Tips for Using My Fitness Pal My Fitness Pal (MFP) is an app and website used for calorie counting and managing nutrition and weight. We recommend using it as a food (fat) log to help you stick to the study fat goals. What it can do: o Log or look up fat, calories, and other nutrition information o Track your water intake o Track how many steps you take or what kinds of exercises you’ve done. o Estimate calorie requirements based on your level of physical activity Helpful Features: o Barcode Scanner: scan the barcode of a packaged food using the camera on your phone and MFP will pull up the nutrition information o Recipe Tool (Saves recipes you find online) o Search for a restaurant name and see nutrition information for items on the menu
Q: Do I need a smart phone to be able to use My Fitness Pal? A: You can log on to MFP from any web browser, or download the apps for Android and Apple phones and tablets. Q: How can I create an account? A: Register on www.myfitnesspal.com or download the app. You will need to provide an email address or sign up with Facebook. You will also be asked to tell a little information about yourself – enter your gender, height, weight, and your target weight. The website/app will provide you with a daily calorie target that’s personalized to help you reach your goals. After that, you’re ready to start tracking.
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Q: How can I download the app? A: Search for ‘MyFitnessPal’ in your app store and download. Or, go to www.myfitnesspal.com on your device browser. Click on “Get the App.”
Look for the blue MFP icon in your App Store to download. After it’s finished downloading, click on the icon on your home screen to open and use it (or just hit “open”).
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Q: How do I add/log foods that I eat? A: Click on “Diary.” Or from the "My Home" tab, click on the word "Food." This will take you to your Food Diary. Click "Add Food" under the meal to which you would like to add food. If you click on the large blue “Plus” symbol to log, select “Food” to log. This is your Food Diary.
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Type the name of the food you're looking for in the box with a magnifying glass where it says "Search for a food.” You can use keywords, like "turkey sandwich" or brand names. You’ll notice a list may populate for you to choose from. Click "Search" on the bottom right corner of your phone. When the search results appear, click the item that represents the best match, and information for that item will appear as you select each one. There, you can adjust the serving size and number of servings to reflect the amount you've eaten. For example, if you are having half of the standard serving size, change the number of servings from "1" to ".5". Finally click "Add," which is the Check Button on the screen. The item will be added to your diary and the calories for the item will be deducted from your daily allowance. With each item you log, your recent list for each meal category will update automatically, to make it easier to add your favorite foods quickly! After you type in your food (by name or brand), hit either of these two buttons to queue up a list of more specific foods to select from.
Click here to Add the specific food to your diary.
Q: How often should I log? A: As often as possible. 5-7 days a week is ideal. The more you track, the more likely you will hit your goals. It will get easier the more you do it. Skip a meal (or a day, or a week?) Don’t worry about it. It’s always better to track something versus nothing at all. Q: Should I sign up to lose, maintain, or gain weight? A: For our study purposes, the best bet starting out is to maintain your weight. Weight loss is not the goal of the study. However, since you will be eating a low-fat diet, you may begin to lose weight. You will be monitored by a dietitian as well as a clinician/neurologist throughout the study to ensure you stay healthy. 4|Page
Q: How much information does MFP store/save? A: With a MFP account, your account information, personal information, and any data you enter into the app is automatically saved to the MFP servers whenever you launch the app and have a working Internet connection. You can check whether the data is up to date by logging into the website. The food diary appears to go as far back as 2009. Q: How reliable is the nutrition information? A: If you are eating packaged foods, like cereal, it’s a good idea to spend some time scrolling through to find the right brand. There can be huge differences between the nutrition of cornflakes from one brand another. Q: What are some ways I can be more accurate about what I log? A: Make sure you enter the right quantity. Maybe invest in a small pair of scales to always get weights spot on. Once you’re done, hit the little tick in the top right and the food will be added to your daily calorie intake, which you can monitor from the main screen. Q: What do you suggest I review daily or at the end of the day to make sure I stick with my goal(s)? A: Review your fat intake throughout each day. Do this by scrolling down to the ‘Nutrition’ button (under ‘More’) of your food diary. This can keep you on track by helping you adjust after a high-fat food choice. You will need to customize your fat goal to 20%. View your Nutrition here.
Click here to modify your macronutrient goals.
Click here to modify your FAT GOAL TO 20%.
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Change your macronutrient percentages to FAT 20%, PROTEIN 20%, and CARBS 60%.
Click here to finalize your goal setting.
Note: This feature of adding a customized Daily Goal is only available on the Premium version as indicated by the “lock� symbol.
Q: Does this get any easier? A: Yes! As with most things, logging your food will get easier with practice. Use the tips below to make it easy. 1. Set some reminders for yourself. From the start, you can set yourself reminders that arrive as push notifications on your phone to remind you to log meals. Just head to the three little dots on the bottom right hand corner of the screen and hit More. Then go to Reminders. Tap the plus sign in the top right and then define a reminder, which can be a weigh-in, at particular times of the day (at breakfast or lunch, say) or simply a daily reminder to log your fat. 6|Page
Click Reminders from the ‘More’ tab.
You will need to adjust your phone settings. Make sure to turn “On” your Notifications from your phone Settings.
Once notifications are turned on, Edit or Add a Reminder. Change the Type (other options are available besides Weight), Frequency, Day(s), and Time(s) to your preference.
Don’t forget to tap the check symbol to finalize your settings.
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2. Save your favorite recipes, foods, and meals in your account. MyFitnessPal made the process easier by allowing you to create special lists of recipes, foods and meals. You only have to enter them all in once and then you can just select that meal/recipe each time you eat it. In essence, you’re saving yourself time so that you don’t have to enter each ingredient night after night. To add a Recipe or Meal: Go to the three little dots in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and hit More and then go to My Recipes & Foods to start adding in your favorite meal or recipe.
From the ‘More’ tab, go to Meals, Recipes & Foods
Hit ‘Create a Recipe.’
You have the option of uploading a recipe from the web or adding your own recipe.
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Web option: You will be prompted to provide the web link to the recipe.
Manual option: You will need to name your Recipe and provide the number of servings. Hit the arrow to move forward.
Manually add your Ingredients one at a time by clicking ‘Add Ingredient.’ Then toggle forward.
Type in your Ingredient to search for it.
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Select the matching ingredient.
Confirm the amount you used in your recipe.
Hit the check symbol to finalize your Ingredient. Then click ‘Add Ingredient.’
Continue to search for and add your Ingredients until the Recipe is complete. ‘Save’ or ‘Save & Log it’ to your food diary.
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To create a Meal or Food, follow the prompts from the Meals, Recipes, & Foods tab.
You also have the option of browsing meal ideas.
Q: Can I integrate MFP with my Fitbit or other Apps? A: Yes. You can add exercise manually, or you can sync your activity tracker or health apps. To track steps, Hit “More” and then go to “Steps”. Here you can turn off this functionality altogether, use Apple Health to track your steps or head to Add a Device. Lots of different step counting wearables can sync up to MyFitnessPal (some easier than others) from Fitbit to Withings to Jawbone. If it’s steps you want to sync up with your wearable activity tracker, then find your device in the Steps section and hit Connect. Give MFP permission to talk to your wearable tracker. For some trackers, you may need to update the settings in the privacy/sharing information in the wearable’s app too. Q: Who can see my information? A: Only you and the MyFitnessPal team can see your personal information and saved information unless you choose to share it. Q: What information can I share? A: MyFitnessPal has an active community of users. You can chat with others about your personal journey, share tips, and search for new recommendations. You can also write in forums and join friend groups. You can add other users as “Friends” to privately share information, or post and share publicly. 11 | P a g e
To do this, go to More and then go to Community. This is where you can read through the MyFitnessPal forums, where you’ll find discussions on everything MFP-related, from official news and announcements, to tips and success stories. Get as involved as you like or just jump straight in and visit the Introduce Yourself thread at the top. Q: What is the difference between the free version and the premium version? A: The biggest benefits seem to be that it’s ad-free and you can export your data (nutrition details, progress history, an exercise history) to your trainer, doctor, or nutritionist. This is not offered in the free version. References: https://www.wareable.com/health-and-wellbeing/beginners-guide-to-myfitnesspal https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/
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