Take a hike, lettuce water. MyFitnessPal has launched an interactive two-day experience in Austin, Texas, this week, urging consumers to adopt sustainable habits over fad diets and ineffective “quick fixes.”
Dubbed FadLab, the installation is set up at The Austin Motel in downtown Austin and will be open January 29-30 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The platform has been promoting FadLab on its social media pages, offering a behind-the-scenes look for those who can’t make it to Austin. Along with opportunities to take playful selfies with several props, FadLab gently pokes fun at extreme diet culture, such as the baby food diet.
“The New Year often brings a surge of interest in extreme diets and quick-fix weight loss solutions, but these approaches can be misleading and unsustainable,” said Melissa Jaeger, RD and head of nutrition for MyFitnessPal. “Through the FadLab, we bring to life the pitfalls of fad dieting, while empowering individuals to focus on sustainable, realistic progress. By tracking your food with MyFitnessPal, members can take small, manageable steps toward their goals. It’s about progress over perfection––a concept we’re sharing with all of our members this year.”
FadLab is one of several recent initiatives from the fitness and nutrition tracking app, building on its recognition of Quitter’s Day—the second Friday of January, when many abandon their New Year’s resolutions—to encourage a commitment to “quit quitting.”
The trick, MyFitnessPal says, is to celebrate small wins, which lay the foundation for long-term success. That means trusting the process and considering MyFitnessPal’s recent survey findings, which found that 81% of respondents attribute their failure to meet goals to overly restrictive diets. Instead, MyFitnessPal emphasizes that finding balance is key and that tracking can make a significant difference.
“An all-or-nothing approach oftentimes sets you up for failure, and that’s mostly because it doesn’t take real life into account– there are going to be times when you opt for the side of fries instead of the side salad, and that’s okay,” MyFitnessPal scientific advisory council member Dr. Mike Varshavski said earlier this month. “Instead of self-criticizing, or worse – giving up entirely – just track it, adjust and keep moving forward. It’s not about one meal – it’s about finding balance over the day, week, or month – and just making progress.”
MyFitnessPal CEO Mike Fisher underscored the message, emphasizing the need for a mindset shift away from fad diets in favor of sustainable progress.
“MyFitnessPal empowers users to take meaningful steps toward their goals by helping them understand their food choices,” Fisher said. “Tools like our barcode scanner, meal scan and voice log make this process intuitive and accessible, reinforcing our commitment to helping people achieve real results—one step at a time.”
