Post Gall Bladder Week 1 - Using MyFitnessPal

Today marks just over 1 week since I lost my Gall Bladder.  Tuesday I finally felt good enough to eat something more creative than soda crackers and sports drinks so I renewed my quest for an almost-no-fat diet.  Right now my body has a very limited ability to process fatty foods.  For the next couple weeks I need to keep all fat intake to a minimum to let my liver adjust to losing its sidekick.  I figured I would see how practical fitness gadgets can be for a very specific health issue such as this.

This week I used what appears to be the most commonly used fitness app: MyFitnessPal.  The technology is solid and user interface is straight forward.  It can be used in a web browser or as a smart phone app.  For my purposes the smart phone app was the most practical due to my lack of mobility.  After installing the app I created an ID and a profile.  Do not worry about filling it out perfect.  I was able to go back and edit the profile after the fact.

Once I was set up it was just a matter of adding food.  I started searching for almost-no-fat food and was pleasantly surprised to find it is the first macro-nutrient listed:

I realize this is pretty much industry standard but it was still incredibly exciting for me.  It has made my quest relatively easy and quick.

To add food I can either type it in as a searchable item or scan a bar code.  I was surprised by the number of bar codes stored in the data base.  It has your standard national pre-packaged brand names, of course, but it also has  some more obscure items such as Cuties!

Although currently low on my priority list, a user can also add exercises.  Right now I can very quickly add... nothing.  But for those of you watching calorie intake it is very useful.  The MyFitnessPal Home Screen shows target calories for the day, number of calories consumed and number burnt through activity.  The more calories you burn, the higher your goal number goes!

The only thing I found I did not like was trying to add resistance training to the exercise totals.  It would be nice if there was a category for Resistance Training: Light, or Resistance Training: High Rep or something similar.  Trying to add each exercise individually was tedious and I eventually gave up.

Overall I think MyFitnessPal has a hit.  The user interface was simple to use and gave me the information I needed most.  I realize this program is primarily for recording food but I would like to see them put a little more time in to logging exercise beyond cardio.   Most of my clients do some sort of resistance training along with cardio and watching what they eat and they definitely deserve credit for it.

What do you think of MyFitnessPal?  Do you use it?  Has it helped you reach your Fitness Goal?  Comment below with any comments or questions.  Next week I will take a look at Loseit! and see how it stacks up in my quest for almost-no-fat food.