I hate diets. Like, really hate them.
When I first saw some friends using MyFitnessPal, I swore I would never be enslaved by a fitness app bullying me into eating an apple instead of a cookie, or telling me it was the 394,832nd day I'd gone without working out.
However, what I realized when I eventually downloaded the app is it really isn't so much of a bully after all, but more of an educator.
MyFitnessPal has all the bells and whistles of a typical fitness app.
You can plug in the foods you eat, see how many calories you've consumed, track your weight-- the whole shebang.
My favorite feature of MyFitnessPal, however, is the information I learned from it while tracking.
For example, many times I would assume a particular meal was healthy, but when I plugged it into MyFitnessPal, I was sadly mistaken.
Who knew that a Spud Max from McAlister's Deli was almost half a day's worth of calories?
I mean, potatoes are vegetables, right?
Little did I know that my "healthy choices" were about as good as ordering a Big Mac and a Diet Coke.
MyFitnessPal opened my eyes and made me rethink how I thought about my meal choices.
I also learned a lot about portion control.
I never realized how ridiculously over-sized my portions were before I used this app.
When you plug in a whole roll of Ritz crackers and get the calorie results, you start to rethink your life choices. Pretty soon, you're good with 10 crackers.
One of the benefits of MyFitnessPal against other fitness apps is its extensive database.
A dilemma I would face when I got health-nut crazy, and started counting calories, is that most foods aren't already listed in a database.
It was too much work to type in all the nutrition facts from a box or bag, so I would just skip it, not log my meals, and faster than you can say "break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar," I was back to my old, terrible eating habits.
MyFitnessPal, however, is so widely used most foods are already available in the database.
I have never had to add the nutrition information manually for any food.
In addition to a large database, MyFitnessPal features a scanner that will scan the barcode of any food and import the nutrition information for you.
If you eat certain foods regularly, the app will remember and suggest them to you for certain meals.
You can also put certain foods together to form a meal, and add it to your calorie count if you ever eat it again.
For example, my "breakfast" meal consists of coffee, International Delight Almond Joy creamer, a bowl of Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch and one cup of low-fat milk.
I just click "breakfast," and all those foods are automatically imported into my counter.
If you want to lose weight, you plug in your metrics and MyFitnessPal will calculate the best, daily caloric intake based off of your information.
Another great feature is the daily breakdown of nutrition.
Not only does the app tell you how many calories you've taken in, but it shows exactly where those calories came from.
You're not doing yourself any good if you've only taken in 1,200 calories, but all from fats and carbs.
MyFitnessPal shows you if you're on track for your recommended daily allowance for all nutrients and minerals. Thus, training you to aim for foods that fulfill those requirements.
MyFitnessPal is much more than a calorie-counter. It was designed to kick-start healthy habits and thinking.
I highly recommend this free app for anyone not just wanting to lose weight, but also wanting to start living a healthier lifestyle.
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