New Life: Myfitnesspal.com - the easiest way to lose!

MFP button tracking pounds lost

Losing weight is hard - don't let anyone tell you any different. It takes dedication to maintain lifestyle changes, and before that, it takes dedication to a plan. Through my weightloss adventure, there is one tool that absolutely changed my life. Myfitnesspal.com is a web tool or app that allow members to track their calorie intake and their exercise so they can meet their goals, and best of all - it's free!

From the beginning, I have used My Fitness Pal (MFP). When I set up my account, I simply added in my stats, like weight, height, age, and activity level, and told the program how much weight I wanted to lose (back then it was 2 pounds a week). After compiling my stats, it gave me daily calorie goal.  I logged every bite that went into my mouth (no cheating here!). I also logged all of my exercise, even if it was just a short walk. If I needed to eat more calories, my number was green. If my number turned red, I knew it was time to stop for the day.

MFP has a huge food database, so most of the foods I recorded were already there. If they weren't, I could add the nutrition information for them. Likewise, it already had the information for exercise and figured approximately how many calories I burned based on my estimated metabolism. However, if I had used a heart rate monitor at the gym and knew my calorie expenditure, I could override the pre-calculated results.

One thing I love about the MFP program is that I can "eat back" all of my exercise calories because the base calories are figured as the lowest amount your body can function on for a normal day. If you have more activity than normal, you need to eat more. For example, if my daily allowance is 1500 calories, and I burn 500 at the gym, I get to add those 500 calories for the day for a total of 2000 calories for that day.

MFP report tracking my weightloss

Throughout the year, I have changed my calorie goals to meet my needs. After initial huge drops, I lowered my weightloss to 1 pound a week, and MFP adjust my calories. Also, as I lost more weight, it adjusted my daily calories based on my new needs. Now that I am pregnant, I still track all of my calories, but I use the Maintenance setting, meaning I eat enough so I don't lose weight. As my pregnancy progress, I will raise it so that I gain enough weight to support the baby.

MFP is fantastic because it is so customizable. There are no special foods or plans - you just have to be honest with your food journal. It also provides reports about your nutrition, exercise, and weightloss so you can easily see where you need to make adjustments. Feel free to leave comments or questions for me if you'd like to get started on MFP today!