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This article is part of TechRadar’s Get Fit For ‘25 series.
Tracking food intake has become a popular way to monitor health and wellness in recent years.
But how practical is this in real life, and can it genuinely change your eating habits?
Heres what happened when I put MyFitnessPal to the test.
Based on this, it calculates your daily calorie and macronutrient targets.
While this sounds relatively simple, I quickly discovered that MyFitnessPals initial suggestions arent so accurate.
This is where a little extra effort pays off.
Its a great way to understand how much energy your body really needs.
To do this, you could simply multiply your body weight by 10-12 to get a realistic calorie range.
I adjusted the apps tweaks to reflect my personal goals.
This included setting macronutrient targets for protein, carbohydrates and fats.
The ability in-app to customize these controls was a game-changer.
For homemade meals, I manually entered ingredients and weighed portions using a kitchen scale.
One thing that became clear early on was the apps limitations.
Because it relies on user-generated entries, the calorie and macronutrient data isnt always accurate.
For example, a slice of bread might show wildly different calorie counts depending on the entry.
When this happened, I searched for an entry that matched the packaging or averaged the numbers.
This is just something youve just got to keep in mind when tracking calories: everythings an estimate.
I also learned how easy it is to overlook the little things.
Logging these made me much more aware of my habits and therefore more wary about snacking.
That said, one thing I was very aware of during this experiment was becoming obsessive.
The first was portion sizes.
Seeing those numbers add up on the app was truly eye-opening.
I also realised my protein intake wasnt as high as I thought.
Despite eating balanced meals, I was consistently falling short of the recommended amount.
No wonder Id sometimes feel unsatisfied after meals.
Another surprise was how drinks can sneakily contribute to your daily calories.
Will I keep it up?
Nor is it something I want to continue.
However, it can genuinely help you eat more mindfully and make lasting changes, even through occasional use.
