Based on your fitness profile, we'll recommend a daily net calorie target for you to achieve your weight loss (or gain) goals.
As you eat and exercise throughout the day, you need to log your meals and exercise in your diary. MyFitnessPal will calculate the number of calories you've consumed and burned from exercise and let you know how many calories you have left to eat for the day. If you stick within your calorie limits, you should achieve the weight loss you're looking for.
The best part of our system is that logging gets easier the more you do it. MyFitnessPal remembers the foods and exercises you like most and makes it easy for you to add those items to your diary. In just a few days, logging can be as fast as 30 seconds - it's literally that easy.
Periodically (we recommend once a week), you should weigh yourself and check-in your new weight using our Progress feature. Checking in your weight allows us to track your progress over time and also to adjust your calorie goals to reflect your new weight.
That's it! Just a few minutes a day can show you so much about what you're eating and how that impacts your health.
Yes, you can! We have literally thousands and thousands of members who've successfully reached their weight loss goals - many of whom who lost more than 100 pounds. We've had members featured on the Today Show, Family Circle, NBC, and more.
You can read some of their stories yourself on our
Success Stories message board.
Our tools simply provide you with the information you need to eat healthier and smarter. There's no magic trick involved. People who use our app and our website and stick with it can reach their goals - it's that simple.
Yes, you can access your MyFitnessPal account from almost any web-enabled device. Just go to
http://www.myfitnesspal.com and using your login and password you can connect to your account online. This includes access to your food diary and exercise journal as well as the ability to communicate with our large online community of people looking to lose weight or stay fit. Using your online account, you can also create more detailed reports, print your diary, blog about your progress and more.
Any changes you make on the web or on your iPhone are automatically synchronized as long as your iPhone has internet access - so you'll have the most up to date data available no matter how you access your account. So feel free to use one, both or go back and forth depending on what works best for you.
For the most part, both applications work very similarly. The data you enter is synchronized across both applications whenever your iPhone/iPod has internet access, so your data will be identical on both as long as you have successfully synchronized. The website does offer additional features and settings beyond what is currently available in the iPhone application. Here are some examples of additional options on the MyFitnessPal website:
- Support forums and tools to communicate with a huge community of other MyFitnessPal members who are also trying to lose weight or get fit.
- Custom tools to measure your BMI or BMR
- Website badges and weight loss tickers to promote your progress
- Additional graphs and reports to monitor your progress
- More settings to allow you to customize your experience or modify your account (change username, change password, etc...)
By using both the iPhone application and the website you can have the flexibility to access your account wherever you are in addition to utilizing the additional features above.
If the iPhone app is stuck on the "Loading..." screen, turning your phone/iPod touch completely off, then back on will fix the problem.
To turn your iPhone/iPod Touch completely off, hold down the top power button until the "Slide to power off" switch appears, then slide that red switch to the right. Once your iPhone/iPod Touch is completely off, hold the top power button down again until the Apple logo appears. When your phone has finished restarting, open the app again and it should now load properly.
If you have a MyFitnessPal account, then your data is automatically backed up to our servers whenever you launch the app and have a working Internet connection. You can check whether the data is up to date by visiting the website at
www.myfitnesspal.com, logging in with your username and password and reviewing your diary and profile information. Also, if you navigate to the "More" section of the app, you'll see a red message indicating how may changes you've made to the app that have not been synced with the website. If the top row on the "More" tab says "All local changes synced", then all of your changes have been synced with the website.
If you don't have an account, you can create one by launching the app, pressing the "More" button and choosing "Backup to MyFitnessPal.com". This will prompt you to create an account which will allow you to sync your data back to the website and retrieve it when you install a new version of the app.
Adding a food to your diary is simple. Just take the following steps:
- Press the "Add to Diary" button from your "Home" screen OR go to "My Diary" and press the "Add" button in the upper right hand corner.
- Choose the meal that you would like to add your food to.
- Type in the name of the food you'd like to add into the search box and press the "Search" button. After you've added a food to your diary, you may see it in your "Most Used" items list. This will make it easier for you to add foods that you eat often later on.
- After you press "Search", you'll be shown a list of foods in our database that match your search. Press on the item you'd like to add and you should see a screen with more details about that particular food.
- Change the number of servings you ate if necessary and the serving size then press "Add" in the upper right hand corner.
That's it. Your food should be logged in your diary.
Most of us tend to eat the same foods every day for each meal. MyFitnessPal takes advantage of that to make logging your meals easier.
As you log what you've eaten, MyFitnessPal remembers what you like to eat in your "Most Used" list. You can then add any items from that list just by choosing the food you want to add from the list and pressing "Add" from the "Add Food" screen. The more you use the app, the easier it gets!
Foods are added to your Most Used Items list automatically based on how often you add them to your diary. As you add items to your diary, they will appear on your list if you add them frequently enough. There isn't anything special that you need to do to make an item appear on the list.
Yes, you can. Just tap on the "More" section, then choose "Settings", and finally, switch the "Show All Meals For Favorites Lists" toggle to ON. You will now see your favorites lists for all of your meals, not just the individual meal you are adding an item to.
Yes, you can change the meal names and even add additional meals. To change your meal names, login to your account on our website at
www.myfitnesspal.com, then to go "My Home", then "Settings", then "Diary Settings" and you'll be taken to a page where you can edit your meal names. Any changes you make on the website will be immediately reflected on the iPhone application so once you change the meal names on the web, you'll get the benefit on your iPhone as well.
We don't currently offer this feature, however, a number of our users have suggested a way to keep track of approximately when you ate a particular food. On the MyFitnessPal website (
www.myfitnesspal.com), you can change the names of the meals that are shown in your diary. So for example, if timing is important to you, you can change the names of the meals from (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, etc...) to periods of time like 9am -11am, 11am - 1pm, 1pm - 4pm, etc... You can even add some additional meals to give you more flexibility (up to 6 different meals per day).
Multi-add allows you to add multiple foods and exercises from your favorites lists and search results all at once. It's a fantastic tool that makes logging your food and exercise even faster and easier.
To enter multi-add mode, just tap the "Multi-add" button at the top of your favorites lists (like Most Used, etc.). Checkboxes will appear next to each food or exercise in your list. Check the items you'd like to add, then hit the "Add Checked" button in the upper right, and all of the items you've checked will be added to your diary at once.
If you need to adjust the serving size or minutes performed, etc. of a food or exercise before adding it, just tap on the row and you'll be taken to a screen where you can make the modifications you'd like. When finished, hit the "Check" button in the upper right and you'll be taken back to your favorites lists with those adjustments made. You can then make further adjustments or just hit "Add Checked" to complete adding those items to your diary.
If you know how many calories you ate, you can use our Quick Add Calories function to just enter that amount into your diary without having to search for the specific foods that you consumed. It's an easy and fast way to just add calories to your diary without having to look for a specific food.
Our food database contains a combination of foods that we add depending on the availability of information as well as foods that are added by our users. We allow users to both add and share new food items with our community to continue to grow our database and enhance the overall experience for all users. Currently, only foods created on our website are eligible to be shared with the community, however, we may change this in a future version of the application.
It's easy to add a personal food to your database. Just press "Create a New Food" at the bottom of any screen where you search for foods in our database. You'll be taken to a screen where you can add the nutritional information for the food you'd like to add to the database. Once you're finished entering in your data, just press the "Save" button in the upper right hand corner.
To add your new food to your diary, either search for it like any other food or you can add it directly from your "My Foods" tab on the same screen as your food search. For example of searching, if the food you created was called "Mike's homemade apple pie", you could just search for "Mike's apple pie." Your food will appear in the search results, and you can add it to your log like any other food in our database.
To edit or delete a personal food, choose the "More" section of the application, then press "Edit Foods & Exercises" and "My Foods". This should bring up a list of your personal foods. If you select any food in that list, you can edit the details for that food and then re-save it. In addition, if you press the red button to the left of any food in the list, you can have the option to delete that personal food.
For foods that you regularly eat together, saving them as a Meal lets you easily add them to your diary as a group. For example, you can create a Meal called "Two eggs and cereal breakfast" consisting of two eggs and a bowl of cereal. You can then add "Two eggs and cereal breakfast" at once instead of adding each item separately.
To create a Meal, just add the items for that Meal to one section of your diary, then press on the Wrench icon next to the section name (Breakfast, Lunch, etc..), then choose "Remember Meal" in the menu of options that appears. To add a remembered Meal to your diary, just search for it by name (i.e. search for "Two eggs and cereal breakfast") and add it like you would any other food. In addition, you can press the "My Meals" tab on the search for foods screen to see a list of your previously saved meals.
Yes, you can. To edit a meal, first add it to your diary. Then, within your diary, you can make any changes to the meal that you'd like - for example, changing a portion size, or deleting/adding a different food item. Finally, tap on the Wrench icon next to the section name and choose the "Remember Meal" option to resave the meal. Finally, choose the "Replace an Existing Meal" option. Choose the meal name you wish to overwrite and that meal will be replaced with the meal you just created.
Yes, you can. When adding an entry to your diary, below "Cardiovascular" and "Strength", you'll see a row labeled "Water." Tap on it and you can record how many cups (8 oz. each) of water you've drank for the day.
Yes, you can. When adding to your diary, below the row for "Water" you'll see two notes areas - one for food and one for exercise. Tap on either of those rows and you'll be taken to a screen where you can record whatever notes you'd like on your diary. You can use this area to how you felt that day, or to track vitamins and supplements, or anything else you'd like to remember. All notes will, of course, also be synced to our website so you can access them online and vice versa.
You can print and share your diary using the web version of MyFitnessPal at http://www.myfitnesspal.com. We have not yet incorporated these features into our iPhone version but may do so with a future update.
Adding an exercise to your diary is similar to adding a food. Just take the following steps:
- Press the "Add to Diary" button from your "Home" screen OR go to "My Diary" and press the "Add" button in the upper right hand corner.
- Choose either "Cardiovascular" or "Strength" depending on what type of exercise you would like to add.
- Type in the name of the exercise you'd like to add into the search box and press the "Search" button. After you've added an exercise to your diary, you may see it in your "Most Used" items list. This will make it easier for you to add exercises that you perform often later on.
- After you press "Search", you'll be shown a list of exercises in our database that match your search. Press on the item you'd like to add and you should see a screen with more details about that particular exercise.
- Change the number of minutes you exercised or the number of sets, reps and weight for a strength exercise. When you're finished press "Add" in the upper right hand corner.
That's it. Your exercise should be logged in your diary.
Most of us tend to perform the same exercises in our workout routines. MyFitnessPal takes advantage of that to make logging your workouts easier.
As you log what exercises you've performed, MyFitnessPal remembers what you like to do in your "Most Used" exercises list. You can then add any items from that list by selecting that exercise and clicking the "Add" button on the exercise details screen.
Exercises are added to your Most Frequently Used Items list automatically based on how often you add them to your diary. As you add items to your diary, they will appear on your list if you add them frequently enough. There isn't anything special that you need to do to make an item appear on the list.
It's easy to add a personal exercise to your database. Just press on "Add to Diary" and choose the type of exercise you'd like to add. Next, press on "Create a New Exercise" at the bottom of the search screen. You'll be taken to a screen where you can describe the exercise you'd like to add. Once you're finished entering in your data, just click the "Done" button.
To add your new exercise to your diary, just search for it like any other exercise or select it from the list "My Exercises" during the add to diary process. For a search example, if the exercise you created was called "leg lifts", you could just search for "leg lists." Your exercise will appear in the search results, and you can add it to your log like any other exercise in our database.
If you know exactly how many calories you burned from a machine at the gym, you can manually enter that number into your diary. Just search for the exercise in our database, select it from the search results, and type in the exact number of calories you burned in the "Calories Burned" box to the right. That number will be saved in your diary.
Estimating the calories burned from strength training is very difficult because it depends on a variety of factors: how much weight you lifted per repetition, how vigorously you performed that exercise, how much rest you took between sets, etc. Because of this, we do not automatically calculate how many calories you burned from strength training exercises.
However, if you'd like, you can add "Strength training" as a cardio exercise to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burned. Please be aware though that this is definitely a rough estimate and can be fairly inaccurate.
To edit or delete a personal exercise, navigate to the "More" section using the bottom menu then press "Edit Foods & Exercises" and "My Exercises". This should bring up a list of all your personal exercises. Find the exercise you'd like to edit or delete, then select that item from the list. This should bring up details on the exercise you want to edit. You can edit the exercise details and just press "Save" to update. If you want to delete a personal exercise, just press the red button next to the exercise on the "My Exercises" list.
Yes, you can. When adding to your diary, below the row for "Water" you'll see two notes areas - one for food and one for exercise. Tap on either of those rows and you'll be taken to a screen where you can record whatever notes you'd like on your diary. You can use this area to how you felt that day, or to track vitamins and supplements, or anything else you'd like to remember. All notes will, of course, also be synced to our website so you can access them online and vice versa.
You can print and share your diary using the web version of MyFitnessPal at http://www.myfitnesspal.com. We have not yet incorporated these features into our iPhone version but may do so with a future update.
To change your diet and fitness goals, just navigate to the "More" section using the bottom menu then press "Edit Profile". By editing the details within this profile, you will automatically update your fitness goals. If you decide the automatically calculated calorie goal doesn't work for you, you can manually update the calorie goal to any number you choose on this screen as well. Just tap on the "Net Calorie Goal" row and you can adjust that number to whatever you'd like.
Yes, you can customize your nutritional goals to whatever you'd like on our website. To change your nutritional goals, login to your account at
www.myfitnesspal.com, then go to "My Home", "Goals", and click the "Change Goals" button at the bottom of that page. Choose the "Custom" option and you'll be taken to a page where you can set whatever nutritional goals you'd like for your account. Any changes you make will be synced to the app automatically the next time the app is connected to the internet.
Every time you record your weight in our application, MyFitnessPal checks to see if you've lost 10 pounds since the last time your goals were calculated. If so, we'll ask you if you'd like to reset your goals based on your new weight.
We recommended recording your weight and other measurements once a week. Our system will allow you to record them as often as you'd like, but your weight can fluctuate quite a bit daily, which is why we recommend a weekly check-in.
You can change the measurements you are tracking by logging into your account on our website at
www.myfitnesspal.com. Once you are logged in, go to "My Home", then "Check-in", then click the "Change measurements" link. On that page, you can add or remove any measurements you'd like to track. Any changes you make will be synced to the app the next time the app is connected to the internet.
Login to your account on our website at
www.myfitnesspal.com, then go to "My Home", "Check-in", then click "Edit previous entries". On that screen, you can edit any previous measurement you've entered. Any changes you make will be synced to the app automatically once the app is connected to the internet.
By default, ONLY your MyFitnessPal friends can see any activity on your news feed. Anyone who is not your friend cannot see any of your activity. The only small exception is that, if a friend comments on someone's status, you'll be able to see that one status item only, even if you are not friends with them. But the rest of their activity will remain private.
In general, your activity will only be shared with the people that you trust and want to support you. If you don't want someone to see your activity, just remove them from your friends list, or don't add them in the first place - it's that easy.
Yes, you can turn on or off any of the automatically generated updates that are posted to your news feed. In order to change these settings, login to our website at
www.myfitnesspal.com using the same username and password that you signed up with in the mobile application. Once you're logged in, go to "My Home", then "Settings" and click on "Automatic News Feed update settings". Once you click on this link, you should see a list of all of the different updates that can be automatically posted to your news feed. Just uncheck the boxes next to the updates which you would no longer like to see and click "Save Changes" to save your preferences.
No, by default, other members cannot see your weight or your food diary. If you'd like to share your food diary, you can change your sharing settings on our website, but by default, your food diary is completely private and visible only by you.
Also by default, no other members can see your actual weight. We do show how much weight you've lost, i.e. "10 lbs lost" so that other users can provide you support and encouragement, but no one can see your actual weight.