Should You Consider Using a Food Tracker Like MyFitnessPal?

Here’s a little secret I want to share with you: using a food tracker will be the easiest way for you to achieve the results you desire from your training and nutrition program. Best of all, using a food tracker like MyFitnessPal is incredibly simple and convenient. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at how a food tracker will help you succeed with your goals.

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1. You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

How many calories did you eat yesterday? What about the day before? Where are you at today? I’m not looking for a guesstimate, I want the actual numbers. How many calories did you consume, and how many grams of carbs, protein, and fat? Can’t tell me an exact number? That’s a problem.

You don’t know what you don’t know, and if you can’t track your calories and macros, how do you know if you’re on track? The ability to lose weight or build muscle comes down to what you put in your body. If you can’t track anything, you’re doomed to fail. 

The MyFitnessPal food tracker allows you to quickly and easily input your food/meals and see where you are at any point during the day.

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2. Manipulate Your Macros to Fit Your Goals

Another great feature of MyFitnessPal is that you can manipulate your macros. If you’re trying to put on lean muscle mass, you may want to raise your carbs and fat. When trying to burn fat and lose weight, you can lower your carbs and fat slightly while raising your protein intake to help preserve your lean muscle tissue while in a caloric deficit.

MyFitnessPal allows you to use percentages to hit your macro goals for the day. Such as 45% protein, 35% carbs, and 20% fat. You can raise or lower the percentages as you need in order to achieve your goals.

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3. Keep Yourself Accountable

A food tracker helps keep you accountable. When you start measuring/weighing your food and using a food tracker, you start to better understand portions. More times than not, you’re consuming portions that are double the size you truly need throughout the day, which is putting you in a caloric surplus. 

Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, consuming too many calories can cause you to put on body fat when you’re trying to add muscle— leading you to diet even harder and exercise more often to showcase your hard-earned muscle.

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4. Simplicity is Key

Sometimes using a food tracker can be confusing. There are a ton of things you need to input and stay on top of. When using a food tracker like MyFitnessPal, everything is simplified. You put in your personal information (height, weight, etc.) and goal, and MyFitnessPal figures out your recommended caloric intake (you have the ability to make changes yourself).

You can search for foods, scan barcodes, and even input full meals that you eat at restaurants. Simplicity is key to staying on track because when things get challenging, the last thing you want to do is spend more time trying to input your meals and get frustrated. Using a food tracker doesn’t have to be difficult and having MyFitnessPal directly on your phone (and free) is a great asset to help you achieve your goals.