Why MyFitnessPal becoming a fee paying service is a good thing. Opinion piece.

I was recently made aware of the news that the popular calorie counting app with barcode scanning and macro pie chart features will all become apart of the paid for ‘premium service’.

Hearing this may strike fear into bodybuilders and gym goers who have religiously weighed out every grain of rice and counted every calorie through the popular app. However, I think this move will improve relationships with food, health, performance and results and I’ll tell you for why.

I think calorie counting is unsustainable. To count the calories and macros of your food everyday for every meal forever is not going to happen. Even tracking your foods as accurately as you can, there will still be a margin of error with the many confounding factors involved in the quality of foods and how they are labelled.

I understand the benefits of calorie counting through apps, especially at the beginning of a dieting stage as you receive valuable baseline data to see current consuming habits. There are other ways to get this data and more sustainable ways to get results from nutrition than calorie counting.

Without the convenience of scanning the barcodes of foods to see if they fit into your calories and macros, you have to think about your choices more. Base your meals around a quality protein sources and colourful fruits and vegetables, mindfully snack on fibrous or high protein foods, if you are needing to keep calories low read food labels to pick the lower calorie options.

Furthermore, now without the ability to scan barcodes, there may be an increase in food preparation. Prepping breakfast and lunches for the week will save you money, time and prevent grabbing convenience food. Without feeling the pressure to log everything consumed, you can now develop a better relationship with food by learning how to fuel your body correctly.

I like to say ‘master the basics’ and by this, I mean fuel well, eat a rainbow, drink plenty of water, exercise and sleep well. Work on these and see your quality of life and results flourish.