How to Add Food to MyFitnessPal

Aaron Donald October 5, 2021

MyFitnessPal is like your omniscient best fitness buddy. It keeps track of everything related to your diet, training, and weight-loss plan. Your plan doesn’t need to be to lose weight, as this app is also a great companion for maintaining your body the way it is. You can also use it when you’re trying to gain a couple of pounds.

The app stores your data in the Your Diary section. You can consult the diary when you need to check your daily calorie intake, for example. Here’s how to add food, workouts, and more.

Adding Items to the Diary on the Web

You can add foods to your Diary using MyFitnessPal site instead of the app. It’s simple:

Go to the MyFitnessPal website and log into your account.
Click on the second tab in the main bar: Food.
You’ll see all the meals listed below, and you’ll see the Add Food option under each.
When you select Add Foods, the site will redirect you to a new page. There, you can add different foods from the site’s database. You can also add favorites, choose from recent or frequent meals, etc.
You can also use the search field. Type the name of the food and, when the results appear, click on a food item you want. Then, select Add Food to Diary on the right.
Confirm and go back to the Food Diary page, and your chosen food will be there. You’ll also get the info on calories, carbs, fats, proteins, etc.

Adding Items in the App

Both Android and iOS devices have recently received updates, so now there’s an easy way to add anything to your diary in just a few taps.

Launch the MyFitnessPal app on your smartphone.
When the main page opens, tap the big blue + sign.
You’ll see different items you can add to your daily routine. Tap on Food.
From the pop-up window, choose for which meal you want to add the food.
Type the name of the desired food in the search field, or choose from history. You can filter it in several ways.

Adding to the My Foods Section

In this section, you can also create recipes, and make meals from ingredients you typically eat together. You can even add new foods to the My foods section. You can add custom foods when you can’t find what you want in the search field.

Note that you can describe the food to make it easier to find – it may not be enough to type “egg,” but adding “fried” or “poached” will give you more accurate results.

How to Add Other Items to Your Daily Log

The process is very similar to adding food, and the same goes for adding exercises.

Launch the app and open the Home screen.
Tap the blue plus sign.

If you want to add water, tap on the glass icon, and then add how much water you have taken in. Note that you can change units and choose ounces or cups instead of milliliters.

To record your workouts, tap on the yellow icon and select what kind of exercise you’ve had: cardio or strength. You can browse the existing ones or add your own. You can even see the most used ones.

You also have the option of adding a status if you want to share your thoughts with others, or “write down” what’s on your mind. Tap on the green icon, type in the desired status, add a photo (optional), and tap the checkmark in the top right corner to publish.

On Your Way to Success

There’s probably nothing more motivational than seeing how much you’ve done and how well you’re keeping up with your plans and goals. That’s just one of the reasons MyFitnessPal is so great. Adding foods and keeping track of what you eat can be useful even if you’re not on a diet. We’ve all been in situations when we’re simply out of cooking ideas. Here, you’ll have everything in one place.

Have you created recipes in MyFitnessPal? What’s on your Most Frequent Foods list? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.