A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok

Abstract

Eating-related content is common on TikTok, a popular video-based social media platform, but studies of eating-related content on TikTok are limited. Given the documented association between social media use and disordered eating, investigation of eating-related content on TikTok is needed. One subset of popular eating-related content is “What I Eat in a Day” (#WhatIEatInADay), in which a creator documents the food they eat over the assumed span of a single day. We sought to evaluate the content of TikTok #WhatIEatInADay videos (N = 100) using reflexive thematic analysis. Two primary types of videos emerged. First, Lifestyle videos (N = 60), which included aesthetic elements, presentations of clean eating, stylized meals, promotion of weight loss and the thin ideal, normalization of eating as a fat woman, and disordered eating content. Second, Eating Only videos (N = 40), which were primarily focused on food, and included upbeat music, an emphasis on highly palatable foods, displays of irony, emojis, and excessive consumption of food. Because viewing eating-related social media content has been associated with disordered eating, both types of TikTok #WhatIEatInADay videos may be harmful to vulnerable youth. Given the popularity of TikTok and #WhatIEatinADay, clinicians and researchers should consider the potential impact of this trend. Future research should examine the impact of viewing TikTok #WhatIEatInADay videos on disordered eating risk factors and behaviors.

Introduction

A strong and consistent link exists between social media use and disordered eating (Saul et al., 2022; Lonergan et al., 2020). However, social media is constantly evolving, and the introduction of new platforms generates a host of novel content to understand in relation to disordered eating. One area of emerging research is the platform TikTok.

TikTok is a popular social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short-form videos. With over 1 billion monthly users (Iqbal, 2022), TikTok has consistently surpassed other popular social media platforms in application downloads, users, and viewers since 2018 (Forristal, 2022). Over a third of TikTok users in the United States (U.S.) are between the ages of 10–19 years (Sherman, 2020), an age group also at high risk for eating disorders (ED; Field et al., 2012; Micali et al., 2015). Research of TikTok usage and trends has increased in recent years (Montag et al., 2021), but research of eating-related content on TikTok is limited. Given the large proportion of young, potentially impressionable viewers on TikTok, investigating eating-related content is needed.

Eating-Related Content on TikTok

TikTok includes a variety of eating-related content, ranging from the sharing of diets and recipes (Wang et al., 2022) to ED recovery videos (Herrick et al., 2021). Teenage users cite inspiration for meals as one of the reasons they use TikTok (Wang et al., 2022) and think watching eating-related content on TikTok encourages them to eat healthier (Wang et al., 2022), suggesting that teenagers believe TikTok can promote healthy eating habits. Explicitly pro-ED content is censored on TikTok due to widespread concern about the potential harm to viewers (Garson, 2020). However, even ED awareness-raising and recovery-related videos include content that may paradoxically predict ED behavior in individuals at high risk (Herrick et al., 2021; Logrieco et al., 2021).

#WhatIEatInADay

One subset of popular eating-related content on TikTok are “What I Eat in a Day” (#WhatIEatInADay) videos, in which a creator eats a series of meals and snacks over the assumed span of a typical day. “What I Eat in a Day” reports have been prominent on social media since at least the 2010s, particularly on YouTube (Rousseau, 2012). As of January 30, 2023, the hashtag #WhatIEatInADay has been viewed 15.1 billion times on TikTok (TikTok Creative Center, 2023).

Despite its presence across social media, research on #WhatIEatInADay is scarce. One critical analysis of YouTube daily diaries found that “What I Eat in Day” videos included an emphasis on weight loss as a benefit of restricting consumption of animal products (Braun & Carruthers, 2020). Another study found that videos tagged with #WhatIEatInADay made up 15.3% of their sample of TikToks tagged with #EDRecovery (Herrick et al., 2021). The authors found that some #WhatIEatInADay videos emphasized the positive aspects of food consumption, but other videos detailed struggles with eating (Herrick et al., 2021). A thorough review of #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok is thus warranted and may reveal potentially harmful ED content.

Research shows TikTok users spend more time on the application than on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube (Price, 2020). TikTok videos, including #WhatIEatInADay, are typically short (15–60 seconds), compared to the average YouTube daily diary video (10 minutes; Sandal, 2018), suggesting users view more videos on TikTok than on YouTube. Moreover, the TikTok algorithm is uniquely oriented toward keeping the viewer engaged by presenting material similar to what they have viewed and liked before, combined with the most popular videos based on views and likes of others (Mak, 2020; TikTok, 2020). Research indicates TikTok users endorse more frequently use because of the algorithm’s ability to present engaging content tailored to their interests (Kang & Lou, 2022).

The Current Study

Given the potential for TikTok to serve as a prominent facilitator of eating-related content to vulnerable youth and young adults (Herrick et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2022), and research suggesting that viewing eating-related content on social media is associated with disordered eating (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016), the purpose of this study was to investigate the content of #WhatIEatInADay using reflexive thematic analysis. Although we considered it likely that some videos would include ED content based on previous research (Herrick et al., 2021), we sought to take a data-driven, inductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2022) to understanding #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok. Therefore, we did not specify hypotheses.

Method

Ethical considerations

IRB approval for this study was granted by the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division. To protect the identity of content creators, this manuscript does not include any identifying information. Social media posts are considered public domain, so we did not pursue informed consent from the creators of the videos; only publicly posted videos were included. This approach is in line with other studies of social media and TikTok (Herrick et al., 2020; Santaroossa, et al., 2019). All videos were treated as individual participants and assigned a unique identifier.

Study Design

In June 2021, the first author used the discover feature to identify¹ the most-liked videos tagged #WhatIEatInADay and downloaded the 100 first-appearing, relevant videos, consistent with data collection procedures of previous studies (Basch et al., 2022; Basch et al., 2021; Russell et al., 2021). Relevance was determined based on whether the video clearly focused on a day of eating. Excluded videos included those that documented only one meal or discussed eating broadly. The sample size was specified based on recent studies of TikTok content (Basch et al., 2022; Basch et al., 2021; Russell et al., 2021). Because the TikTok algorithm displays videos in order of popularity (TikTok, 2020), downloading the first-appearing videos allowed us to obtain a sample that likely reflected the most popular #WhatIEatInADay videos on TikTok in the U.S. at the time of viewing.

Data Analyses

Quantitative statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0. Descriptive statistics were calculated for likes and views of videos. Frequencies were calculated to characterize the number of videos displaying each theme.

Qualitative analyses were conducted using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022; Braun et al., 2016). Procedures are detailed in Table 1. We used a collaborative approach to inductively generate codes according to the data and the diverse perspectives of our coding team, which varied in terms of age, gender, and disciplinary background. Repetition of codes was recognized after repeated viewing of the first 50 videos. The remaining 50 videos were then viewed repeatedly and coded according to the unanimously agreed-upon codes. Themes and subthemes were generated collaboratively after two final viewings of all 100 videos by each member of the research team. After the final viewing and theme generation, all authors agreed that sufficient richness and variability was observed across the sample to warrant an in-depth understanding of #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok.

Table 1.

Data analysis procedure

Thematic analysis steps	Description
Step 1: Familiarization with the data	The first author viewed all 100 #WhatIEatInADay videos at least once. It was determined that most videos contained very little or no spoken or written content, therefore repeated viewing of the videos, rather than transcribing and reviewing transcripts of videos, was appropriate for data analysis. The first, third, and fourth author then viewed the first 25 videos at least once and generated summary reports. The authors then met to discuss the videos.
Step 2: Generation of preliminary codes	The first author used the summary reports and discussion notes to inductively develop a codebook with descriptive and interpretive codes. To prioritize an inductive, data-driven approach, all authors agreed to avoid formulating coding and themes based on theories or ideas from previous research.
Step 3: Revision of codes	The first, third, and fourth authors viewed the first 50 videos at least three times and independently coded them for the purposes of reflexivity (Braun & Clark, 2022; Braun et al., 2016). The authors then met to cross-reference each other’s codes, reflect on any differences in perspective, and discuss discrepancies. The second author served as a critical peer to moderate discussions of the data, codes, and interpretation. In this role, the second author challenged interpretations of the data to facilitate discussion and further the collective understanding of themes in the videos. The first author updated the codebook based on outcomes of this discussion.
Step 4: Coding all videos	The first, third, and fourth authors used the codebook to code the remaining 50 videos. Each author viewed each video at least three times before coding. Interrater agreement on all resulting codes was good to excellent (Krippendorff’s alpha > .70), suggesting the authors agreed on the content and description of the codes.
Step 5: Identifying themes	The first, third, and fourth authors viewed all videos twice more, and reviewed the codes, to identify larger patterns across the dataset (Braun & Clarke, 2022; Braun et al., 2016). The first author collaborated with all other authors to identify the two resulting themes and eleven sub-themes from the codes, based on their similarity, frequency, and distinctiveness. All authors agreed that sufficient variability was observed across all videos to warrant the sample size of 100.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

At the time of download, videos with #WhatIEatInADay had been viewed 6.5 billion times. The 100 videos that comprised our sample were viewed on average 3,720,374 times (range: 521,900 – 81,000,000; SD = 487,152) and liked on average 492,101 times (range: 160,000 – 2,900,000; SD =4 87,152). Most creators were feminine-presenting (N = 95, 95%). About two thirds of the sample were white-presenting (N = 65).

Identified Themes

Two predominant, overarching themes emerged in the videos, which we termed Lifestyle and Only Eating. Each theme had multiple, overlapping subthemes, described below (Table 2).

Table 2.

Themes and associated subthemes in #WhatIEatInADay videos on TikTok (N=100)

		N (%)1
Lifestyle		60 (60%)
	Aesthetic	53 (88.3%)
	Clean Eating	39 (65%)
	Styled Food	36 (60%)
	Promotion of Weight Loss and the Thin Ideal	29 (48.3%)
	Normalizing Eating as a Fat Woman	20 (33.3%)
	Disordered Eating Behaviors and Cognitions	15 (25%)
Only Eating		40 (40%)
	Upbeat music	32 (80%)
	Highly Palatable Foods	24 (60%)
	Use of Emojis	24 (60%)
	Irony	23 (57.5%)
	Excessive Amounts of Food	13 (32.5%)

^1.For themes, percentage refers to the proportion of videos within the full sample. For subthemes, percentage refers to proportion of videos within the theme.

Theme 1: Lifestyle

Lifestyle videos (N = 60) were based on the creator’s daily eating routine and infused with content regarding the creator’s food preferences, as well as non-eating-related topics such as their careers and hobbies.

Lifestyle subthemes

Aesthetic Elements.

The majority of videos (N = 53) included aesthetic elements represented by low tempo, soothing music, soft speaking voices, and/or the use of augmented reality filters. Augmented reality filters (Javornik et al., 2022) included “beauty filters” that highlighted commonly held Western ideals of beauty (e.g., larger or lighter eyes, fuller lips, and/or smoothed out skin blemishes) and those that added artificial elements to the video, (e.g., sparkles). Some videos used techniques from cinematography, such as panning across the room and zooming in on features of the environment. Characteristics of the video’s setting were prominently featured, such as polished, organized kitchens with matching dishware, gold utensils, and soft, neutral-colored décor.

Clean Eating.

Many (N = 39) videos included a focus on raw produce, whole grains, and other ingredients commonly regarded as “clean,” unprocessed, and nutritious (McCartney, 2016). Example meals included fruit/vegetable smoothies and salads with chicken breast and low-calorie dressing. Low-calorie, high-fiber, and protein-rich foods were common. The value of drinking and enjoying water between or during meals was discussed frequently. Many videos included statements justifying what the creator consumed. For example, one creator described drinking pure fruit juice to provide herself with “natural energy.”

Styled Food.

Several (N = 36) videos included the preparation and styling of food, such as chopping vegetables, tenderizing meat, sauteing ingredients, and plating food with garnishes such as green onions. Artfully prepared dishes ranged from those typical of a young adult diet (e.g., fruit plates arranged in patterns, thinly sliced avocado on toasted bread) to more extravagant meals (e.g., ratatouille, sushi rolls). Stylish drinks included milk carefully added to iced coffee and frozen matcha tea cubes mixed into milk.

Promotion of Weight Loss and the Thin Ideal.

Several (N = 29) videos promoted weight loss and the thin ideal (e.g., “What my skinny sister eats in a day” and “What I eat in a day to lose weight”). Most creators (N = 26) were thin, white-presenting, and feminine-presenting. Videos frequently included the subject wearing minimal or tight clothing. In one video, a creator described losing 50 pounds, and held up a pair of pants that used to fit to emphasize the discrepancy between her previous shape and current shape. Creators provided tips for eating fewer calories. Some videos showed the creator stepping on a scale at the beginning and/or end of the day, with one video demonstrating weight loss across the day. In some videos, calorie and/or macronutrient counts were presented, and total calorie counts were low (e.g., under 1500 calories consumed across the day). Many creators showed themselves exercising (e.g., lifting weights, running on a treadmill) in combination with eating a low-calorie diet, discussing weight loss, or in the stated pursuit of looking like a specific thin celebrity (e.g., Kendall Jenner).

Normalizing Eating as a Fat Woman.

In a subset of videos (N = 20), creators used words such as “fat”, “chunky”, “overweight” to describe themselves in a neutral and/or affirming way (e.g., “What I eat as a chubby girl who does not want to lose weight” and “What I eat in a day as a fatty”). Creators made it clear they were acting in opposition to diet culture and in support of body neutrality. One creator stated she was not trying to lose weight because she did not care that she was fat. Creators sometimes emphasized intuitive eating, including eating nutritious foods (e.g., salad), as a demonstration that fat women eat healthily, as well as high-calorie foods often regarded as contributing to weight gain (e.g., cupcakes), asserting their freedom around food.

Disordered Eating Content.

Some videos (N = 15) included discussion of or engagement in disordered eating behaviors (including binge eating, laxative misuse, skipping meals, eating very small or unusual meals) and ED recovery. In one video, a creator consumed multiple doughnuts followed by “cleansing” the rest of the day, using laxatives. Some creators were shown engaging in behaviors to minimize food intake (e.g., using child-sized utensils and taking very small bites of food) while discussing their ED. Two creators ate “blueberry cereal” (frozen blueberries in nondairy milk) for breakfast. Creators sometimes asked viewers for support; for example, one creator asked for encouragement after feeling ashamed that she consumed a small piece of chocolate. Some videos included presentations of daily eating as part of recovery from an ED. One video featured a creator challenging herself to eat meals chosen by her mother, because she was struggling with the urge to restrict her food intake after binge eating the previous day.

Theme 2: Only Eating

The Only Eating theme (N = 40) contained videos that focused primarily on food and eating. Only Eating videos did not typically depict or describe any other details about the creator’s life (e.g., employment) unless to highlight special reasons for their eating (e.g., one video featured a collegiate athlete). Unlike in the Lifestyle theme, filters to augment the video were very rarely used.

Only Eating subthemes

Upbeat Music.

Videos were often overlaid with upbeat music (N = 32). The most popular song was the Super Mario Brothers theme with creators eating quickly during the fast parts of the song, and slowly during the slower parts of the song.

Highly Palatable Foods.

In many videos (N = 24), creators emphasized consuming foods they considered tasty. Videos included the creator consuming a full day of varied, highly palatable foods that were most commonly from fast food restaurants. In one video, a creator stated she was eating all of her favorite foods, including french fries, chips, and candy. Creators often commented on the favorable taste, texture, and novelty of the foods.

Use of Emojis.

Many (N = 24) videos featured emojis overlaid on the screen, including those corresponding to the food consumed (e.g., a shrimp emoji in a video focused on sushi), or emojis indicating positive emotions about the food (e.g., happy, laughing). Three videos included emojis indicating negative emotions (e.g., a tearful or sad face); in two videos, the sadness was due to a restaurant forgetting to provide a condiment and in the third video, the reason was unclear.

Irony.

The majority of videos (N = 23) seemed to be parodies of the Lifestyle videos, in which creators appeared to use irony by presenting a messier eating style and less nutrient-dense diet. Creators featured shots of themselves chewing food, often as food fell out of their mouths. Sometimes as they chewed, creators narrated what they ate. In one video, a creator used her finger to eat cake frosting from the jar, leaving excess frosting on her face before biting into a loaf of bread in an exaggerated manner. In the next shot, the creator was shown licking the cheese and sauce off a bagel bite before dropping it on the floor.

Excessive Amounts of Food.

A subset of videos (N = 13) featured creators appearing to eat large amounts of food in a single day. This subtheme often featured “challenges” set by the creator or by their followers, including eating several family-sized meals from a fast-food chain or as much as possible at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. Creators presented the foods consumed in quick succession, highlighting the amount and volume they appeared to be eating. For example, one creator consumed three scones, a pizza, a barbecue sandwich, and approximately five tacos. Another creator consumed a lunch of eight slices of pizza. Many creators had thin bodies that they showed in a full-length mirror at the beginning of the video. Some videos showed the creator weighing themselves at the beginning and end of the day to demonstrate that they had not gained weight.

Discussion

This study sought to evaluate daily eating content on TikTok by examining videos tagged with #WhatIEatInADay. To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically examine such content on TikTok. Videos fell broadly within two themes: Lifestyle and Only Eating. Within those themes, several subthemes emerged, which highlighted important differences between the two types of videos.

Most Lifestyle videos included the presentation of nutrient-dense, styled foods presented in an aesthetic environment. Given the societal glorification of health and wellness, and evidence for social media’s role in promoting inaccurate assumptions about health and wellness (Marks et al., 2020), it is not surprising that the Lifestyle theme emerged in over half of our sample. However, it is striking that 25–48% of Lifestyle videos included promotion of weight loss, the thin ideal, and/or ED behaviors. This finding raises concerns about the potential impact of viewing this content for both individuals struggling with current or past disordered eating and impressionable youth. Videos presenting calorie counting and dieting tips are particularly alarming, given the established association between self-comparison and dieting behavior among girls and young women (Polivy, 2017). Even the one third of Lifestyle videos that appeared to normalize eating as a fat woman discussed body weight/shape (even if in a neutral, healthy, or positive way), which may draw attention to a viewer’s own weight/shape and elicit self-comparison thoughts (Daniels et al., 2020). One study demonstrated that both negative and positive body-focused comments in one’s natural environment were positively related to self-objectification, or valuing one’s appearance over their body’s functionality (Slater & Tiggemann, 2015). Alternatively, a recent study found that perceived positive body talk was associated with more self-compassion (Barbeau et al., 2022). Given these conflicting findings, future research on the psychological effects of viewing body-related content on TikTok is warranted.

Recent findings suggest even general TikTok use among college women is positively associated with body dissatisfaction and appearance comparison (Bissonette Mink & Szymanski, 2022). Because viewing eating and weight/shape-related content on other social media applications has been associated with elevated eating psychopathology (Padín et al., 2021; Sidani et al., 2016; Wilksch et al., 2020) and youth spend more time on TikTok than other social media applications (Price, 2020), the impact of TikTok use, and specifically #WhatIEatInADay, on eating psychopathology merits further research.

Regarding the subtheme “Normalizing Eating as a Fat Woman,” we recognize that there has historically been some debate of the terminology used to describe people in higher-weight bodies (Meadows & Daníelsdóttir, 2016). In the spirit of reflexivity (see Braun & Clarke, 2021), we allowed our data to lead our theme development. Because most creators used the term “fat” to describe themselves, we considered it important to use that same language to describe the theme. Importantly, within this subtheme there were discussions of body neutrality and the importance of embracing one’s shape in spite of diet culture, both of which are pillars of the modern fat acceptance movement (Striley & Hutchens, 2020). Use of the word “fat” in this subtheme is therefore consistent with the movement’s reclamation of the word as a neutral or positive descriptor that affirms the humanity and existence of people in fat bodies (Saguy & Ward, 2011), rather than as a pejorative term (Trainer et al., 2015).

Compared to the Lifestyle theme, Only Eating generally focused more on food and was less stylized. Only Eating videos also included upbeat music and consumption of large amounts of highly palatable food. Creators in this theme were less likely to include content about their life and rarely used filters to make the video visually appealing. This subset of content appeared similar to Mukbang, a popular YouTube trend in which a creator broadcasts themselves eating an excessive amount of appetizing food (Donnar, 2017; Kang et al., 2020; Kircaburun et al., 2021). Only Eating videos on TikTok may represent a shortened variation of Mukbang videos. Similar to Mukbang, many Only Eating videos featured creators who appeared to highlight their thin bodies (e.g., by weighing themselves or showing their body) while also eating large amounts of food. Research indicates some Mukbang viewers may feel distressed watching thin women eat large amounts of high calorie, highly palatable foods (Kircaburun et al., 2021; Strand & Gustafsson, 2020).

An emerging literature suggests that some viewers use Mukbang videos to help limit their own eating, either through vicarious eating or because they feel repulsed by food after watching (Strand & Gustaffson, 2020). Moreover, viewing Mukbang videos is associated with disordered eating and distorted concepts of real-life eating, potentially due to the modeling of unrealistic or unsustainable eating patterns (Hong & Park, 2017; Kircaburun et al., 2021; Strand & Gustafsson, 2020). Indeed, some Mukbang creators report engagement in extreme weight control behaviors to compensate for food intake during videos (Strand & Gustafsson, 2020). Given the content overlap between Only Eating and Mukbang videos, viewing TikTok Only Eating videos may be associated with similar distress and disordered eating. Importantly, because Only Eating videos are much shorter than Mukbang videos (15–60 seconds vs. 30 minutes; Rüdiger, 2020), TikTok users may be viewing a greater volume and diversity of excessive eating content. Indeed, because the algorithm so effectively presents material of interest to the viewer, TikTok users report finding TikTok “addicting”, leading to more frequent and prolonged use (Kang & Lou, 2022). Such use may cause greater distress than YouTube Mukbang viewing; this possibility merits future research.

These findings have potential clinical implications. Clinicians working with youth should be (1) familiar with TikTok and the rapid presentation of content tailored to viewer interests and (2) aware of the prevalence of ED and body-related themes in #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok. Patients may benefit from evaluating the helpfulness of watching #WhatIEatInADay videos to their ED recovery. Clinicians may use Socratic questioning to help patients critically evaluate #WhatIEatInADay videos. For example, in Lifestyle videos featuring meals that are primarily produce-based and very low calorie, clinicians may ask patients if they think it is realistic to assume that the creator included everything they ate that day in the video. For Only Eating videos featuring a thin woman eating an excessive amount of food, clinicians may encourage patients to consider whether the creator eats that amount of food every day and, if so, whether they might be engaging in extreme, time-consuming weight control behaviors to compensate for food consumption (Strand & Gustafsson, 2020).

These findings also have implications for future research. Large-scale, longitudinal studies examining whether TikTok use prospectively predicts disordered eating will be valuable in understanding the consequences of TikTok use on high-risk viewers. Controlled experiments examining the impact of watching TikTok #WhatIEatInADay videos on risk factors for disordered eating (e.g., cognitive factors such as body dissatisfaction or affective factors such as the experience of shame) also are needed.

Strengths of this study include the use of a sample of highly viewed TikTok videos with the #WhatIEatInADay hashtag, and the implementation of thematic analysis, a data-driven method. However, there are also limitations to this research. First, TikTok content is displayed according to a complex algorithm, and our sample of 100 videos is only an approximation of the most popularly viewed videos. We cannot know if the videos were presented based on other, less understood aspects of the algorithm. Second, the majority of TikTok creators in our sample were young appearing, feminine- and white-presenting, which may not represent the patterns of #WhatIEatInADay among more age, gender, racially, and ethnically diverse groups. Third, social media trends move quickly, and #WhatIEatInADay may be less popular in the future. However, #WhatIEatInADay has been present on multiple social media platforms for over a decade (Simonsen et al., 2021), and identified themes seem to mirror other problematic social media trends (e.g., Mukbang; Kircaburun et al., 2021). Thus, it is more likely this investigation represents an important preliminary step in understanding potentially harmful content on TikTok. Fourth, we did not examine other aspects of TikTok use, such as video comments. Fifth, we examined #WhatIEatInADay on TikTok only; we cannot know if the same themes and subthemes would be present on other social media platforms. Sixth, we examined only #WhatIEatInADay, and did not include other hashtags that may be important to understanding eating-related content on TikTok.

Despite censoring efforts, popular #WhatIEatinADay videos on TikTok include ED themes. Widespread TikTok use and the popularity of #WhatIEatInADay suggest this trend may be particularly dangerous in the promotion of disordered eating among high-risk viewers. Further investigation of #WhatIEatInADay may inform clinical and research directions for mitigating ED risk in vulnerable populations.

Highlights.

• Two types of #WhatIEatInADay TikTok videos emerged: Lifestyle and Eating Only.

• Lifestyle videos included eating disorder and body-focused themes.

• Eating Only videos emphasized highly palatable food and excessive food consumption.

Availability of data:

Data sharing is not applicable to this article because data are publicly available.