MyFitnessPal : A Completely FREE Weight Loss Tool
Diets, personal trainers, gym memberships and weight loss programs all cost money. While the amount may vary, none of them are inexpensive for several reasons:
- There is a lot of science and research behind reputable programs
- The training and expertise of the people leading the programs
- People looking to make life changes will reason that the cost is an investment in their health and future
I’ve been researching weight loss methods and programs as of late as I am looking to make some changes in my life and drop some weight. I’m about 30 pounds heavier than I’d like to be. By dropping the weight I’d look better, feel better about myself, and be able to realize the full potential of my running ability. The problem is, my wife and I have done several weight loss programs together in the past, and I don’t fee like shelling out the cash because I feel like I know what to do, I just have to do it.
I was talking about this to a friend of mine recently, who pointed me at a free web based tool called MyFitnessPal that has virtually all the things I need to be successful:
Registration
Using an email ID, I registered with the website and entered my current physical information (age, weight, height, etc) as well as my goal in the form of how much weight I wanted to lose per week. It then calculated how many calories per day I should consume.
Daily Logging
Every day I log both my exercise and my food intake. It’s database has the rate at which calories are burned for almost every activity you can imagine. If it’s not in the database, you can add it. The same goes for food items. It’s very seldom that I can’t find a food item in it’s database. It’s mobile app also allows me to scan bar codes to enter nutritional information. If I enter something that isn’t in the database, I can choose to add it. Thus, the database of nutritional information is ever growing as it depends upon the users to add new information to it. I can also make custom recipes and save them. This means I only have to calculate the nutritional information for my famous chili once, and can be reused every time I make it. The tool tells me how many calories I’ve consumed, and how many I have left for the day. This keeps me accountable to stick with the plan all day, every day.
Results Tracking
The goal is to see results, of course. I did invest in a new digital scale
for $30. Every Monday morning I’m going to weigh myself and see the results of my hard work.
Include Others
One of the major draws of well known programs is the support of a group. Instead of paying for it, why not include friends with MyFitnessPal? Users can invite others to join, and you can see how they are doing. Your notification feed will show if you or your pals stayed within their calories that day, when they exercise, and when they lose weight. You can also turn your own notifications off if you want.
MyFitnessPal has all the tools I need to be successful losing weight and improving my health. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars in start up costs, I bought a $30 scale. Instead of paying a monthly fee, I’m using MyFitnessPal for free. I can’t wait to get started!
How about you, Clever Friends, are you paying money each month for a weight loss program? Would you consider using MyFitnessPal for Free?
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.