Yes, You Can Save a Meal on MyFitnessPal
For many users, logging every single ingredient for every meal can become a tedious and time-consuming task, leading to burnout. Fortunately, MyFitnessPal offers a convenient feature that allows you to save frequently consumed food combinations as a single meal entry. This dramatically speeds up the logging process, turning a multi-step process into a single tap. Once saved, these meals are easily accessible from your food diary and can be edited, copied, or deleted as needed.
How to Save a Meal on the MyFitnessPal Mobile App
Saving a meal is a straightforward process on both the iOS and Android versions of the app. The most common method is to save a meal directly from your diary after you've logged the individual food items.
- Open your Diary: Navigate to your daily food diary within the app.
- Add Ingredients: Log all the individual food items you want to include in your saved meal for a specific meal category (e.g., Breakfast or Lunch).
- Initiate Save: Tap the three dots (•••) at the bottom right of the entry, or the 'Edit' (pencil) icon at the top of the diary page.
- Select and Save: Choose the food items you want to save by tapping the selection box next to them. Then, tap the 'Save Meal' button.
- Name and Confirm: Give your new meal a name (e.g., "Weekday Scrambled Eggs") and tap 'Save New'.
How to Save a Meal on the MyFitnessPal Website
For those who prefer using the web interface, the process is slightly different but just as simple.
- Access the Food Diary: Go to the 'Food' tab and then 'Diary'.
- Log Your Meal: Enter all the foods and quantities for the meal you want to save.
- Use Quick Tools: Click on the 'Quick Tools' link located under the meal section (Breakfast, Lunch, etc.).
- Remember Meal: From the options, select 'Remember Meal'.
- Name and Save: Provide a name for your meal and click the green 'Save Meal' button.
How to Add a Saved Meal to Your Diary
Once a meal is saved, adding it to your log in the future is incredibly fast.
- Tap the 'Add Food' button for the desired meal category.
- Select the 'Meals' tab at the top of the food search screen.
- Locate your saved meal from the list.
- Tap on the meal to add it instantly to your diary, making adjustments to the portion size if necessary.
Comparison: Saved Meals vs. Recipes
While MyFitnessPal has both a 'Meals' and 'Recipes' feature, they serve slightly different purposes. The 'Meals' feature is best for pre-assembled combinations of food you eat regularly, whereas 'Recipes' are better for complex, multi-ingredient dishes you might make in batches.
| Feature | Saved Meals | Recipes |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Quick logging of frequently eaten food combinations. | Calculating the nutritional information for a multi-ingredient dish that is then logged by the serving. |
| Logging Flexibility | When you log a saved meal, the individual components appear in your diary, allowing you to easily edit portion sizes or remove ingredients. | A recipe is logged as a single item with a single serving size. Editing individual components is less flexible after logging. |
| Ideal for | A daily breakfast of coffee and oatmeal, a standard office lunch sandwich, or a simple protein shake. | A large lasagna dish you made for the week, a complex chili, or a batch of pre-made protein muffins. |
| Creation | Can be created from existing diary entries or built from scratch. | Built from scratch by adding each ingredient and specifying the total servings. |
Conclusion
The ability to save a meal on MyFitnessPal is an essential feature for anyone serious about consistent and long-term food tracking. By streamlining the logging process for your most common meals, you can save valuable time and reduce the effort required to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. Whether you use the app or the website, setting up and utilizing this function is simple and highly effective. For those with complex, multi-ingredient dishes, the 'Recipe' feature provides a different but equally powerful way to manage your intake efficiently. Consistent tracking is key to success, and saving your meals is a major step toward making that consistency a reality.
Key Takeaways
- Yes, you can save a meal in MyFitnessPal to simplify and accelerate your food logging process.
- To save a meal on the app, log the items in your diary, tap the 'Edit' or three-dots menu, and select 'Save as Meal'.
- On the website, use the 'Quick Tools' and then 'Remember Meal' option after logging your food for that specific meal category.
- Saved meals appear under the 'My Meals' tab in your food search, ready for one-tap logging.
- Saved meals vs. recipes: Meals are best for quick logging of regular food combos, while recipes are for complex, multi-ingredient dishes.
- Editing is easy; once you've logged a saved meal, you can still adjust individual ingredient amounts or remove items as needed.
- Consistent tracking is more sustainable when you use features like saving meals to make the process less time-consuming.
FAQs
Q: How do I save a meal on the MyFitnessPal app? A: Log the foods for your meal in your diary, tap the 'Edit' button (pencil icon) or the three-dots (•••) menu, select the items, and tap 'Save Meal' to give it a name and save it to your list of 'My Meals'.
Q: Where can I find my saved meals in MyFitnessPal? A: To find your saved meals, navigate to your food diary, tap 'Add Food', and then select the 'Meals' tab at the top of the food search screen.
Q: Is it possible to edit a saved meal? A: Yes, you can edit saved meals. Go to 'More' > 'My Meals, Recipes & Foods' > 'Meals', tap the meal you want to edit, make your changes, and save the updated version.
Q: What is the difference between a saved meal and a recipe? A: A saved meal is a simple group of logged foods for quick re-entry, with individual components editable after logging. A recipe is for multi-ingredient dishes where you define servings and log it as a single entry.
Q: Can I save a single food item as a meal? A: Yes, you can save a single food item as a meal if you log it in your diary and use the 'Save as Meal' function. This can be useful for items you often want to log with specific details or a brand name.
Q: Can I copy a meal from a previous day? A: Yes, you can copy an entire meal from one date to another. On the diary page, tap the three dots or 'Quick Tools' next to the meal and select 'Copy From Date'.
Q: Do saved meals include the nutrition facts? A: Yes, when you save a meal, MyFitnessPal calculates the nutritional information for the entire combination based on the ingredients you logged. When you add it to your diary, it automatically logs the complete nutritional breakdown.
