Safety
Who this isn’t for
Here’s the uncomfortable part, up front. Weighing twice a day and eating in a fixed window is, structurally, close to the shape of disordered eating. For most people it’s just data. For some people it isn’t. This page exists so you can tell which group you’re in quickly, and leave without harm if it’s the second one.
Talk to a doctor first if any of these apply
- You have ever been diagnosed with or treated for an eating disorder.
- You currently experience distress, anxiety, or preoccupation around food or your weight.
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- You have diabetes, kidney disease, or another condition affecting fluid balance, or take medication that affects appetite or fluid retention.
The signup asks you these before your first log entry. A “yes” doesn’t lock you out. It shows you this page and asks you to talk to a clinician who actually knows your history before you continue. The app records that you were asked. If you’ve recovered and you’ve talked it through with your doctor, that’s your decision to make; a hard block would be paternalistic and easy to beat by lying. An honest pause is a real decision point.
Why those questions, specifically
Because the research says frequent weighing helps one group and hurts another, and the line between them is roughly the line those questions draw. A review of 20 studies found that in most of them self-weighing went with worse mood, self-esteem, body evaluation and eating behaviour, with the harm concentrated in women and younger people, and no harm or a benefit in overweight adults who had chosen to lose weight. In 762 college students who already had weight concerns, weighing more often predicted weight gain over two years and a 3.9× higher onset of compensatory behaviours like purging.
Pacanowski CR, Linde JA, Neumark-Sztainer D. Self-Weighing: Helpful or Harmful for Psychological Well-Being? A Review of the Literature. Curr Obes Rep 2015;4(1):65–72. doi:10.1007/s13679-015-0142-2
Rohde P, Arigo D, Shaw H, Stice E. Relation of self-weighing to future weight gain and onset of disordered eating symptoms. J Consult Clin Psychol 2018;86(8):677–687. doi:10.1037/ccp0000325
That’s the whole reason this page exists. If you’re an adult who’s decided to lose weight and you don’t have a history with food, twice-a-day weighing is data. If you’re young, or you already feel anxious around food and your body, the same habit can feed the thing you’re trying to escape. I’d rather lose you as a customer than be part of that.
Under 18: the tool is not available
This is the one hard block. No continue button. Growing bodies and eating windows don’t mix, and I’m not the person to supervise it.
What the app refuses to do, and why
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| No streaks, chains, or consistency badges | Streak mechanics create compulsion and punish life events. They are the single most harmful pattern in health apps. |
| No “failed day” | Logging is observational. A 9pm meal is logged as 9pm. Nothing happens. |
| No red | Red is a judgment colour. Over-target days are neutral grey. |
| “Logged.” and nothing more | No “let’s get back on track,” no “you went over.” |
| Hard cap of 2 lb a week | You can adjust the target rate. You cannot exceed the CDC’s gradual range. |
| No food logging, ever | Adding it would rebuild the exact mechanism this tool exists to replace, and would raise the harm profile substantially. |
| No leaderboards or comparison between users | Competitive weight loss between strangers is dangerous. |
| No goal weight required | The trend is the focus, not a destination number. |
| Export and delete in one click | If you want to stop, you leave cleanly, with your data. |
What the data can notice before you do
Because the app holds your numbers, it can see certain patterns before you do: a target rate pushed to the cap again and again, loss running well ahead of target for three or more weeks, logging far more than twice a day, or a max trending toward a clinically low BMI. When it sees one, it shows you a calm, non-diagnostic message and points you at resources. It never accuses, never diagnoses, never locks you out. The decision stays yours.
“We’ve noticed your weight has been dropping faster than your target for a few weeks. That’s worth a conversation with a doctor – not because anything’s wrong, but because faster isn’t better and it’s worth understanding why.”
This pattern detection is designed in from the start and ships shortly after the first release.
Known short-term effects of an eating window
In the controlled trials on the science page, some people reported hunger, headaches, or tiredness in the first few days of an early window. Minor, and it passed. No serious adverse events turned up in those studies. The longer-term questions the reviews raise are lean mass, micronutrients, and whether you can actually hold the window when everyone else is eating at 8pm. So eat real meals inside your window. Two big ones, not two snacks.
Support
- National Eating Disorders Association (US): nationaleatingdisorders.org
- Beat (UK): beateatingdisorders.org.uk
- Butterfly Foundation (Australia): butterfly.org.au
- If you are in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
The standard we hold
The honest position is that this is a measurement tool built on real physics and decent evidence, and it’ll suit a lot of people and be actively bad for some. Saying that out loud, here and at signup, isn’t a weakness in the offer. In a category defined by overclaiming, it’s the most credible thing on the page. If you’re in the second group, close this tab. No hard feelings.