Website Review: My Fitness Pal

Many people will admit to more than a few false-starts in the weight-loss arena. I've fallen off the diet and exercise bandwagon dozens of times and even failed for all to see on this blog (um, what happened to the Wednesday Weigh-in posts and the 30-Day Shred?)

Equal to the guilt of having eaten a jar of peanut butter for me is the guilt of having wasted money on a diet book, exercise dvd, ridiculously-expensive elliptical machine, etc. While even the thought of losing money could be a good motivator not to dip into the cookie jar, who needs to add that kind of pressure to their life? What I really need is a free, reliable program that holds me more accountable than a blank notebook.

My Fitness Pal is the answer!

MFP officially calls itself a free online calorie counter, diet and exercise journal, but it is so much more. Yes, the site will reccomend a daily calorie limit for you (check with your doc--mine was a bit low) and allow you to enter the food you eat (breastfeeding moms can enter breastfeeding for negative calories!) and the exercise you do daily, but what is most effective for me is the MFP community.

The site allows you to "friend" other users just like on Facebook, so that you can follow their status updates for inspiration and also provide others with moral support when they need it. You can input your own status updates, but sneaky MFP also posts auto updates when you don't log in for a couple days, when you weigh in and lose pounds (not when you gain), when you reach certain log-in milestones (for example, when you log in every day for a week or a month or a year) and when you complete your food or exercise log for the day. Its really great motivation that does not come with a price tag!

MFP also has other great community features such as a message board and a user profile that can be updated with photos, a bio, a weight-loss ticker, your weight-loss goals, etc. Also, the food database in user-inputed, so you can add any food to the database that isn't already there and you can also enter recipes and calculate the calories per serving. And this is just scraping the surface of what MFP offer.

The bottom line? MFP works for me and I'm losing slowly but surely and not starving. More importantly, the site reinforces for me that the only way to lose unwanted weight is to eat well and exercise--and hold only myself accountable.

If you're looking for an awesome, free way to lose weight, tone up, maintain, or just plain old be healthy, give check out My Fitness Pal! (Be sure to get a doctor's permission, of course, before starting any diet and exercise plan.)