Does MyFitnessPal work?

[NoEffingWay]

I could do with losing a few stone for long term health reasons. I have no willpower by myself and will eat biscuits by the handful especially when I am pmt'd.

Just installed MFP and have entered today's food. I have exercised today, as I do most days but should I ignore that and not count those calories?

All tips welcome!

It did for me about 11 years ago, but then I found it a bit obsessional.

It did teach me how much calories are in various things, and protein, which has then helped me since when I am trying not to put on weight.

I don't think I counted the exercise. I did use it in conjunction with other knowledge about glycemic index foods, eg eating porridge and sweet potatoes over sugary cereal and pasta, and things like home made lumpy soups filling you up more.

It's linked up to my watch now which records my activity but will try to be mindful that that exercise calories are probably overestimated.

Changed my job this year and have gone from an active job to a more desk based role. This, plus biscuits meant my trousers have started to feel a bit tighter. Injured myself and couldn't exercise for a couple of months which was not helpful.

I did it for a couple of weeks and found it very effective. I already knew about calories, but the discipline of weighing portions made me realise they were too big, and also, the difference another piece of quiche would make. And because you get that running total, and I wanted a glass of wine that night, I would forgo the fruit I was going to snack on.

I find it useful for meal tracking and therefore meal planning. It does hold one accountable for food intake as long as it's tracked. I've just started using it again on advice from online trainer James Smith who suggests, when setting up your profile, dont check to lose a pound or two a week, but to check off to maintain weight and focus on eating more protein than carbs (not very carb restricted though). Losing a pound or two puts one in the 1200/day calorie range which is hard to maintain because it's quite low. I'm maintaining weight for 1900 calories a day and it's more realistic for me to continue this long term.

It's set me at 1400 a day which seems low to lose 0.5kg a week. Does it really need to be so little?

Just adjusted my activity level to lightly active which has adjusted it to 1650cals per day which seems more doable.

I've lost 4 stone since Feb using MFP.

Don't eat your exercise calories

I've found that it works. I also eat my exercise calories (although via 3 years of trial and error I only eat some of them and use common sense/experience/hunger to judge how many exercise calories to eat). I'm currently maintaining on 1900+exercise (I'm 174cm/63kg for context)

Don't set your calories to what MFP tells you to it will be too low. Use a calorie calculator online and manually adjust them - James smith calculator is good

Have just done the James Smith Calculator and it suggests around 1800 a day which seems much higher.

How does he/they work it out?

i found mfp's content inaccurate and certain items difficult to measure especially when cooking from scratch.
i've read that the uk based nutracheck is better but i prefer the accuracy of cronometer.
the trick to not being hungry is fiber/protein and filler veggies that are low calorie (cucumbers) my point is 1600-1400 even 1200 is plenty of food if you fill your plate wisely. and that is what calorie counters teach you.

I actually recommend Nutracheck over MyFitnessPal.

It is very UK focussed, so incredibly easy to scan barcodes and add items. There is also a really in-depth meals section where you can add your own recipes ingredient by ingredient, divide into portions, and it will give you an accurate calorie and macro count per portion which is ideal for cooking in bulk. You can also easily send the info via WhatsApp which is great if you have a partner who is also counting calories. You can also track fruit and veg portions (calculated automatically), alcohol, and water intake. It also synchs up to Google Fit to add step counts and workouts. I have found it much easier to use and lose weight.

It works if you follow it, track and weigh, same as any other calorie tracking system.

That calculator will work out your TDEE and go from there. MFP set me cals of 1400 and I actually lose on 2300! Try 1800 for a couple of weeks and go from there

Just to update, 5 months in, 10kg/22lbs down . I am the queen of MFP now, and do find it helpful.

My jeans which were on the verge of being too tight have been replaced by the next size down. I feel better and my diet has had a serious overhaul.

I have just tried on my shorts from last summer and they are ridiculously large now. Will have to replace them which will be expensive as I live in them, but I never thought I would be throwing them away as they are too large

Well done OP. I love a good positive update!

Amazing!! Well done you! 🙌🏆🥇

It does work yes. However I found that if I ate the exercise calories I didn’t lose weight. A lot of the calorie values are wildly out though so you need to keep an eye on that. I have found the same item listed several times with hugely varying values. Also recipes don’t seem to have correct calorific values sometimes.

I think it over estimates the calorie allowance too.

Fab op! Well done!

I agree with all this. I also found if I ate the exercise calories I didn’t lose.