Is this the meanest weight loss app ever

With name calling and threats of social disgrace, CARROT Hunger just might be the most humiliating way to lose weight ever

We are positively inundated with weight loss apps, but none are quite as harsh as CARROT Hunger.

The app has a tough love approach to those seeking to shed a few pounds, featuring a sarcastic talking robot who calls you names such as "meatbag" or "carcass".

The premise of the app is essentially shaming people into not eating more than a certain number of calories a day - depending on their target weight loss goal.

Come close to exceeding your suggested calorie intake and youll receive a menacing warning: "Open the fridge, and if you dare to overindulge, I can punish you financially, aesthetically, and socially".

Scoff that cake, and you can expect a barrage of insults, while CARROT may also choose to punish you by sending a notification via social media letting everyone know that you have overindulged.

However, for a small fee you can "bribe" the app into pretending it hasnt noticed your misstep.

CARROT Hunger is part of a series of tough-talking productivity apps. The Carrot website describes its omniscient supercomputer tasked with helping you lose weight as "An A.I construct with a heart of weapons-grade plutonium."

Developer Brian Mueller said: "The workout app, CARROT Fit, helped so many people with its unique spin on exercising, that I ended up getting a bunch of requests for CARROT to take on a calorie counter next".

You might think that people would prefer a gentler approach when it comes to losing weight - in 2014, a study from University College London found that shaming people into weight loss is counter productive, and people who experience day-to-day discrimination actually gain weight.

But with over a million downloads under the apps belt, it appears there might be an audience for such tough love.

Mueller admits that the CARROT approach may not be for everyone but maintains the response to his CARROT series has been mostly positive, saying, "Its really improved the lives of so many of CARROTs users.

"Most people, when they step on the scale and see they’ve gained weight - that often ruins their day and makes them depressed. CARROT’s humor turns that around and makes it a much more positive experience, and they connect with the character so much that they’re actually motivated to do better the next day. You don’t see anything like that with all the other boring, dry, lifeless apps out there".

The various CARROT apps are currently only available on Apple products, though Mueller is "looking forward to bringing them to Android sometime soon".

By Saffron Alexander

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/11340570/Is-this-the-meanest-weight-loss-app-ever.html