MyFitnessPal just made calorie counting a lot easier on WearOS smartwatches
MyFitnessPal has proven to be an immensely useful tool for anyone looking to lose some weight, gain weight and build muscle, or simply take control of their macronutrient intake.
If that sounds like gobbledygook to you, the app essentially offers the ability to calculate how many grams of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and sugars the food you ingest contains. From here, MyFitnessPal will make suggestions on how much of each you need to reach certain goals, or how many total calories you need to gain or lose weight.
The basic package is free for everyone, and the app integrates with everything from Garmin Connect to Strava and more, giving you an accurate picture of total calorie burn on a given day.
But now MyFitnessPal offers greater integration for Wear OS users, making it much easier for Android-based smartwatch and fitness trackers to track foods and hydration, and track those all-important macros, all from the wrist.
The functionality has been available to Apple Watch users for a while now, but opening it up to Android users will allow those who opt for the highly anticipated Pixel Watch 2, for example, to gain more control over their diet and exercise.
One of the neat features of the Wear OS app is the ability to easily add your most logged meals. So if you have regular breakfasts saved, you can add them with just a few taps. Additionally, it is possible to track your top three nutrients (sugar, carbs, fats, etc.), track the amount of water you drink each day, and quickly add a calorie intake per meal to get a daily total to see.
Most of the above is shown in easy-to-read colored rings, which gradually fill up as you get closer to your goals – or should those be boundaries? It is now available to download from the Google Play Store.
A win-win for fitness fans, but not everything is free
While it’s not healthy to obsess over every morsel that passes your lips, controlling your macronutrient intake is an important step toward achieving fitness goals. After all, how many times have you heard the phrase “abs are made in the kitchen”?
The addition of a Wear OS MyFitnessPal app opens up a much easier way for Android users to log regular meals.
That said, if you eat something that’s not on your favorites list, you’ll still have to go into the smartphone app and search for it in the normal way.
Additionally, MyFitnessPal has a number of premium features behind a paywall for monthly subscriptions, including the option to quickly enter the macros of a given meal.
Anyone who cooks with HelloFresh or Gousto knows that the respective companies provide this information on their recipes, but unless you’re willing to pay for Premium MFP, it’s a matter of entering every single ingredient. Painful.