Goal-setting And Achievement In Activity Tracking Apps: A Case Study Of MyFitnessPal

Abstract

Activity tracking apps often make use of goals as one of their core motivational tools. There are two critical components to this tool: setting a goal, and subsequently achieving that goal. Despite its crucial role in how a number of prominent self-tracking apps function, there has been relatively little investigation of the goalsetting and achievement aspects of self-tracking apps.Here we explore this issue, investigating a particular goal setting and achievement process that is extensive, recorded, and crucial for both the app and its users' success: weight loss goals in MyFitness-Pal. We present a large-scale study of 1.4 million users and weight loss goals, allowing for an unprecedented detailed view of how people set and achieve their goals. We find that, even for difficult long-term goals, behavior within the first 7 days predicts those who ultimately achieve their goals, that is, those who lose at least as much weight as they set out to, and those who do not. For instance, high amounts of early weight loss, which some researchers have classified as unsustainable, leads to higher goal achievement rates. We also show that early food intake, self-monitoring motivation, and attitude towards the goal are important factors. We then show that we can use our findings to predict goal achievement with an accuracy of 79% ROC AUC just 7 days after a goal is set. Finally, we discuss how our findings could inform steps to improve goal achievement in self-tracking apps.

Self‐Monitoring via Digital Health in Weight Loss Interventions: A Systematic Review Among Adults with Overweight or Obesity

“…Longer intervention duration tempered this relationship, however, suggesting that self-monitoring may be less effective for weight loss over time either because engagement declines or because rates of weight loss slow despite similar degrees of engagement. This primary finding supports the conclusions from prior reviews that focused predominantly on paper-based selfmonitoring methods (26,27) and is also consistent with large-scale retrospective studies from industry platforms that used self-monitoring (85)(86)(87)(88)(89).…”

Characterizing and Predicting Repeat Food Consumption Behavior for Just-in-Time Interventions

“…Next, recent studies have investigated the healthiness cues uncovered from food images posted by Instagram users [24] and online cooking recipes from Allrecipes [27]. Lastly, online food diaries data from MyFitnessPal users have been used to study individuals' dieting [8,16,34], food substitutes extraction [3], and healthy eating behaviors [2]. In contrast to the public health monitoring aspect of previous work, our work focuses on predicting food items likely to be consumed in the next consumption session which has a direct application to the just-in-time health interventions.…”

Exploring Fitness Tracker Visualisations to Avoid Rumination

“…One of the most extensively studied strategies in the area of personal informatics to help users on their way to wellbeing and foster engagement is goal setting [15]. Almost all commercially available fitness and activity tracking devices are designed to support goals and goal fulfilment [26]. Studies in Psychology also confirm that goals are an effective strategy for fostering positive change, with one such study by Lacroix et al showing that difficult goals lead to higher levels of performance than easier goals [37].…”