My Fitness Pal
Y’all know I talk about nutrition tracking ALL THE TIME — how important it is and what a huge difference it can make in your results.
But it wasn’t until this past week that I finally dove into the world of My Fitness Pal. HOLY COW this thing is AWESOME! It’s free to download. It is an app for iPhone or Android. There is also a full website version as well. And the database is HUGE!!!
When I first started tracking nutrition, there weren’t awesome options, and I went with “Tap & Track”. It took so much effort initially to input (MANUALLY) all my favorite food labels that I wasn’t going to ever leave my Tap & Track. The startup time and energy that I had put into it pretty much locked me into it. And it worked (and still works) great. But the database was limited and so there were many, many foods I had to create as custom foods, which took a lot of time and effort.
I’ve heard y’all talk about myfitnesspal for quite some time, but I already had my own system in place so “if it ain’t broke, why fix it”. But then my buddy at church let me play with his for a while and I realized what I’m missing.
The database is monstrous! PB2? Yep! Shakeology? You know it (even the new Tropical)! Wheybolic Extreme 60 (chocolate flavor)? Duh, of course! Sun Warrior Natural plant protein? You bet! Pure Protein chocolate deluxe bars? Absolutely! Braum’s fat free yogurt? Yep (pick your flavor!). Purple Wraath intra-workout supplement? Bingo! I can’t stump this thing! For a newbie, you HAVE to get myfitnesspal. You won’t have to input your own custom foods. This has ‘em all!
Oh, and guess what else??!! It has a built in SCANNER so you can simply hold it up to the nutrition label of any food you are looking at and it will automatically pull it into your app. BAM!
You can create and pre-save meals and recipes (like my wife’s homemade bread) for one-click entry the next time. It remembers your favorites and recent entries.
I’m in love ….. :-)
Oh, and did I forget to mention ….. IT’S FREE!! Get it people. You’ll have NO EXCUSE to not know exactly how many grams of protein, carbs, and fats you’ve had at any point in your day!
There also seems to be some buddy features for accountability, so that would be pretty cool for a group as big as ours. My screen name is “coachwayne” if any of you want to come add me and keep tabs on me :-). But be warned, if you don’t log your nutrition I’ll know it!!! LOL! (anyone wanting to post your MyFitnessPal screen name, do so in the comments section below and we can all link up).
TIP = You can also go into “settings” and “my diary sharing” and set it to “friends” so that any of us that are your friends can see exactly what you are putting into your pie hole every day! LOL! Talk about some added incentive to eat clean! YIKES!
The biggest drawback I’ve found so far is that on the website interface, you CAN’T see a pie chart of your percentages. You CAN see it on the phone app though, and since I do all my tracking on my phone that’s not a huge negative for me. After looking at some of the message boards, it looks like many are calling for the web interface to include a pie chart so I’m sure that will be coming soon.
It has the “exercise” feature, but I prefer to just leave that empty since I don’t try to add calories back for exercise. I have a daily total of calories I’m shooting for and I don’t want to adjust for exercise. (You can also create your exercises if you like to track that but assign 0 calories to it or if you do assign calories to it, don’t eat the extra calories it then allots you to make up for the exercise).
TIP =To customize your percentages and calorie totals (depending on which phase of the nutrition plan you are on) = Login to Myfitnesspal’s website. Go to the MyHome Tab at the top then click Goals. Next click the change goals button when the page loads. Finally click to place the selection on custom goals and hit continue. This will take you to the custom goal screen where you can input the calories and percent goals 50/30/20 or whatever percentages you want. Then sync your changes on the phone app and you can view the ratios you set.
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Hi Coach this is Felix Rivera. My Fitness Pal name is iamarippedwarrior and I wanted to know if I could add you as buddy and keep accountable. ThankYou
DrFelixRivera I am maxed out on MFP with friends (they only give you 1000). Sorry man! If you open your log to PUBLIC, I can look at it from time to time if you need it.
Hi all. I am new, coachwayne I think I have your wife as coach, but I like this page also because I can see that others have the same questions as me. I don't know where to get started for a group. I am a member.
Bootsie Challenge groups are through FB. Check out: http://teamripped.com/the-r1pp3d-challenge
I would like to join the buddies for accountability group, I've been using the website for a few days now and Its great, I have yet t come across a food the wasn't in the database.
My username : mikespo
i am 20 years old 5 feet tall and i have 167 pounds .. i want to start insanity .. what should i do first ??? where to begin from ??
Samuel, get your start here: http://teamripped.com/getting-started
Coach Wayne. I see you're at your friends limit, but I was wondering if there is still a way to view your diary? Thanks!
Tim, if you go to Settings > Diary Settings > Public Viewing, I can then see it.
So your saying that I would be fine not tracking and eating a lot of healthy foods? Thanks
Sam, at your age, I would check with a doctor before doing anything. See: http://teamripped.com/4-adults-only
I am 14 years old and currently doing p90x. I have loved the results. Increased my pullups from 2 to 12 and my pushups from 35 to 50. I have been tracking lately on mfp but I don't know if that os necessary or not since I am 14 and still growing. What do you think? I always eat very healthy foods such as whole wheat bread, oatmeal, turkey, chicken, peanut butter etc. Do you think I would be ok not tracking and just eating a lot if healthy food? I don't think I will have a problem with gaining weight I just need to make sure o don't lose it since I am very active. Do my macros really matter all that much if my carbs are 45-50, healthy fat 25-30 and protein about 25-30 or should I go for certain percentages. Sorry for the long message! Thanks!!
Sam, I would check in with your doctor. I would worry about limiting your growth though. Eat up and keep working hard!
Thanks coach!
Thank you coach! Do you suggest me to follow the calorie numbers you gave me off the P90x diet plan? Or use the Insanity Harris Benedict Equasion they outline in the Insanity Elite Nutrition book to determine my calories? I'm just curious which one is more accurate for my exact maintenance calorie needs. Any help? I don't know if you've used the Insanity Elite Nutrition guide yourself.
Benny, I would use the P90X numbers. Insanity tends to over calculate your caloric need. I think you'll have better and faster results with the P90X calculations.
Alright coach, and since I'm a hard gainer kinda guy, what should my carb, fat and protein % look like?
Benny, for mass building use 30%P/50%C/20%F. Being a hard gainer just means you have to find the amount of calories that allows you to gain. Eat big and lift big!
Weight gain needs. Sorry, that was a typo.
Hey coach, I'm trying to figure out how many calories I should be taking in a day. I'm 6'1 and 150 pounds, so I want to figure out my maintenance needs and my weight fan needs for calories. I'm starting Insanity on Monday, and I plan to do P90x in November after my first round of Insanity. Gotta anything for me?
Benny, at 150 your maintenance should be 2400. To gain, add 500, so 2900. Those are off of the P90X formula. Dig deep!
Ok sounds good. Thanks Coach.
Coach, I have a question about my numbers with the fat shredder diet. I am currently taking in 1900 calories a day. My macros are 50/30/20. On average I'm only taking in 13-1500 calories a day before reaching my macro percentages. Do you think that it will screw up my metabolism running that low of a deficit??? I just have been having a difficult time reaching the 1900 calories a day without going over my macros. Thanks, Todd
Todd, I would really try to get over 1500. That is the absolute bottom I recommend for males. Make larger portions of proteins and dial back the carbs and fat (if they are going over). Keep at it and you'll get it.
My user name is crna2004
Hey Coach, Could you give me recommendations for percentages to shoot for with protein, carb and fat. I have been on MFP for about a month with an average approximately of 40 carb, 35 protein and 25 fat percentages. I am currently doing insanity and have dropped from 195 to 180 over the past 45 days and have plans for p90x/insanity hybrid or just p90x when I get done. My goal would be to have a weight of 170-175 at 6ft tall. Could you give me recommendations for calories and percentages. Thanks, Darin
Darin the higher you can get your protein (up to 50%) the faster the results will come. At 180, 2000 calories would work really well with Insanity. You should see big results.
Thanks Coach Wayne. I will get it done. I appreciate your help. Darin
Will waxy maize still fill my muscles with glycogen without smoothing them out and will it even give me a harder look ?, I'm already down to 70 kilograms and couple of weeks ago when I discovered you and started this program I was 73 kilograms , so I've lost like 6,5 lbs so far, I look more cut with abs showing very nice and some veins running down my lower abs although I still need to make my skin there a little harder, I'm assuming my bf% is around 8 or 7 to give you and idea, can you suggest some cardio wo , and do you think I should go for 40,40,20 to keep more muscle without losing definition? Thnk you again coach
David I would stay the course. Losing more BF and getting leaner is what will make you look harder. If you are still eating at a deficit and have energy, keep going and trust the workouts. You can get super ripped!
Coach I am making good progress thanks to your advices and guidance, specially the cardio, i thought long moderate cardio sessions was the key, but NO, is like that short intense session the one that yield results, so I am keeping them at 15 minutes tops. Question: is it ok for me to use waxy maze with my post workout shake? After weight training plus cardio, will I still get ripped using 1 scoop of waxy containing 30 grams of fast carbs? Thank you coach, blessings for you and your family.
David the waxy maize you are using is just taking the place of R&R, you'll be fine. Make sure to add some protein with it. Carbs alone won't do much for protein synthesis.
Question coach, in my 1 hight calorie day it's kind of hard bumping up the calories without increasing carbs dramatically , is it ok if on those days my percentage look more like 40-50% carbs , 40-30% protein and the rest from fat, oh and is spaghetti home made with fresh tomato sauce consider cheating? Thanks again Coach!
David that would be fine. If that spaghetti fits in your budgets, it's not cheating at all. When most people "cheat" they don't count anything and just pig out.
Coach you are awesome! Thank you so much, now the extra cardio is not all the time, only when I can manage to throw in 1 or 2 extra sessions , but for sure once a day 6 days a week, so I wll take the 2000 you suggested for the low (3days) , and 2800 for high(1 day), oh and besides the cardio I'm doing the weight training 5-6 days a week, what's the minimum time per cardio session , let's say I'm doing one a day, tyvm again coach.
David I have always done just one workout a week. Normally 3-4 days of lifting and 2 days cardio.
I usually go bellow 1800 cals a day, according to what I've read everywhere my manteinance weight cal ratio is 15 cal x 163 which is my current weigh , when you enter my fitness pal account,notice I keep my protein intake kind of hight due to the muscle factor ,looking to build some more,please correct me where I'm wrong and make suggestions ,if you have a book out I can buy please tell me where to look so I can purchase it.
David I figure maintenance needs with the P90X formula. I posted this back on another page, you are probably at 2500 with P90X... but higher if you are doing extra cardio. Set your MFP percentages for 50% Protein, 30% Carbs, and 20% Fat.
By the way coach I'm 36 years old , I didn't include that in there , fat % don't know because I haven't been measured but as I said before all my abs are showing, and I'm very vascular everywheren,even the legs which leads me to believe my body fat % is not too high , tyvm again coach, make sure you add me on my fitness pal I'm davecat727
Hey coach what's up! I'm writting from Venezuela and I really want to try your method, I usually go with carb cycling 3 low 1 high , I weight 73 kilos which is about 162 and I'm 5'6" , I can see my abs and very little fat around my waist but definitely not as ripped as you are, I work out 5- 6 days a week, and doing cardio at least once a day 20-40 minutes,sometimes twice a day and on rare ocations 3 times a day plus weigh training , I downloaded my fitness pal and planned a 7 day meal and also sent you and invitation to be my friend,coachwayne, so you can review my meals, I'm davecat727 in my fitness pal, my goal is to be ripped and keep the muscle I already have or even add some more,but definitely ripped, I've heard zig zag diet works better than regular carb cycling, I only use mustard, coach please give me your insight cuz I really want you to help me reach my goal, on carb cycling on low days I usually go very low carb and have gotten some good results but I know I can do better and also feel like crap, I tend to be fat if I don't watch what I eat. Tyvm coach god bless
Hey David, I am all maxed out on MFP for friends... I didn't know they had a limit! At 162, your maintenance is probably around 2500 with just P90X, it will be higher with the extra cardio. So let's start with 2800 as a baseline. Then you will use either 50/30/20 or 40/40/20 for both high and low days. Make low days 2000, and high 3200. Go 3 low, then 1 high. That will be an average deficit of a little over 600/day.
Ok, so I felt full all day 1798 cal. 140c / 25f / 239 p. made my ratio 55 protein / 32 carb / 13 fat. 58 g sugar. Mostly came from my post workout. I was thinking about starting on kre alkelyn. And I saw bodybuilding.com had 240 pills for 25 bucks I jumped on it. Any suggestions before I start. Oh. And X2 core kicked my butt this AM!! Bring It!!
John that is a perfect day and Kre Alkalyn is a great addition.
That's always good to hear. Eat More. Lol. Will do. My sugar finished at 58g ttoday. I'm trying to keep it lower while in fat burner. Don't know if that is best or not. Thanks for the help Coach.
John that sounds good. Just limit any processed, added sugar. Nice work!
Hey Coach I made my profile public on Mfp. Also sent you a message. My screen name is Jhartnett04. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
Great John! Looks like today was low across the board. Try making your portion sizes bigger (8 oz of fish instead of 5 oz) Maybe make you snack whey a full scoop. Also what is you sugar like? You can add categories under Settings > Diary Settings. Looking good, just get a little more food!
Hey coach, I started using the myfitnesspal app. This things rocks. Want to add you as a friend on it. Definitely want your advice on my nutrition. I sent you a invite. I think. Kinda new at it. Thanks for your help.
John, I'd like to add you too, but MFP put a cap on the number of friends you can have... and I am maxed out! Feel free to look at my diary and if you set yours to public I can look at yours when you need me to check something out.
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