Cut Me In Half

I’ve always been a huge fan of free stuff, so I wanted to share with you guys a new free site. It’s called My Fitness Pal, and it’s a combination free calorie counter, fitness tracker, forum and food diary (I’ve got some screenshots below). It’s got some pretty great features:

• Calorie Tracker
• Calorie Counter
• Fitness Tracker
• Charts and Reports that cover Weight Loss, Calorie Intake and Exercise.
• Great Support Forums
• Fast-Loading
• Easy To Use

Screenshots (click for large view):

Really the only thing that I saw that could be improved a bit were the reports. They are mostly good for looking at a large amount of weight loss long-term, in the short term it can’t really display much change. The problem is that it divides into 80-pound increments — which is great because it loads quickly, but bad because it’s not detailed enough. This is my report for the past week.

As you can see, there was a big spike when I joined (my start weight), but you really can’t tell how much I weigh by this graph. I would guess 310 pounds if I had to go by the graph, when really I’m about 15 less than that. The good thing about the reports is that you can see large changes in your weight over time, and you can insert older weigh-ins into the report to see changes in weight over an even larger area.

Honestly the whole site exceeded my expectations, and unlike most sites they only have one text-based ad on every page, not a ton of big flashing ads like most free sites. My Fitness Pal is similar to SparkPeople, but it’s a bit less-complicated and loads a lot faster. It’s also newer, has fewer people and it’s easier to develop a friendly acquaintance with people there. SP is really large, so it’s a bit harder to make friends there. With MFP, it’s not required that you participate in the forums (you can stay very anonymous if you want), but the people there are incredibly friendly and helpful.

Pros: Great for calorie counting, fitness and weight tracking, and for people who want a Support System.
Cons: Weight reports aren’t as in-depth as some sites.

Total Rating: 5 out of 5

MFP’s tools also work well with people of both sexes, and everything is presented in a way that makes it clear that the site really is for everyone who needs to lose weight. I absolutely adore sites that are for everyone, and it’s no coincidence that sites that are inclusive of everyone tend to have better tools and articles. 

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