USING MY FITNESS PAL: THE BASICS FOR COUNTING MACROS

So you have your macro numbers now, how the hell do we put all this information in MFP (My Fitness Pal)?! MFP is utilized a little bit differently when tracking your macros- I’m going to make it way simpler.

SETTING UP MY FITNESS PAL

Set up your profile

1. Open the app and select “More” located at the bottom right
2. Select “My Profile”
3. Select “Edit Profile” located just under the space where your picture will go
4. Enter in all of your information

Set your goals:

1. Open the app and select “More” located at the bottom right
2. Select “Goals”
3. Enter your weights, weekly goal, and activity level. This information isn’t necessary, but go ahead and enter it anyway just to have something in there.
4. Enter your Nutrition Goals: You already have your total calories. After entering this number in, click on one of the % and it will pull up options for carbs, proteins, and fats. It looks like a slot machine.
5. I have selected your numbers to be MFP friendly, so scroll to a % in each column that matches your personal macro number. It should equal 100%.
6. You do not need to enter in your fitness goals. This is just extra information that isn’t necessary.

USING MY FITNESS PAL

Entering in food:

1. Open the app and select “Diary” located at the bottom of the main screen
2. Select “Add Food” in the meal you just consumed (e.g., Breakfast, Lunch, etc). From here there are different ways to add food.
   • Search for a food: Type in the food you ate and select “search”. This will pull up a variety of different versions of the food you are trying to find. It’s helpful to search for the brand of food you ate. Double check the macro values in it to be sure it’s appropriate and correct. Sometimes, a food will exist, but when you look at its values, there might be nothing there. Just double check.
   • Scan the food’s barcode: Select the barcode icon at the bottom of your screen. Scan the barcode of your food!
3. Enter in the number of servings consumed- you may have to do a little math.
4. There is a way to enter in entire recipes (for when you cook/bake). I will post about this later.

Enter your weight:

1. Open the app and select “Progress” located at the bottom of the main screen
2. Select the “+” icon at the top right
3. Enter in your weight. I did this daily when I first started, you may find this helpful. DO NOT weigh yourself everyday if you know you will get upset at the number for not changing. This is a process and will take time!

TRACKING YOUR MACROS:

1. Open the app and select “Diary”.
2. Select the “Nutrition” button at the bottom of your screen. This will display a pie graph of how balanced (or unbalanced) your macros are so far. This is good to look at just to see how well portioned your meals are.
3. Select the small list icon located next to the small pie chart icon near the top right. This will display the exact numbers of all of your macros (and micros, but don’t worry). Take a look at Total Fat, Total Carbohydrates, and Protein ONLY. Don’t worry about the other stuff yet. Remember, this is called IIFYM- if it fits your MACROS, so the other numbers (micronutrients) can be left alone. We can go over these in another post.
4. As you add food into MFP throughout the day, your macros will be added for you. Check here to see where you are throughout your day and plan accordingly!

MISC. INFORMATION and TIPS

• Adding Exercise: DON’T. Don’t add in your exercise. Doing so will add calories to your total and throw you off your macro count. All we care about is hitting our macro numbers.
• Weight Change: When you lose/gain weight and enter this information in regularly, MFP may try and change your total calories for you. For example, if you have entered in that you would like to maintain your weight of 150 lbs and slowly lose 5 lbs and enter in this data, MFP will allot you MORE calories in an attempt to help you maintain your weight. This is thoughtful, but not what we want. Be sure MFP is still giving you the same amount of calories and macros every day.

Last words of advice: Play around with this app and familiarize yourself with the different features. I gave you the BASICS in how we are going to use this app, but there is so much it can do. There is also more than one way to do what I have explained, so tinker around with it!