But while this tool is helping some people lose weight in a healthy
manner, doctors are worried that in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous.
Therapists
are seeing increased use, and abuse of these applications.
"I think
that it's tying into the eating disorder mentality of making sure that you know everything that's going into your body, having
those obsessive thoughts of calorie counting, keeping track of your weight, keeping track of what goes in and what goes
out through exercise."
Application Addition: Calorie Counting Application
Controls One Girl's Life
Growing up with two brothers didn't help Hannah
Kula's relationship with food.
"Food was always clean your plate,
finish it all up. There wasn't really another option," Kula said. "Looking at myself when I came to high school
I felt like I was a little bit chubby. You start to notice maybe the girls don't eat as much as boys."
It wasn't until Kula, now 20, went away to college that her eating disorder fully developed.
"It was obsessive calorie counting," Kula said. "I pushed
away friends I could have had and pushed away friends I still had and ended those relationships. My eating disorder just
took over."
When she discovered an application that
could help her keep track of her calories, she soon became hooked.
"Just having that technology right there at my fingertips, I could get everything that my eating disorder
needed," Kula said. "I could cut down on my weight and control what my body looked like, and that's what I wanted."
The app soon took control of Kula's life. She checked calorie
content at every meal, especially when eating out. And browsing nutritional information became a constant diversion.
"It's like, well, if I go to this place, what's the best thing to get when I'm there?
You know, what's something that has the lowest fat in it when I go there, just to be safe?" said Kula.
Calorie Concern to Calorie Obsession
Kula's application addiction was typical for girls with eating disorders.
"I think a lot of these women will sometimes download the applications just thinking that it's something fun for them
to have and something that they can keep track of," Pence explained.
"I think before they know it, it's become something that's spiraled out of control. It's something that starts
out small but grows into an extreme, and that's when it becomes a problem."
And for Kula, that problem had reached its peak.
"It became
to where I needed it. I had to have it, and I was anxious without it," she recalled. "I took that tool and used
it in the wrong way, and it was very harmful to myself. I used it to hurt myself when I know it could be helping others."
