MasterMyFitnessPal.

The tracking app, finally explained.

Tracking nutrition isn't about being obsessive — it's about knowing what you're actually putting in. MyFitnessPal is still the best free way to do it, but the app is bigger than it looks and most people use 10% of what it can do. This guide unlocks the other 90%.

Twenty-plus screen-by-screen walkthroughs with figure references for every step. From the moment you open the app to the moment you've got your daily logging down to ten seconds, this is the manual MyFitnessPal should have shipped with.

• Set it up properly in 5 minutes — calorie goal, macros, dashboard, meal structure.
• The barcode scanner tricks that make logging a 2-second job.
• Smart Copy, Quick Add, Recent Meals — the speed tools that turn 5-minute logging into 30 seconds.
• How to copy whole days when life gets busy (and you eat the same lunch every Tuesday anyway).
• Setting different macros for different days (training days vs rest days).
• Linking Apple Health, Garmin, Fitbit so exercise calories adjust themselves.
• The cooked vs raw weighing trick that fixes the most common logging mistake.
• How to export your data — for your coach, for your records, for your sanity.

What's inside

Nine thematic sections walking the 20+ in-app tutorials. Read it cover-to-cover in 30 minutes, or jump to the tutorial you need.

Whether you go Free or Premium, the guide walks the trade-off honestly. Premium unlocks Food Analysis, custom dashboards, custom daily goals, ad-free experience and Meal Scan (snap a meal with your camera). The chapter shows exactly what Premium adds — try the free month, decide for yourself.

The default dashboard just shows remaining calories — useful if you're a beginner, but limiting once you progress. Premium users can switch to:

• Calorie Focused — total consumed, burned, remaining.
• Macronutrients Focused — remaining carbs, protein, fat + calories.
• Heart Healthy — fat, sodium, cholesterol + calories.
• Low Carb — carbs, sugar, fibre + calories.
• Custom — any three nutrients you choose.

The Macronutrients view is what 90% of Pete's clients end up using — the chapter explains why.

Goals can be set on either the website (more flexible) or in the app (faster). The guide walks BOTH paths step-by-step, with figure references for each screen. You learn how to set:

• Calories per day.
• Carbs / Protein / Fat — by gram or by percentage (huge — most people don't realise both options exist).
• Different calorie + macro goals for different days of the week (training vs rest day macros).

Three meals + snacks? Four meals + pre-workout? Six small meals? The app lets you customise the meal slots to match how you actually eat. This 10-second setup makes every subsequent log feel native instead of forced into someone else's eating schedule.

Six logging methods, each with its own walkthrough:

• Search the food database — 11+ million items. The chapter teaches you how to spot the verified entries vs the user-submitted junk.
• Scan a barcode — UK supermarket own-brands, big chains, everything.
• Add a custom food — for recipes, family meals, anything not in the database.
• Manual delete — fixing the inevitable wrong entry.
• Cooked vs raw weights — the single biggest logging mistake the guide fixes.
• Check your macros mid-meal — adjust before you over-eat, not after.

This is the chapter that converts MyFitnessPal from "tedious chore" to "10-second daily habit":

• Smart Copy — copy a meal from earlier today or yesterday in two taps.
• Quick Add — log calories & macros directly when you don't know the exact food (eating at a friend's house, etc.).
• Recent Meals — your most-eaten meals always one tap away.
• Save a meal you eat often — turn your usual breakfast into a one-tap log forever.
• Copy whole days — for the meal-prep crowd who eat the same five days a week.

How to set different daily calorie + macro targets — including the trick of higher carbs on training days and higher fat on rest days. Plus the chapter on customising exercise changes so the app doesn't blow your calorie budget when you log a 200-calorie walk and it adds 600 to your daily allowance.

How to link Apple Health, Google Fit, Garmin, Fitbit and the major activity trackers so steps and workouts flow into MyFitnessPal automatically — and how to control whether those calories get added to your daily budget or not (you usually don't want them to).

The final section: completing your diary, the privacy settings most people get wrong, sharing diaries with your coach, the Week at a Glance summary, the Recipe Discovery tool, and exporting your data — which Pete asks every coaching client to do at the end of each week.

Common questions

© Pete Gawtry Fitness. The MyFitnessPal Guide PDF is free to download and share with friends. MyFitnessPal is a registered trademark of Under Armour, Inc. — this guide is an unofficial tutorial, not endorsed by or affiliated with MyFitnessPal.