Warnings fitness trackers can make eating disorders worse
For many a walk in the park is a time relax and clear your head, but Cara Lisette recalls a time in her life when it seemed impossible. The 34-year-old struggled with an eating disorder for many years, and when she started using apps to track her fitness she found her road to recovery even harder. "If there was a day when I did less steps than the day before then I just felt really terrible about myself," she said. Eating disorder charity BEAT has warned that fitness tracking features can lead to obsessive tendencies.
Data on people's use of the fitness trackers is limited, but one YouGov poll suggests more than a third of us own and use a wearable device in the UK.Mrs Lisette, from Southampton, had been battling an eating disorder since she was 15, up until she was discharged from treatment in 2021 aged 31.She bought a Fitbit just as they were becoming popular, but while she was still struggling to eat properly - making it even harder for her to recover.Now she works as a community mental health nurse across Hampshire, but wishes she'd stopped using the device earlier."If you are someone who has tendencies towards not exercising very healthily, then you're kind of always competing with what yesterday's you has done," she said.
Mrs Lisette said because the fitness data is held on your device or app for long periods of time it can make obsessing over it even worse."I used to think, well, I did that many steps a month ago so I need to do this many this month," she said. BEAT spokesperson Alex Jones told the BBC: "Anybody who has an eating disorder or has recovered from an eating disorder - using a fitness tracker is probably not for you."He also thinks there should be more safety features built into health tracking apps, so they do not encourage targets that may be unhealthy for some people. Those with, or vulnerable to, an eating disorder "can quite often get sucked into calorie counting and setting themselves very stringent targets anyway, so fitness trackers can feed into the same mindset".
"If you are starting to struggle or becoming obsessively attached to fitness targets or then look for information or speak to your GP.," Mr Jones added.Despite her own struggles, Mrs Lisette was released from treatment for her eating disorder more than three years ago. Her aim now is to raise awareness around eating disorders, fitness trackers, and show people recovery is possible."I'm the best I've been since I was 12 and I'm really in a good place. I think it's nice for other people to know that - but also for me it's nice to be like 'actually, things are different now compared to five years ago'," she added.
If you're worried about your own or someone else's health, you can contact Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity, on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk
You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
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