How to use MyFitnessPal to help achieve your fitness goals on iOS and Android
Food, fitness, and an exact science for getting what you want
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Despite what you may have seen from get-ripped-quick advertisements, it’s in fact the combination of regular fitness and good food that gets us fit and healthy. Luckily there are plenty of apps that tell us exactly how to get the goals we want.
MyFitnessPalis a free-to-use app that’s compatible with other devices, such as fitness watches likeFitbit- which you can download forAndroid,iOS, but there’s also a web browser version if you wish, so you can use it onmacOSandWindows. Potentially one of the best in its category with over 80 million users, it’s simple once you know what you’re doing.
The design of the app may look daunting at first, which is why we’ve compiled a few tips to help you get started on your fitness journey, regardless of whether you’re anxious about using tech or fitness.
Premium Features
If you’re just starting out, the free version will be more than useful for you. But if you want to sign up, it’s $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$21.99 a month. Or $79.99 / £91.99 / AU$99.99 for the yearly subscription.
These are the benefits you’ll gain if you do sign up though:
Setting Your Goals
You can set your goals by setting your current weight, your goal weight, alongside the timescale of when you want to achieve it, alongside your current daily activity level.
If you’re wearing afitness trackeror your smartphone has a motion-tracking chip installed, you won’t need to manually fill in the last one - your daily activity level is already being tracked, which you can check inApple’sHealth apponiOSfor example.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
The four levels are:
If you find out later that you’re not gaining/losing enough weight, or if the process is happening too quickly, then you may have miscalculated your daily activity level.
After your goals have been set, it’s time to start your daily log of food and exercise.
Logging Your Food
This is entirely optional, but logging your food will help MyFitnessPal better measure your diet if you wish to.
There are a few ways to log your food on the app. Open up your diary by tappingDiaryat the bottom of your screen. Then choose whichever meal you’re logging – breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just a snack – and tapAdd Food. You can now choose how you log your food, picking from the options below:
If you want to check your nutrition, scroll to the bottom of the diary and tap thenutrition button. The amount of protein you need will be displayed in a progress bar, along with how close you are to your sugar and saturated fat limit for the day. It’s always worth taking this into account if you’re unsure what to eat next.
MyFitnessPal also has a water tracker to keep you hydrated when you work out.
Logging Your Exercise
To log your exercise, open the diary again and scroll to near the bottom. Just before the water tracker is the exercise tracker. TapAdd Exerciseto bring up your three exercise options:Cardiovascular,Strength,andWorkout Routines.
Don’t forget that your daily calories will change as you work out. Exercise often means more calories and more protein. Luckily, MyFitnessPal will tell you this after you’ve logged your exercise.
Make fitness friends in Community
While this isn’t necessary, it helps motivate some people to treat fitness as a group activity rather than a solo one.
The MyFitnessPal forum, which you can access by tapping theCommunityoption on the sidebar, is a great place to chat with people – especially if you’re feeling nervous about your fitness path. You’ll already have an account with your MyFitnessPal login so you can get started in posting your progress or encouraging others in their journey.
Ben is a freelance writer based in sunny North Wales. He has written for The Gamer, WhatCulture, and the mental health charity Safe in our World. When he’s not writing, he can be found playing PS2 games that he missed 20 years ago.
Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, November 8 (game #1019)
NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, November 8 (game #250)
Nokia confirms data breach leaked third-party code, but its data is safe
