My Fitness Pal “Cheat Sheet”
While we consider My Fitness Pal to be the most user-friendly app currently available, that doesnʼt mean itʼs without challenges! We want to be certain that you get the very most out of MFP and food journaling, so weʼve developed a Cheat Sheet to help you through the sticky spots!
With the SMART PHONE APP, you can do the basics:
- Add food and exercise to your daily food diary
- Record your weight
- Can change privacy settings
- View and comment on your newsfeed
- Can edit the basics of your profile (change goal weight, change total goal calories, weight loss goals, and exercise goals)
PLEASE NOTE: Every time you change “Weight Loss Goal” (e.g., from 2 lbs per week to 1⁄2 lb per week, MFP resets the percentage of macronutrients (% protein, % fat, and % carbs) to its default settings.
- Can manage MFP Friends (add new friends, confirm friendship requests)
- Link your MFP account with other applications, such as your Fitbit, Endomondo and more
The SmartPhone App will also do things the web app doesn’t!
- See your macronutrient breakdown for the day (i.e., how many grams of Protein, Carbs, and Fat)
- Set reminders; Alerts you if you haven't entered your meal by a time you set
- Scan packaged foods barcodes to add to your daily diary
For more advanced actions or settings, you should go to the WEBSITE:
- Change more specific goals, e.g., nutritional goals (% or protein, % of carbs, % of fat)
- Record other measurements, not just weight (waist, hips, etc.)
- Add your own measurements to track (e.g., % body fat)
- Add to your profile ("About Me")
- Can write your own blog. When you post something, it'll appear on your Friends' newsfeeds
- More advance account settings, such changing the names of meals, adding additional meal categories (like “Vitamins” or “Supplements”) or specify which macros to track
- Set it up to autopost on Facebook or Twitter
- Create detailed reports on weight loss or food consumed
- Determine the number of calories and grams of the macronutrients in a homemade meal using the “Recipes” tab in the submenu of the Food” tab.
To Change your Calorie goal and Macronutrient goals:
This is very important. The default settings that MFP uses for the macronutrient profile goal is not appropriate for most people. After discussing with your trainer what your goals should be, you will want to change the settings in MFP.
This must be done on the website (as opposed to the application on your smartphone)
Log into your account on MFP. Click “My Home” on the menu bar Now, click on “Goals” on the sub-menu bar below the main menu bar. This will bring you to a Goals screen. Click on the green “Change Goals” button. Select the “Custom” button and then click “Continue.” Type in your Calorie goal into the “Net Calories Consumed” box.
Remember: GrassIron considers this is your total calorie goal for the day. You don’t earn extra calories by working out, as your calorie goal is set higher than MFP’s default based on the assumption that you are working out several times a week.
Next, enter your percentage of calories for carbs, protein, and fat. MFP will calculate the target number of grams of each. Since the web app dynamically changes the percentages to equal 100% as you entering them, it’s best to put in the percentage of carbs first, then protein. Fat will be automatically calculated. Click the green “Change Goals” button to save this information.
PLEASE NOTE: Every time you change “Weight Loss Goal” (e.g., from 2 lbs per week to 1 lb per week, MFP resets the percentage of macronutrients (% protein, % fat, and % carbs) to its default settings.
