Whether you’re trying to lose weight or someone just trying to keep up a healthy diet, MyFitnessPal is an app that you may consider trying out. The app, available for Android, iOS devices, and Blackberry, is a calorie counting program at its very core. You start out by setting up a profile, which includes entering current weight, goal weight, and other bits of vital stats that’ll help in determining accurate results. It will let you choose how many pounds you want to lose or gain per week, then calculate a daily calorie total based on the information you give the app. There are also tutorial videos and an FAQ included to help you get started.
Once your profile is set up, you can add calories and food intake via the “Add to Diary” button. This takes you to a virtual food diary. From here you can choose foods from MyFitnessPal’s database, create and add your own foods or calorie amounts, or even scan a bar code to enter that particular food. The app goes beyond simple calorie counting, and even provides other nutritional information (when available) and daily totals and goals. You also have the option of adding cardiovascular workouts from the app’s database. Enter the workout, and the minutes and how many calories you burned will be calculated.
MyFitnessPal also includes graphs to help visually display your food stats. Graphs include weekly calorie totals broken down by day, pie charts breaking down calories from fat/carbs/protein, as well as a line graph to monitor your weight. You can also join the social aspect of the app by adding friends, sending messages, and working together to reach food and fitness goals.
Screenshots
Pros:
- Finding and adding food/calories is quick and easy.
- Food and bar code database is very large. I’ve only found a few foods that haven’t shown up yet.
- Useful graphs help to provide a visual aid.
- Easily tailored to fit individual calorie needs.
Cons:
- The bar code scanner can be a bit… unreliable. This may be on the account of using a sub-par camera on the iPod Touch, however, and not because of the app itself. Apps are often limited by the devices they are on after all.
- No way to change carb/fat/protein calorie breakdown ratios (from what I’ve found). Certain diets and individuals require a more personalized ration (more carbs, less fat, etc).
Rating: (4.5 / 5.0)
Price: FREE
Compatibility: iOS 3.0 or later (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad), Android, Blackberry
(Tested on iOS 5)
~Mike
Tags: android, app review, apps, calorie counter, ios, myfitnesspal, myfitnesspal review
My wife and I have been using this app since Jan. 2012 and love how it tracks our calories, etc. We have lost 30 and 20 pounds respectively. The scanner is a big help and works great.
I’ve been using MyFitnessPal for a month now and have lost 18 pounds. I think it is one of the best apps on the market and its free. I have an iPhone 4S and the scanner works great. Also you mentioned that you couldn’t change the carb/fat/ protein ratios. You can’t change them on the iPhone but you can on the web page. You can do a lot more on the web page.
[...] you’re counting calories, you might also want to check out our review of the MyFitnessPal app – a handy way to count calories on the go.-Tim Tags: calorie calculator, calorie count, diet [...]
[...] is available for Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Phones. You can read the original My Fitness Pal App Review here. Enjoy your exercise.~ CynthiaTags: apps, Exercise, Exercise App, health, myfitnesspal This entry [...]