How to Use MyFitnessPal Like a Dietitian

Have you started monitoring your food in MyFitnessPal, however feeling pissed off that you simply haven’t but been in a position to obtain your health targets?
I get it, however don’t fear. By studying to use MyFitnessPal like a dietitian (aka, how I take advantage of it with my shoppers!), you’ll start to perceive how to interpret the information you log into actionable steps which you could take to enhance your health.
Step 1: Set your self up for fulfillment
In order to get probably the most out of your MyFitnessPal journey—and see outcomes—you might have to start by understanding what targets you’re aiming to obtain. Because if you happen to don’t know what your purpose is, you may’t work in the direction of it.
When creating a purpose for your self, make sure it’s a SMART purpose. SMART stands for particular, measurable, achievable, related, and time-bound.
For instance, don’t simply set a purpose to lose weight or to enhance your eating habits. Those targets are too broad. Instead, examples of SMART targets is likely to be:
- Eat at the very least two vegetable servings every single day for one week
- Meet my calorie purpose every single day for the subsequent three weeks
- Walk for 10 minutes 5 days per week after lunch.
These are particular, measurable, achievable, related, and time-bound. And they’re sensible behavior-focused targets that may finally lead you to your long run, broader targets.
Step 2: Track your food like a professional
I could also be a scientific advisor for MyFitnessPal, however I’m saying this as a result of I actually imply it (and have seen success with my shoppers many times). Tracking your food consumption is without doubt one of the greatest methods to obtain your health targets. But how you observe is simply as vital.
The reality is, monitoring precisely and constantly is absolutely vital. In order to actually see how the food you devour impacts your power, focus, temper, and general health, you want to observe every thing you eat and drink, on a regular basis.
And you may’t simply observe what you devour. How a lot you eat and drink—aka, parts— matter too!
But let’s simply be actual: it may be very onerous to know what number of grams or ounces of one thing you’re eating. And who has the time for a food scale? To make issues simpler, I inform shoppers to observe this useful information (pun supposed):

And earlier than you are feeling overwhelmed with the concept of monitoring, keep in mind that utilizing MyFitnessPal means which you could observe your food in simply seconds. By having one of many world’s largest food databases together with premium options corresponding to barcode scanning, you may shortly enter your meals and drinks in simply seconds and see detailed nutrition info that may assist spotlight how your dietary decisions are impacting your health targets.
Step 3: Using MyFitnessPal like a dietitian
Once you might have the fundamentals of food logging down, it’s time to dive into probably the most enjoyable half— deciphering your information.
You is likely to be tempted to focus solely in your calorie targets every day, however not all energy are created equal. As a dietitian, I like to recommend specializing in extra than simply the energy. In reality, go to the vitamins tab, and take a look at the next in chronological order:
- Fiber: This is the FIRST nutrient I take a look at when working with a consumer. That’s as a result of fiber not solely promotes intestine health, but additionally helps to regulate appetite while keeping blood sugar steady. The extra fiber you eat, the better it’s to hit your calorie targets with out cravings.
- Protein: Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, serving to you to keep full longer. Protein additionally helps to regulate metabolism and construct and preserve lean body mass.
- Fat: Foods can comprise each unsaturated and saturated fat. Choose nearly all of your fat from plant-based, unsaturated sources to support cardiovascular health. Adding dietary fats can present a supply of power within the body whereas serving to to regulate urge for food.
As you start to deal with macronutrient monitoring together with energy, you’ll start to discover that cravings and extreme starvation are diminished on days if you hit your fiber and protein targets. And on days the place you are feeling always hungry or power is low, you’ll in all probability discover you have been falling brief on these key vitamins.
This may also help you to establish what areas of your food plan want to be adjusted so as to meet your targets.

The Bottom Line
I all the time inform my shoppers that monitoring offers you the information you want to be a detective of your personal body. Food monitoring can give you the information you want to interpret how the meals and drinks you devour every day impression every thing out of your urge for food, to temper, power, and general health. MyFitnessPal has instruments to assist you to attain your nutrition or fitness targets.
When you start to observe and interpret the information, you start to discover developments. You start to uncover the stability of macronutrients that permits you to really feel your greatest every day. And though monitoring can not make you alter behaviors, if you see information that pinpoints precisely what you want to do to really feel your greatest, it makes it a lot simpler to make habits adjustments and stick to them.
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