When I first started tracking macros, I did what a lot of girls do – found easy meals that hit my numbers and tried to vary as little as possible. A girl can’t live on #strugglechicken and sweet potatoes alone, though! I missed my favorite foods – a warm bowl of chili in the fall, an easy weeknight casserole, and a creamy side of mac and cheese. Yes, you can attempt to create single-serving versions but geez, it’s so much work!
MyFitnessPal has made my life infinitely simpler. But, I realize the interface isn’t as intuitive as it should be, so today, we’re walking through the process of programming a recipe into MyFitnessPal step-by-step.
NOTE: I prefer to input recipes from my phone so I can scan barcodes (hence the screenshots you’ll see here), however you can also create recipes from your desktop.
STEP 1 // Navigate to the recipe tool
Click the “more” button at the bottom of the app.
STEP 2 // Select “Create a new recipe”
STEP 3 // Choose “Enter ingredients manually”
This may seem more difficult, but here’s why you do it: When you add from the web, MyFitnessPal attempts to match the ingredients listed in the recipe to items in its database, which may not correspond to the brands you’re actually using. For something like a bell pepper, no big deal! But if your recipe calls for ground beef, the difference between 80% lean and 96% lean is a lot of fat. Beans can vary by 5-10 carbs per serving (15-40 per can!), while marinara sauce varies in added sugars and fats based on brand. Entering ingredients manually means you get to scan what you’re actually using – and that barcode scanner will save you a ton of time.
STEP 4 // Name your recipe and pick your servings
Not sure how many servings it will make? Input how many you think you’ll make. You can always change this later.
STEP 5 // Add your ingredients
I like to scan mine using the barcode scanner and built-in camera on my iPhone. For items that won’t scan easily, or the barcode scanner doesn’t recognize them, type in the full name. I default to the USDA nutrition when it’s available for fruits, veggies, and meats. While you don’t need to weigh anything you add in full (e.g., an entire can of black beans), do weigh any other item (e.g., veggies, flour) to ensure accuracy, and measure your liquids in a measuring cup.
STEP 6 // Adjust your servings
Once you’ve input all the ingredients, you’ll be brought back to a screen that looks like the portion screen you saw originally. Now you can adjust your servings to hit the desired macros. You can set the servings in two ways:
Start with the serving size. Figure out how many servings you want based on the macros you’re looking for, assuming you’ll eat only one serving at a time. Then either (a) weigh the entire finished product and divide by the number of servings you want to get a serving size and log the grams or ounces per serving somewhere (I’ll often just write it on a piece of masking tape and stick it on the container) or (b) lay out that number of containers and weigh each container as you fill it, redistributing food at the end fill until the weight is equally distributed across all of the containers. So, if I determine I want five servings, I’ll lay out five containers and ensure each one has an equal weight in it, like the picture below.
Your other option is to use an easy unit of measure as the serving size. This is great for soups, where I can measure out how many cups are in the pot (transferring 1-2 cups at a time over to a metal bowl or other heat-resistant container, or using the cup measures on the inside of my InstantPot). Then, set your number of servings in the recipe to that number. You then decide how many “servings” you want at each meal. For example, a “meal” for me is usually 1.5 cups of our favorite chili recipe.
STEP 7 // Add to your diary
Click “save”, then go to your diary. Go to add a food, just like you would at any meal, and select “recipes” on the far right. It should be there!
The best part of setting up your recipes in MFP is that you can reuse them in the future. Making the same chili? Just use the same recipe macros! If you change an ingredient or amount of an ingredient, you can easily edit just that portion of the recipe (but remember to repeat step 6 to recalculate your servings at the end!).
Want recipe or meal ideas? Follow me on MyFitnessPal (username: ash_hatcher).