My Fitness Pal was the app/site that helped me really start on my weight loss journey without giving up those things I like. I wrote more how I got started and how through keeping track of my eating I have lost 14 lbs in 86 days (as of today). You can read more about on this link How I began my weight loss journey.
Sign up or install the app on your phone. Next they will ask you personal info as well as your goal (it could be to gain, maintain or lose weight). Once you are set up you can start to adding your meals in your daily diary. The Diary keeps track of your daily calories intake.
For example today I had
- Oatmeal Banana Pancakes with 1 cup of cantaloupe
- based on My Fitness Pal I had a total of 323 calories for breakfast
- Since my Daily Calories Goal is 1200 is saying I have 1127 more calories for me to eat today (that is if I want to eat my exercise calories I gained so far today)
How can I see my daily nutrients based on my daily meals?
- The app lets you see your nutrition right on your diary section (for free which is included on the app)
- Here you can see my nutrition based on my breakfast I had today.
- The Nutrients list shows Fats, Cholesterol, Sodium, Potassium, Carbs, Fiber, Sugar, Protein, Vitamin A & C, Calcium and Iron.
- If you go over the amount selected for you it will show in orange other wise it will let you know how much you have remaining to reach your daily limit.
- It also has a Macro Option well it divides your meal into 3 specific categories.
How do you enter my daily meals?
- You can enter your meal going to the diary section and selecting your option for breakfast, lunch and so on.
- add meal, type on the search ex. cantaloupe you will see many options but you can select the closest one to your type or brand.
- is important to measure and/or weight your meals, ex.. i measure my cantaloupe and since it was a cup and type 1 cup and right away it lets me see the calories and nutrients this meal has.
- but if you have a specific recipe you can type that as well by creating your own recipe (meaning typing in each ingredient and making sure you have the exact or close to it brand) or you can copy the url / link of a specific recipe and add it to your recipes and you will see all of the ingredients typed in for you.
- another option you have which is my favorite is scanning each item. For example if I had an english muffin with peanut butter all I have to do is click add, select the scan barcode option, scan my item and then specify if it was 1 or 1/2 and it will add it right away for me. Then I scan my other item and select 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter and so on.
At the end of your daily intake diary you can click on Complete this entry and it will post on your page that you completed your meal (and if you stayed under your daily calories intake – it will post that too). On your computer you can print a report selecting date from and to which will show your daily meal and exercise report.
The app is very easy and so helpful. This has been the one thing that has helped me lose the weight, enjoy what I like to eat, motivates me to eat and exercise better and you get a group of people that are there to help and motivate you..
