My Fitness Pal: Calories Aren't Everything

Many of my clients have been using the MyFitnessPal.com website to track their nutrition intake, and have all fallen in love with it.

The program is a fantastic and convenient way to track your food, especially if you are able to utilize the App that syncs with the site. It has lead to clients of mine tracking their food more religiously than ever.

The program however puts a lot of emphasis on your daily calorie intake. While this is important to track and be aware of, it is not the sole gauge for how you should lose weight. Weight loss is much more involved than simple calories in, and calories out. The program is a great tracking tool, but it’s still important that I set your limits/goals regarding calories, protein, carbs etc.

As your trainer I know you better than the program does. I know your routine, your sleep patterns, and your energy output in a week. It’s not to say you can’t lose weight by simply creating a calorie deficit in your diet, but more often than not that leads to you shedding as much muscle as you do fat. You may get smaller/lighter, but your shape and tone will stay the same. You also won’t be retraining your metabolism to work on a higher level, in fact it may even slow it down leaving you fighting a constant uphill battle to keep your weight down.

There are ways in the settings of the program to change your calorie limits, as well as your other nutritional goals to be more specific to your personal needs. I will sit down with you and help set that up. These numbers will also change as you progress as well, and will need more adjusting as we go along.

Another great feature of this program is that you can “Friend Request” me, giving me viewing access to your log at any time. To do so just follow these steps…

1.      Go to “Settings" and choose "Diary Settings". Choose - Friends only.

2.      On your home page click on the COMMUNITY tab.

3.      Click on “Find Members”

4.      In the USERNAME box type: T3_Fitness

5.      Send the request

Once I accept the request I’ll have viewing access to your log, and will be able to see what you’re eating each day, if you’re being consistent with your entries it will allow me the ability to offer nutritional guidance between sessions if necessary garnering you better results more efficiently.