你想要减肥吗？想更多地了解你的身体吗？你是否必须计算你的碳水化合物，因为你正在治疗像糖尿病这样的慢性疾病？想确保您以正确的比例摄入大量营养素吗？食物(Food)记录可以解决所有这些问题，甚至更多。我知道这一点，因为我已经做了将近一年的食物记录。(food logging)在本文中，我将分享任何人如何使用名为MyFitnessPal的流行、免费移动应用程序记录他们的食物，该应用程序适用于所有主要移动平台：Android、iOS 和 Windows Phone(iOS and Windows Phone)。
为什么选择 MyFitnessPal 而(Choose MyFitnessPal)不是其他应用程序(App)？
我选择MyFitnessPal主要是因为它拥有庞大的用户群。我知道由他们的员工和用户群创建的食品数据库将是它的主要价值。尤其是在当今世界，我们吃的许多食物或我们购买的成分都是包装好的。
老实说，我在开始使用它时并没有对多个应用程序进行彻底的比较。就像(Just)我不是从食物记录(food logging)开始，而是从卡路里计数开始。我继续使用它的主要动力是，当我的需求不断变化时，它能够支持他们。
我在使用此特定应用程序时看到的最大优势之一是其庞大的UPC条形码和相关食品数据库。即使在罗马尼亚(Romania)，超市里的大部分食材或食品都可以在它的数据库中找到，这太神奇了！
该应用程序适用于所有主要的移动操作系统：iOS、Android、Windows Phone 和 Blackberry(Windows Phone and Blackberry)。也就是说，除了允许您从任何浏览器访问它的Web 界面之外。(web interface)在设计方面，它不是有史以来最用户友好的应用程序，但它做得很好。
您可以使用该应用程序做什么？
您可以使用MyFitnessPal做什么？你可以做几件事：
- (Count)就此而言，计算卡路里或任何类型的常量营养素。
- 计划膳食并在进食前输入它们，以查看它们对您的日常目标的影响。如果它们不能帮助您实现目标，您可以使用它来修改您的膳食选择。
- 打印您的食物记录(food log)，向您的医生展示。我的一位朋友的妻子怀孕了，目前这样做是为了确保她的饮食达到最佳状态，以最大限度地提高她生下快乐、健康宝宝的机会。
- 跟踪您的饮酒习惯（水和酒精(water and alcohol)）；例如，有些人喝的水太少，而另一些人喝得太多（酒精、苏打水，甚至是含有大量钠的无糖汽水）
就个人而言，我用它来减肥和优化我的饮食习惯，无论是在用餐次数还是卡路里消耗方面：减少糖(less sugar)、脂肪和钠(fat and sodium)，增加蛋白质和纤维(protein and fiber)。
在MyFitnessPal 中(MyFitnessPal)输入您的第一个项目
我的建议是从简单的开始，添加你手边的包装食品。安装应用程序并登录后，您将看到主(Home)屏幕。它包含您当前一天的概览，例如到目前为止燃烧的卡路里数量和消耗的卡路里数量，以及您所有朋友活动的新闻源。
他们说有支持系统(support system)的人（在这个平台上添加了朋友）比其他人减重 2倍。(weight 2)当然，减肥并不是开始使用它的人的唯一目的，但它是更重要的目的之一。
点击“添加到日记”("Add to Diary")将带您进入一个屏幕，您可以在其中选择您的餐点。默认情况下将有 4 种预定义的膳食（早餐(Breakfast)、午餐(Lunch)、晚餐和小吃(Dinner and Snacks)），这对于 90% 的人来说往往足够了。但是，我看到了一些有趣的变体，例如“ 2号早餐(Breakfast No)”或“午餐(Lunch)剩菜”用户定义的膳食。唯一的限制是您最多只能吃 6 顿饭。
通过使用“通过条形码添加”("Add By Barcode")选项，在扫描您选择的项目后，您会看到一个屏幕，您可以在其中更改食物的数量，同时显示卡路里数量或脂肪含量等营养信息。
一旦你弄清楚你吃了多少或你打算吃多少（如何做到这一点本身就是一个复杂的讨论），你将能够选择记录这些食物的餐点。
这非常方便，因为无论如何您都可以随身携带智能手机。对于没有条形码的食品，可以使用关键字搜索一个综合数据库（超过 400 万个项目）。
在介绍了您的第一个食物条目(food entry)后，您可以开始逐项构建一整天的食物日志。(food log)
如何节省时间？
当我告诉别人我在做什么时，大多数时候我听到的第一句话是"Doesn't it take a lot of time/energy?". 老实说，相比福利，没有。但是有一些快速提示可以加快您的食物记录(food logging)。
首先，默认情况下，MyFitnessPal会向您显示最近使用的项目列表。
此外，一旦你开始记录你的食物，你会注意到你倾向于经常吃同样的东西。“常见食物”("Frequent foods")屏幕非常有用。
有时您不会在数据库中找到您正在寻找的食物。因此，您需要通过指定名称、份量或卡路里数量等信息来创建自己的食物。您将能够在“我的食物”("My Foods")部分的专用列表中看到这些食物。
如果您有最喜欢的一餐（比如寿司），并且您一遍又一遍地吃同一组多种食物，您可以保存现有的一餐并在以后使用“已保存的餐食”("Saved Meals")部分添加它。
最后但同样重要的是，在家做饭的人可以根据自己的食谱制作定制食物。(custom food)它为您提供了一种指定单个成分以及份量的方法。
如果你总是把复杂的食物分解成它们的基本成分，你实际上会在你的食物日志(food log)中输入很少的条目，最近的食物标签会更有帮助。
所有这些技巧让我每天在 5 分钟内完成大部分食物记录，同时从中获得巨大的好处。
您需要多久记录一次(Often)食物(Food)？
理想情况下，您需要在每顿饭后记录。是的，你听到了！有些人甚至事先记录下来以计划他们的膳食。
数据中的空白会使它的价值大大降低。我在与ProgrammerFitness.com的客户合作时注意到了这一点，以帮助他们调整生活方式。数据空白的日子通常涵盖一年中您不想记录的时期，因为它太多了，或者您太忙了。因为人体总是有延迟反应（但你不知道延迟多少），食物日志(food log)中的空白稍后会产生影响，但你将无法追溯到丢失的食物数据。
我遇到过记忆力非常好，饮食习惯严格的人，他们每天只能记录一次。然而，事实是，要准确地做到这一点非常困难。如果你因为忘记记录你吃过的所有东西而每天犯 10% 的错误，那么从长远来看，这个错误可能会导致更多的错误。例如，在我减肥的几个月里，10% 很容易成为保持相同体重或进步(weight or progressing)之间的差异。
我现在有超过 7 个月的连续数据，我可以说你的食物日志(food log)中没有空白是非常有帮助的。
你如何检查你的一天过(Day Has Been)得怎么样？
这取决于您使用MyFitnessPal的目的。但所有主要指标都可以在“营养标签”("Nutrition Tab")中查看。
可以从营养标签(nutrition tab)回答的问题示例：
- (Are)我的宏观比率正确吗？美国农业部(USDA)建议人们摄入 20-35% 的卡路里来自脂肪，45-65% 来自碳水化合物，10-35% 来自蛋白质。
- 我吃的纤维够吗？
- 我吃太多钠了吗？
- 我吃太多糖了吗？
- 我吃太多胆固醇了吗？
经常问的问题
让我们讨论一下我在向他们展示如何使用MyFitnessPal时经常被其他人问的一些问题：
MyFitnessPal 是否可以离线工作？(Does MyFitnessPal work offline?)
部分，是的。您可以添加常见食物/最近食物和其他类似列表中的食物：您的食物、保存的食物和您的食谱。为了执行搜索，无论是使用UPC 条码(UPC barcode)还是关键字，您都需要在线。
如果我不知道如何记录一道菜会怎样？(What happens if I don't know how to log a dish?)
一些好的做法是寻找类似的食物，甚至将菜肴分解成配料。不过这个问题很难解决。
MyFitnessPal 中的所有信息是否正确？在我看来，这个汉堡包的卡路里太少或太多。(Is all the information in MyFitnessPal correct? It seems to me like this hamburger has too little or too many calories.)
不，当然不。并非他们数据库中的所有信息都是正确的。这是拥有更多用户生成内容的成本，而不是仅由开发应用程序的公司控制的一组受限条目。他们在Web 界面(web interface)中有一个竖起大拇指的机制，让您说某个项目是正确的，您还可以创建一个重复的项目，并为其分配正确的信息。
剩余的卡路里数量从何而来？它是如何计算的？(Where does the number of calories left come from? How is it computed?)
当您注册MyFitnessPal时，您指定了目标体重目标。基于一个数学模型，该模型考虑了您需要少吃多少、您现在有多大以及您的活动水平，它将计算每日津贴。您还可以为宏量营养素比例设定个人目标（例如，从脂肪中摄取多少蛋白质），但这些目标是为更高级的用户准备的。
除了食物，您还可以使用 MyFitnessPal 记录什么？( What else can you log with MyFitnessPal in addition to food?)
您还可以通过在他们的数据库中搜索并将其等同于燃烧的卡路里数来记录水的摄入量和您的体育锻炼。(water intake)
结论
MyFitnessPal是一款免费且易于使用的移动应用程序，可让您记录每天的食物摄入量(food intake)。它在各种情况下都很有用，例如减肥或改善饮食。
它有一个大型数据库，可以轻松找到任何类型的食物，尤其是在您使用条形码扫描仪功能(barcode scanner feature)时。在过去的一年里，我成功地使用了它，并在它的帮助下和一个名为BodyMedia Link的可穿戴设备成功减掉了 50 磅。
Andrei Ismail 是一位经验丰富的软件工程师，拥有创业经验和人工智能博士学位。他在 6 个月内减掉了 50 磅，目前正在为极客制定健身教练计划，可在WEIGHT LOSS FOR ENGINEERS获得。(Andrei Ismail is an experienced software engineer with startup experience under his belt and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has lost 50 pounds in 6 months and is currently working on a fitness coaching program for geeks, available at WEIGHT LOSS FOR ENGINEERS.)
How To Log Your Food Intake With MyFitnessPal - Sharing The Basics
Do you want to lose weight? Want to learn morе about your body? Do you have to count your carbs because you are manаging a chronic disease like diabetes? Want to make sure you are eating macronutrients in the correct ratios? Food logging solves all these and even more. I know this beсause I have been doing food logging for almost a year. In this artiсle, I am going to share how anyonе can log their food using a popular, free, mobile application named MyFitnessPal, which works on all major mobile platforms: Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Why Choose MyFitnessPal & Not Another App?
I chose MyFitnessPal mainly due to its large user base. I knew the database of foods that is created by both their staff and their user base would be its main value. Especially in today's world, where many of the foods we eat or the ingredients we buy are packaged.
To be honest, I did not do a thorough comparison among multiple applications when I started using it. Just like I did not start with food logging, but with calorie counting. My main drive to keep using it was that while my needs evolved, it was able to support them.
One of the biggest advantages that I see in using this particular app is its huge database of UPC barcodes and associated foods. Even in Romania, most of the supermarket-available ingredients or foods can be found in its database, which is amazing!
The application is available for all the major mobile operating systems: iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry. That is, in addition to the web interface that lets you access it from any browser. In terms of design it's not the most user friendly application ever made but it does its job well.
What Can You Do With The App?
What can you do with MyFitnessPal? You can do several things:
- Count calories or any type of macronutrient, for that matter.
- Plan meals and enter them before eating in order to see what their footprint on your daily targets would be. You can use this to modify your meal choices if they don't help you enough to achieve your goals.
- Print your food log to show it to your doctor. One of my friends' wife is pregnant and currently doing that in order to make sure that she is eating optimally, in order to maximize her chances of having a happy, healthy baby.
- Track your drinking habits (both water and alcohol); For example, some people are drinking too little water, while others are drinking too much (alcohol, sodas, or even diet sodas which tend to contain non-trivial amounts of sodium)
Personally, I have used it to lose weight and optimize my eating habits, both in terms of the number of meals and of the breakdown of my calorie consumption: less sugar, fat and sodium, more protein and fiber.
Entering Your First Item In MyFitnessPal
My advice is start simple, with adding a packaged food that you have handy. After you've installed the app and logged in, you will be greeted by the Home screen. It contains an overview of your current day, such as the number of calories burned so far, and the number of calories eaten, plus a newsfeed of all your friends' activity.
They say that people who have a support system (have added friends on this platform) lose weight 2 times more than others. Of course, weight loss is not the only purpose of people who start using it, but it is one of the more important ones.
Tapping "Add to Diary" will take you to a screen where you can choose your meal. There will be 4 predefined meals by default (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks), which tend to be sufficient for 90% of the people. However, I have seen interesting variations such as "Breakfast No. 2", or "Lunch Left-Overs" user-defined meals. The only limitation is that you can only have a total of 6 meals maximum.
By using the "Add By Barcode" option, after scanning the item you choose, you are presented with a screen where you can alter the quantity of the food, while being shown nutritional information such as the number of calories or the fat content.
Once you figure out how much you ate or you are going to eat (how to do that is a complicated discussion in itself), you will be able to choose the meal where to log this food.
It's quite convenient, as you carry your smartphone with you everywhere anyway. For foods that don't have a barcode on them, there is a comprehensive database to be searched (over 4 million items) using a keyword.
After having introduced your first food entry, you can start building your food log for the whole day, item by item.
How Can You Save Time?
When I tell people about what I'm doing, most of the time the first remark that I hear is "Doesn't it take a lot of time/energy?". To be quite honest, compared to the benefit, no. But there are some quick tips that will speed up your food logging.
First off, MyFitnessPal will show you by default a list of the most recently used items.
Also, once you start logging your food, you'll notice that you tend to eat the same things frequently. The "Frequent foods" screen is very useful then.
Some of the times you won't find the food you are looking for in the database. So you need to create your own food, by specifying information such as the name, serving size, or the number of calories. You will be able to see these foods in a dedicated list in the "My Foods" section.
If you have a favourite meal (let's say, sushi), and you eat the same set of multiple foods over and over again, you can save an existing meal and add it later by using the "Saved Meals" section.
Last but not least, people who cook at home are able to create a custom food based on their own recipe. It provides you with a way to specify the individual ingredients, as well as the serving size.
If you always break down complex foods into their basic ingredients, you will actually work with a very small set of entries to put in your food log, and the recent foods tab will be even more helpful.
All of these tips allow me to do most of my food logging in under 5 minutes per day, while deriving terrific benefit from it.
How Often Do You Need To Log Your Food?
Ideally, you need to log after every meal. Yes, you heard me! Some people even log it beforehand to plan their meals.
Having gaps in the data makes it much less valuable. I noticed this while working with my clients from ProgrammerFitness.com, in order to help them tweak their lifestyle. Days with gaps of data usually cover periods of the year when you do not want to log because it's too much, or you are too busy. Because the human body always has a delayed reaction (but you don't know by how much), the gaps in the food log will have an effect later on, but you will not be able to trace it back to the missing food data.
I have met people with a very good memory and disciplined eating habits who can log them only once a day. The truth is, however, it's quite difficult to do it accurately. If you make a 10% mistake each day because of forgetting to log everything that you've eaten, that mistake can lead to much more on the longer term. For example, in the months when I was losing weight, 10% could have easily been the difference between staying at the same weight or progressing.
I now have more than 7 months of continuous data, and I can say that it's very helpful to not have gaps in your food log.
How Do You Check How Your Day Has Been?
It depends on the purpose for which you are using MyFitnessPal. But all major metrics can be checked in the "Nutrition Tab".
Examples of questions that can be answered from the nutrition tab:
- Are my macro ratios correct? The USDA recommends that people eat 20-35% of calories from fat, 45-65% from carbs and 10-35% from protein.
- Am I eating enough fiber?
- Am I eating too much sodium?
- Am I eating too many sugars?
- Am I eating too much cholesterol?
Frequently Asked Questions
Let's discuss some questions that I was frequently asked by others when showing them how to use MyFitnessPal:
Does MyFitnessPal work offline?
Partially, yes. You can add foods that are in the frequent items/recent foods and other similar lists: your foods, saved meals and your recipes. In order to perform a search, either by using the UPC barcode, or a keyword, you need to be online.
What happens if I don't know how to log a dish?
Some good practices are to search for similar foods, or even to break the dish down into ingredients. It's a tough to solve this problem though.
Is all the information in MyFitnessPal correct? It seems to me like this hamburger has too little or too many calories.
No, of course not. Not all the information in their database is correct. This is the cost of having more user-generated content rather than a restricted set of entries controlled only by the company making the app. They have a thumbs up mechanism in the web interface for you to say that an item is correct and you can also create a duplicated item with correct information assigned to it.
Where does the number of calories left come from? How is it computed?
When you sign up for MyFitnessPal, you specify a target weight goal. Based on a mathematical model that's taking into account how much less you need to eat, how big you are right now and your activity levels, it will compute a daily allowance. You can also set individual goals for macronutrients ratios (e.g. how much of your protein to eat from fats), but those are for more advanced users.
What else can you log with MyFitnessPal in addition to food?
You can also log the water intake and your physical exercise, by searching it in their database and equating it to a number of burned calories.
Conclusion
MyFitnessPal is a free, easy-to-use mobile app that allows you to keep a log of your daily food intake. It is useful in a wide variety of situations, such as losing weight or improving your diet.
It has a large database that makes it easy to find any type of food, especially when you use the barcode scanner feature. I have used it successfully for the past year, and managed to lose 50 pounds with its help and with a wearable device named BodyMedia Link.
Andrei Ismail is an experienced software engineer with startup experience under his belt and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has lost 50 pounds in 6 months and is currently working on a fitness coaching program for geeks, available at WEIGHT LOSS FOR ENGINEERS.
