How to Create Your Own Meal on MyFitnessPal

Food logging is a key component for anyone looking to achieve their health goals. Studies show that consistent use of MyFitnessPal is linked to more successful outcomes. This guide explains how to create your own meal on MyFitnessPal, a feature that streamlines the process and allows for accurate tracking, particularly if you eat the same foods frequently.

Quick Summary

This article provides a comprehensive guide to creating and saving custom meals and recipes on MyFitnessPal. It provides detailed instructions for both the mobile app and website. The article also covers best practices like using a food scale and verifies database entries to optimize the food tracking routine.

Key Points

• Measure Accurately: Use a food scale to weigh ingredients for precise nutrition data.

• Choose the Right Feature: Understand the difference between saving a custom meal and creating a recipe.

• Save for Speed: Save frequently eaten meals as a custom meal to simplify logging.

• Copy and Repeat: Use the copy feature to avoid re-entering meals.

• Keep it Updated: Edit custom meals and recipes as needed to maintain accuracy.

• Plan Your Meals: Plan and pre-log meals to meet nutritional and calorie goals.

• Verify Nutritional Info: Always check the nutritional data, especially for user-submitted entries.

• Use Grams for Recipes: For batch-cooked recipes, use grams to track total weight and serving sizes.

Understanding the Basics: Meals vs. Recipes

Before starting, it is important to understand the difference between creating a custom Meal and a custom Recipe within MyFitnessPal, as each is designed for different tracking needs. A saved Meal allows users to log a combination of foods as one entry, a key element for fast, consistent food logging. Consider a regular breakfast of oatmeal and eggs; it can be saved as a single "Breakfast" meal. A Recipe is useful for creating and tracking multi-ingredient dishes that yield multiple servings, such as a large batch of stew or chili. It allows the user to input every ingredient, and then log individual servings from the entire dish.

How to Create Your Own Meal on the MyFitnessPal App

Creating a custom meal or recipe on the MyFitnessPal mobile app streamlines daily tracking. Follow these steps:

1. Add Ingredients: Begin by adding the individual ingredients for your meal to your diary under the appropriate meal section (e.g., Lunch). You can search the MyFitnessPal database or use the barcode scanner for packaged foods.
2. Access the Save Meal Option: After entering all ingredients for your meal, find the meal section in your diary. Press the three dots (•••) or the "Edit" button, depending on the device.
3. Choose to Save: Choose the option to "Save Meal" or "Save as Meal" from the menu.
4. Name and Save: Provide a name for the new meal, such as "Sunday Protein Pancakes" or "Favorite Lunch Wrap." You also have the option to add a photo. Tap the save button to add it to your saved meals.
5. Log the Meal: In the future, to log this meal, go to your diary, tap "Add Food," then select the "My Meals" tab. There, you can locate and add your saved meal with a single tap.

Creating a Recipe on the MyFitnessPal Website

The website's recipe tool is best suited for complex, home-cooked dishes, offering greater control over serving sizes. This is ideal for meal prep.

1. Go to Recipes: Log in to the MyFitnessPal website, click the "Food" tab at the top, and choose "Recipes".
2. Start a New Recipe: Click on the "Create Recipe" button. Here you will input the recipe name and total number of servings.
3. Add All Ingredients: Search for and add every ingredient, along with its specific quantity. It's best to measure precisely, and use a food scale. A food scale helps calculate nutritional data by weight, which is more accurate than volume.
4. Save the Recipe: After adding all ingredients, save the recipe. It will then be available under "My Recipes" for logging in the future.
5. Log by Serving: When logging the recipe, specify the number of servings consumed. The app will calculate the nutritional information for that portion. The total number of servings can be set to the weight of the completed dish in grams. Then, when the user logs the meal, they can log the precise weight in grams.

Custom Meals vs. Recipes: A Comparison

Feature	Custom Meal	Custom Recipe
Best For	Quickly logging regular food combinations.	Accurately logging multi-ingredient, homemade dishes.
Key Characteristic	A set list of food items saved together as a single group.	A full list of ingredients that can be divided into portions.
Ideal Use Case	Consistent breakfasts, sandwiches, or snacks.	Casseroles, soups, stews, or any batch-cooked item.
Logging Flexibility	Can easily edit or remove individual items when logging.	Logs as one entry; less flexible to edit individual components at the time of logging.
Portion Accuracy	Accuracy depends on accurately logging each ingredient each time, or using the same portion sizes saved previously.	High accuracy when calculating total weight and logging by the gram.

Best Practices for Tracking Custom Meals

Following these best practices will help maximize the benefits of creating custom meals and recipes on MyFitnessPal.

• Use a Food Scale: A digital food scale is the most important tool for ensuring accurate tracking. Use the weight in grams for ingredients, instead of volume, to get the most precise nutrient counts.
• Verify Database Entries: While MyFitnessPal's database is extensive, user-submitted entries can sometimes be inaccurate. Check the nutrition facts against the food's packaging or a reliable source when adding foods, particularly recipes.
• Plan and Pre-Log: To get consistent results, plan and log meals in advance. By logging custom meals for the day, you can check that they fit your calorie and macro goals before eating them.
• Use the Copy Function: If you regularly eat a custom meal, you can copy the meal to another day in your diary, making logging quicker.
• Don't Hesitate to Edit: Edit a custom meal or recipe if you change an ingredient or a portion size. This keeps your entries accurate without restarting.

Conclusion

Creating custom meals and recipes on MyFitnessPal is an essential feature for effective and efficient food tracking. It reduces time spent searching for individual ingredients and provides reliable nutritional information for home-cooked food. Utilizing the "Meals" and "Recipes" functions properly allows you to automate logging, gain insight into nutritional habits, and stay on track with health and fitness objectives. Accurate measurement, preferably with a food scale, and consistency are critical to success when using custom meals in the app.

Key Takeaways

• Weight Ingredients: Use a food scale to weigh ingredients for custom meals and recipes for precise nutrition data.
• Distinguish Meal Types: Know the difference between custom meals and recipes to select the right feature.
• Speed Up Logging: Save meals eaten frequently to make the logging process faster.
• Use Copy/Paste: Use the copy function to quickly add often-eaten custom meals to your diary.
• Edit Regularly: Change saved meals and recipes if needed to keep data accurate.
• Plan Ahead: Plan and pre-log meals to align with nutritional goals.
• Verify Information: Check the nutritional accuracy of ingredients when adding them to meals.
• Log by Weight: When creating recipes for bulk cooking, set the serving size to the total finished weight in grams.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a custom meal and a recipe on MyFitnessPal?

A custom Meal is best for individual, repeatable meals like breakfast or lunch. A Recipe is used for multi-ingredient dishes that create several servings, such as a large pot of chili, allowing the user to track a portion of the total.

Can I save a meal I've already logged?

Yes, you can save meals from your diary. Enter all foods in your daily diary, choose the 'Edit' button or three-dots menu next to the meal, and choose 'Save Meal'.

How can I edit a saved custom meal or recipe?

You can edit saved meals and recipes by going to the "My Meals, Recipes & Foods" section. Select the entry and press 'Edit'. For recipes, ingredients and serving sizes can be added, changed, or removed.

Are custom meals available on both free and premium MyFitnessPal?

Yes, both free and premium versions of MyFitnessPal offer the ability to create and save your own foods, meals, and recipes.

Why use a food scale when creating a custom meal or recipe?

Using a food scale ensures the highest accuracy, especially when creating multi-serving recipes. It eliminates inaccuracies from estimating serving sizes and provides the most reliable nutritional data.

What is the best way to handle leftovers from a custom recipe?

Weigh the entire dish after cooking and set that weight (in grams) as the total number of servings. When eating leftovers, weigh your portion and log that specific gram amount as the number of servings.

Can I add a picture to my custom meal?

Yes, the app allows the user to add a photo to a custom meal.

How can I find my saved meals and recipes?

Find your saved meals and recipes in the 'More' menu, then tap on 'My Meals, Recipes & Foods'. The tabs for 'Meals' and 'Recipes' are at the top of the screen.

Can I import a recipe from a website into MyFitnessPal?

Yes, the MyFitnessPal website includes a Recipe Importer tool. Paste a recipe URL, and the system tries to match the ingredients from its database.

How do I log a saved meal quickly?

To log a saved meal quickly, go to your diary, select 'Add Food,' and then select the 'My Meals' tab. Your saved meals will be listed there.