My 17 year old has gotten obsessed with my fitness pal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's not that thin. I don't see a problem.

You are a jerk

[Anonymous]

OP, MFP has a section to factor in exercise, so she may be entering in 1500 as her base number of calories, but if she adds "ran for 2 hours," it will automatically add to her calorie allowance for the day. If she is adding as she goes, 1500 seems like a reasonable baseline. If she is not entering in exercise, then it may be a problem. I would check her diary to see if she has exercise factored in, and if not, I would bring it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E.D. survivor here. Look out for any extreme behavior. she has to exercise every day or she scoffs at eating a cookie etc. or can't have birthday cake, freaks out about pizza or you see she starts to sneak any binge food or sneaks throwing away food to avoid eating it
if she's just watching what she eats, it is okay, but could still quickly turn into something. the worst is to bring it up making her feel like people are watching what she eats. that feeds any food issues further. just make sure she's eating a healthy diet and generally in the right direction.

You just described 90% of DCUM posters and their house rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, MFP has a section to factor in exercise, so she may be entering in 1500 as her base number of calories, but if she adds "ran for 2 hours," it will automatically add to her calorie allowance for the day. If she is adding as she goes, 1500 seems like a reasonable baseline. If she is not entering in exercise, then it may be a problem. I would check her diary to see if she has exercise factored in, and if not, I would bring it up.

This was my thought. MFP came out after I finished college track, but I was still running. I set it to 1250 calories, but got an extra 400-800 each day from my runs. I wouldn't worry about it. She's in a sport where if she isn't taking in enough, you will see it. She won't be able to maintain or improve times and she will eventually pass out in practice or a meet.

More important though, why are you saying it's for cross country when that is a fall sport? Are you not aware of what she's running?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, MFP has a section to factor in exercise, so she may be entering in 1500 as her base number of calories, but if she adds "ran for 2 hours," it will automatically add to her calorie allowance for the day. If she is adding as she goes, 1500 seems like a reasonable baseline. If she is not entering in exercise, then it may be a problem. I would check her diary to see if she has exercise factored in, and if not, I would bring it up.

This was my thought. MFP came out after I finished college track, but I was still running. I set it to 1250 calories, but got an extra 400-800 each day from my runs. I wouldn't worry about it. She's in a sport where if she isn't taking in enough, you will see it. She won't be able to maintain or improve times and she will eventually pass out in practice or a meet.

More important though, why are you saying it's for cross country when that is a fall sport? Are you not aware of what she's running?

Op clearly started when it started a few months ago that was her DDs reasoning...March minus 4-5 months = fall!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, MFP has a section to factor in exercise, so she may be entering in 1500 as her base number of calories, but if she adds "ran for 2 hours," it will automatically add to her calorie allowance for the day. If she is adding as she goes, 1500 seems like a reasonable baseline. If she is not entering in exercise, then it may be a problem. I would check her diary to see if she has exercise factored in, and if not, I would bring it up.

This was my thought. MFP came out after I finished college track, but I was still running. I set it to 1250 calories, but got an extra 400-800 each day from my runs. I wouldn't worry about it. She's in a sport where if she isn't taking in enough, you will see it. She won't be able to maintain or improve times and she will eventually pass out in practice or a meet.

More important though, why are you saying it's for cross country when that is a fall sport? Are you not aware of what she's running?

Op clearly started when it started a few months ago that was her DDs reasoning...March minus 4-5 months = fall!

Then it's not really for cross country, is it? It's for a teenage girl minding her intake because one restaurant meal is often a full days calories. Good for her.

[Anonymous]

I use myfitnesspal daily as well and don't have an eating disorder. It is a great way to keep track of not only calories, but also macronutrient intake like protein, fats, etc. If she had aggressive weight loss goals the app would've given her a 1200 cal goal so the fact hers is 1500 tells me she's not obsessive about losing weight. Also keep in my that the calorie goal is a NET goal. When you enter an exercise into the app for the day, it increases your calorie goal by the sane amount and you get to eat those exercise calories. Her goal is 1500. Lets say she goes on a run, burning 300 calories. The app will increase her total calorie goal to 1800, leaving her with a net of 1500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use myfitnesspal daily as well and don't have an eating disorder. It is a great way to keep track of not only calories, but also macronutrient intake like protein, fats, etc. If she had aggressive weight loss goals the app would've given her a 1200 cal goal so the fact hers is 1500 tells me she's not obsessive about losing weight. Also keep in my that the calorie goal is a NET goal. When you enter an exercise into the app for the day, it increases your calorie goal by the sane amount and you get to eat those exercise calories. Her goal is 1500. Lets say she goes on a run, burning 300 calories. The app will increase her total calorie goal to 1800, leaving her with a net of 1500.

I'm this pp. if you're still concerned look over her friends list and see if she has many friends with thinspo pics or names like "lovebones" etc. that might give you an idea of whether to still worry.

[Anonymous]

If she enters her running, or any other activity fitness pall ups the amount of allowed calories automatically. She could lower her matabolism by eating that low of calories for a long period of time she will lose muscle mass. She should aim for 1gram of protien per pound of body mass. 135 grams of protien. I agree that in a non confrontational way, offer her an appointment with a sports nutritionist who could set her macro nutrient intake and calorie allowance for her. My fitness pal is a great tool!! It's used by many athletes, myself included.

[Anonymous]

OP. - I just wanted to tell you that your daughter sounds a lot like me. I was a 3 sport athlete, 5'8" and 135lb in HS. I was also obsessed with food and exercise and once got down to 118. I kept a food diary for HS and most of college. It never blossomed into a full blown eating disorder and I credit 2 things - I didn't have the internet, just a few like minded friends and my mom never made a big deal about it. I would check your daughters browser history,
Pinterest, and Instagram and make sure she isn't into the Ana and Mia web sites with "thinspo" pics. Things like inspirational quotes like "nothing tastes as good as thin feels". Then realize that controlling food is a way of feeling like you have control over something when you control so few things as a teenager. Back off about the food, but also back off about other things too and try giving her more freedom in general - she's almost off to college.