Review: My Fitness Pal App

2013 New Year Resolution is to cycle from Vancouver, BC to Whistler, BC

I hate, hate counting calories.  I do know however, that is almost always a necessity for losing weight and keeping the weight off successfully.  This is how I am able to maintain my weight for over 3 years of the yo yo dieting that I used to put myself on.  I am so happy that the days are over for using a journal to keeping track of everything you eat.  It was such a pain to remember what you ate, remembering how many calories each food item was and to carry around this book to write everything down.  Its so much easier with any little pocket device you have.  I have tried many FREE applications but the one that I found was the best was MyFitnessPal.  So I was thrilled when I was asked to review MyFitnessPal since I already use this app on a regular basis.

MyFitnessPal in a nut shell is even more than just a calories counter.  It  is a tracker that is designed to help you lose weight (or reach other goals) by logging your food, fitness and more. And it’s all connected to your social networks, if you choose,  so you can try and stay accountable.  This is how MyFitnessPal explains there site:

MyFitnessPal is a diet and fitness community built with one purpose in mind: providing you with the tools and support you need to achieve your weight loss goals.

Lose weight the healthy way

We believe — and medical studies prove — that the best way to lose weight and keep it off forever is to simply keep track of the foods you eat. Gimmicky machines and fad diets don’t work, so we designed a free website and mobile apps that make calorie counting and food tracking easy

• Medical studies show that keeping a food journal DOUBLES your weight loss!
• Eat whatever you want
• Easy and fast
• Completely free, with no strings attached

Its been so long now and I had to go back to see how easy the setup is.  It is pretty standard, requiring you to put in your height, current weight, overall weight goals,  how quickly you would like to lose the weight and other options to make the program your own.  You can also sync other calorie counting devices to MyFitnessPal, as you can see here.  I do use one of these devices and it is super easy to set up.

Once you have put in your numbers this app is extremely easy to use.  I can log on my meal and workout within a few seconds of opening the app.  The best part of this app is the extensive food data base that far out does any FREE app that I have used in the past.  For example, I ate a “California Roll” the other day from Safeway and that exact item was there.  I knew that the calories etc. amount was correct because it match up exactly with the box.  How often does that happen?  On other app that are similar, I would have to enter all of the amounts manually.  If the calories were not on the box or I was unaware of how many calories I was eating, I would have to guess or use another manual California Roll (and being a California Roll junkie they really vary from place to place).

Of course, there will be items that are not included on the data base, like  the deli made, tuna sandwich, but on these items your best guess will have to do.  I have asked in the past for the deli to break down the items in the sandwich for me by asking  what type of tuna is used? Sauce? and than adding each item manually (my trick is to always to higher than you think).  The good news is if you have that deli sandwich once a week, you will only have to do this once and save the item into “My Foods” categories.  I do find I tend to eat the same thing over and over again maybe rotating about 20 meals.  So than logging even becomes easier.

Another thing that sets My Fitness Pal apart from other “diet” tools is that it’s very connected to social networks. You can make friends (the latest update lets you search your Facebook connections), send messages of support, ask for help and more. As you know, I’m HUGE on building community, especially when it comes to setting goal, it is so much fun to do this with friends.  Right now my mom and I are in a good battle of how many steps we take per day that started on January 1.    Super motivating as we are both huge competitors.

If you are looking for a way to be accountable for what you eat and how you exercise, , My Fitness Pal can be a great tool for you to try. At the very least, it will help you get a better idea of what you’re eating, how much you’re burning, and where you can make some healthier decisions.  I personally love this app and really you have nothing to lose (expect pounds, of course, LOL).

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Disclosure: “Compensation was provided by Welch’s via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Welch’s.”