitness apps so that they better meet people’s needs.”

AI uncovers real feelings

To make sense of the data, the researchers used artificial intelligence to group posts into themes.

“Unsupervised machine learning (or we can say AI) lets us analyze insights from real-world social media data that would otherwise be inaccessible. By using these tools, we can turn naturalistic data into actionable insights for public benefit – and do so at scale, and at no cost,” said study co-author Trisevgeni Papakonstantinou.

The technology revealed recurring emotional patterns – guilt, irritation, loss of motivation, and even humor used as coping. These findings suggest that users form complex relationships with their apps, filled with both dependency and resentment.

Fitness apps need to change

Dr. Bondaronek believes the solution lies in rethinking design, not abandoning digital health. “Many of these apps also ask users to do tasks individually. This misses out the great potential of social connectedness for improving our health and happiness,” added Dr. Bondaronek.

She emphasized that balance matters more than perfection. While these apps can help some people, they can also harm others if they rely only on rigid data. Her team urges developers to create experiences that nurture wellbeing instead of enforcing unrealistic precision.

“It is important to note, too, that we only looked at negative posts, so we cannot assess the overall effect of these apps in terms of our wellbeing,” said Dr. Bondaronek. “The apps may have a negative side, but they likely also provide benefits to many people.”

The study is published in the British Journal of Health Psychology.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–