137. Why I’m Breaking Up With MyFitnessPal After A 10 Year Relationship

…It’s not what you think! Listen to the episode to get the full scoop!

Links👇🏼

Follow me on instagram: @funsized.life_

Funsized Fitness App: www.funsized.life/app

How to navigate the new in-app meal tracker: youtu.be/9DQX-ssQQ48 — Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/funsizedpodcast/support

Transcription

Hello and welcome to The Funsized Podcast. If you’re new here, My name is Kierstin and I’m a nutrition and fitness coach for women under 5’3”. My mission on this podcast and all my other platforms is to provide petite women with the tools and resources you need to be fully confident in your body and therefore in yourself. Speaking of tools… for as long as I’ve been doing this coaching thing, the tool that has been most consistent in my life, and the one that I’ve preached, is or was MyFtinessPal. But that ends now. I thought it’d be a more bittersweet thing but I think I’ve been ready to rip of this bandaid for a while now. 

Okay let me back track just a sec and fill you in on the last 10 years as briefly as humanly possible – which if you know me, is so freaking hard to do because I’m all about the details. But in a nutshell. I started using MyFitnessPal near the end of 2012 way before UnderArmour bought it in 2015 (and then sold it again in 2020, if you were wondering). I learned how to count macros before I started competing and I actually used MFP, even though my bodybuilding coach never told me to, to learn how the meal plans that were given to me were structured and how that correlated to the changes I was seeing in my body. All of that sparked my interest 3x as much as the fitness itself and is what lead me to become a nutrition coach in the first place. And for that, MFP will always have a place in my heart. I used MFP to coach myself and my clients, some for stage, most of them for general life. And then in 2019 all that stuff happened with my hormones and getting my period and so ever since then I have been on and off with using MFP. By that, I mean Some months I’d track religiously, some I wouldn’t at all. But I’d still be coaching my clients who would be using MFP so I still had my eyeballs in it and if someone were to check my browsing history, it’d look like I use MFP just as much as I use Instagram. So basically what I’m saying is… it’s been a staple in my life and I practically know how to navigate that app with my eyes closed even with it’s many changes as it’s owners have changed over the years. Some of the changes that were made were great, others not-so-much. They weren’t make it or break it changes but they were just annoying enough to kinda annoy the OG’s like me. And I will say, the new owners must have done something right or I just fell hard for their marketing because that’s when I purchased the premium subscription. I’d say in the last 2-3 years or so, me and MyFitnessPal haven’t had the most loving relationship. We had our fair share of disagreements and issues. But, I was comfortable. I’d been loyal to this app for so long, what was I gonna do? Cheat? Nah, I just put up with it’s shit. Funny thing is, this actually sounds like my relationship with my EX. ANYWAY….

If you’ve listened to my podcast or followed my Instagram in the last year, you would know I’ve taken more of an intuitive eating approach since June of 2022 and that went extremely well. I enjoyed the shit outta life all the while maintaining my weight and all that good stuff. But I do loveee starting every new year off with a good focus on my nutrition and fitness so I logged into my premium MFP account on Jan 1st to get the ball rolling. At the same time, my boyfriend logged into his non-premium account and all I hear is “WTF, you have to pay for the barcode scan feature now?” and that set me off too. For as long as I’ve used that app, the barcode scan has been the BEST feature they ever had to offer and has always been on the free version of the app. It was kinda the last and final straw for me. 

I started researching other apps but the unfortunate thing was that none of these apps would sync to the Funsized app like MFP would. And that’s when I was like wait… I think it’s time to re-try the meal tracker within the Funsized App. Full disclaimer, Trainerize, which is the platform I used to deliver the Funsized App, rolled out their own meal-tracker sometime last year but it was SUPER basic, didn’t have a large database, and was missing the key features that I loved in MFP and I kinda just wrote it off like “yeah okay, I’ll look at this later when ya’ll get your shit together” and I was shocked #SHOCKED by how much they’ve leveled up. Literally, I tracked one day of meals and was like THIS IS IT! THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. I’M BREAKING UP WITH MYFITNESSPAL. And I haven’t looked back since. It’s got the barcode scan feature, a much larger database than before, I can plan ahead, I can add the time that meal is eaten, I can see my macros totals and macros remaining and MY 2 favorite things that MFP doesn’t have: I can upload my Funsized Recipe Videos with full details, instructions, and macros and everyone inside the app will have access to them AND the second thing is that everyone can attach our own pictures of each individual meal which much makes it so much more visually appealing and FUN!

I’ve officially switched all my VIP clients over to using the in-app tracker instead of MyFitnessPal and all the feedback has been wonderful, not just for me as their coach, but it makes the client experience super seamless because now everything is all in one place and they aren’t having to navigate 2 apps anymore. 

As for all my current app subscribers… I have some good news and I have some really great news. The good news is, you can start using this in-app meal tracking feature too! Now here’s the really great news…what I’m gonna do for you and for every subscriber here on out, is give you a complimentary one-time macronutrient calculation. This will give you something to strive for rather than just tracking. If you’ve listened to episode 102 about macro tracking vs macro counting, you know what I mean. If not, I highly recommend you go back and find that episode, I’ll even put it in the show notes for ya. The best part is that these complimentary macronutrient targets I set for you will not cost you a single cent more. I repeat, This new feature is not changing the price at all – it might actually be saving you money if you decide to ditch your MFP premium account, like I did!  If you ever do want more accountability and routine macro adjustments, you can add-on the macro accountability subscription for a very very small upcharge. But for now, don’t worry about that, we can chat about that later.  

If you’re currently subscribed to the Funsized App, I invite you to start using the meal-tracking feature asap. Try it out and let me know what you think. It’s pretty easy to navigate but just in case you need it I’m attaching the demonstration video I made in the show-notes for all of you to see how it works – even if you don’t have the app yet, you can watch the video to see how it works! And in the event, those of you who are not subscribed think omg I need this in my life, head over to funsized.life/app to register and download the app!

If you can’t tell, I’m so excited about this new feature. It’s not just a workout app anymore, it’s an all-in-one fitness dashboard and progress tracking app. The fact that I can sync my fitbit and my smart scale and all that data just naturally crosses over without me having to do a thing is beautiful. And now that I can do all my meal tracking in there too means that I’ve taken 4 apps and condensed them into 1 very well organized place. Name another workout app you’ve tried that does that… I’ll wait. 

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