Website Review - MyFitnessPal.com

The subject of this post is the review of a great website I recently found out about. My health/fitness/weight are out of control and I finally WANT to do something about it. Because of this site it finally seems doable.

Last week I finally got a new phone (I made my lovely Samsung D500 last as long as I could!), and an iPhone at that, but since I'm well behind the times I'm sure a post about it would be pretty irrelevant. All i will say is that it's nice to have a phone that's as good/better than the ones I see in the hands of 10 year-olds on the bus! Sidebar - why would any parent buy their kid an iPhone!? might as well stick a sign on their back saying "Mug me!"

Before getting my shiny new phone I was getting ready to start an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of my eating habits so I could analyse later *yawn*. Turns out I don't need to. This site, myfitnesspal.com, also have an 'app' that I'm now using. It does exactly what I was looking for and so much more.

Primarily it's a diary for keeping track of what you're eating. Sounds simple but there's more to it. Myfitnesspal have built up a pretty big online community already and those people all contribute to the site. you see, instead of having to read the nutritional content off the side of your meals and type them in, chances are someone will have done that for you, and once it's in the sites database, you can enter it just by searching for the name. I even found this obscure Lidl brand chocolate thing that I like! It works out the nutritional values for you and can adapt them to your portion size! Once you know how to use it, which isn't hard to learn, you can record your daily intake in just a minute or two! that's hardly an inconvenience for all it offers you, and for free I might add.

Those apprehensive about revealing your eating habits or weight should note that only you see this information, so if you cheat once in a while you won't get told off by your friends. Once you've registered you receive recommendations for daily intake etc. After you've recorded a days worth it will then give you a prediction for weight loss or gain (if that's one of your goals) should you carry on eating that way, and an estimate of how long it will take e.g. lose 10 pounds in 5 weeks. It also factors in exercise and the impact it will have. that's something else that the site/app lets you do, record your daily/weekly exercise. Once you have the hang of it you're able to view your intake diary at the touch of a button, track your progress over time, compare your figures and use the information to adapt your habits. Even if you aren't looking to lose weight or exercise, it might still surprise you. For instance you might be well under your calorie suggestion but maybe you're ingesting too much fat or sugar than you should be, which could be responsible for future health conditions.

Just keeping track of this kind of information is proven to be of help with weight loss but another important part, which myfitnesspal encourages, is having a support system, and their site facilitates this. If you choose to, you can link your progress to other social networks but the first thing to do is check out the message boards and blogs they host. I'd recommend checking out the 'Success Stories' board where you can see some really inspirational before and after pictures, which are a real incentive since everyone wants to be able to post their photos one day (if you do join the site take before pics, you'll regret it later if you don't). Like any other social network myfitnesspal makes it easy to communicate with others and allows you to set up your own profile. you can enter a quote or mission statement, which are usually funny to read, mine being "My long-time search for happiness at the bottom of a crisp packet has been ironically fruitless" my friend Alex's one (alsfoodandfitness.blogspot.com) says "Because a balanced diet ISN'T a cake in each hand, apparently." hehe. You can also enter some information, your goals, the almost obligatory status updates, pictures of your journey and your 'ticker', a little image bar you can design yourself that shows how much you've progressed, available in different formats but seeing the target loss total is the simplest as it states how much you've lost of that target. You can then set it up so your ticker appears on any posts you comment in. Here's my example but remember I'm just starting: 

There seems to be so much more to the site that I'm still learning about but I can already tell that it's going to be benficial to me. There are plenty of positives including its free membership, but I think the best part of it is its functionality, it's just so easy to use whether by computer or mobile device. I won't make a regular thing about posting my journey but if you would like to connect with me on myfitnesspal.com I'd be happy to hear from you and here is a link to my profile, which I'm suddenly regretting not calling TEZofAllTreadmills lol... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/TEZofAllTrades