Why is MFP better than the competition?

My only previous weight loss effort was Weight Watchers and it didn't fail.

But I got tired of paying for it, so I bought a tracker and signed up here to use the database. I still do one of the older WW plans and it works fine.

However, MFP and WW are essentially the same thing with different methods of counting, so ...

I'd also like to add that unless these people specifically asked for your help, I would leave them alone. And if they asked and you offered and they didn't take your advice, there isn't much else you can do.

1. Free
2. Easy to use
3. Support. The people here make the difference, they are incredibly supportive and inspirational.
4. It's the only one that has worked for me, I love MFP!

1- Good support from fellow MFP members
2- No forbidden foods
3- Immediate and obvious reward for exercise ie. you can eat/drink more, not some long-term 'it will be good for you' notion.

That's why it works for me.

I used the about.com calorie counter on and off for a couple years. I can tell you EXACTLY what factors made me try and stick with MFP.

My friend who teaches some fitness/nutrition classes at our local university recommeded this site. She actually assigned her students to use it! After watching her use her phone to scan bar codes on a beer (ha!) I got curious and she helped show me around the site.

The single factor that has influenced me to stick with this site is that it encourages you to eat back your exercise calories. Lots of people choose not to, and I try not to eat them all back, but never before have I been able to count calories and not be starving. And miserable. And eventually resort to a chinese food binge. The other site I tried never taught me this, and neither did Weight Watchers (I did it too).

Other things I like about MFP versus the other guys: This site is very easy and fast to log food and exercise. I LOVE the whole facebooky componant of having friends and a wall, it creates much better support than just having a plain community forum set up. I like how easy it is to add recipes - though I wish I could share them with friends! I've also met great people with REAL longterm success.... on other sites I tried it seemed like people dropped out rather quickly.

If they aren't sure about trying it, have them join just for a week and see for themselves. I have had amazing success (or so I think) and I've tried this several times on other sites. Good luck to them!!!!

most people see weight loss programs as a quick fix, personally i believe its got to be a total change of habit and lifestyle, any one can lose weight quick but it will always end up going straight back on when you suddenly stop dieting,

MFP is like a secret, you can keep it to yourself or share with friends, and if ur dieting with friends theres no better fun than either competing to lose the weight or joining together to get a combined weight loss total.

i tried the atkins, weight watchers and a few other diets but they didnt work for me, i exercise regular and it was just eating habits i had to change and when i found out how many calories were actually in the stuff i put into my body i was horrified!

it has personally inspired me to be more cautious about what i eat and how much i eat, and to work out why i have this bad relationship with food. once you tackle the problem you have with food its easier to get away from it and accept it.

MFP ROCKS!

To me, WW was just a diet. It also pushed processed foods (their own products) as opposed to whole foods. It sort of encouraged you to work out, but not like MFP. I also belonged to Sparkpeople. It wasn't a great program for me because it gave you a range of calories under the assumption you would be working out. I lost some weight there, but with MFP, it's pretty much cut and dried. You get XXXX calories and you can have more if you work out.

Why this works for me is that I can track calories and other nutritional information so easily by entering data during the day using my smartphone. If eating food that's in packaging, I can even enter the data by scanning the barcode.

Whether or not other sites have that facility I've no idea, but this one works well for me.

I used Livestrong for a couple of years, it's ok but I had synching issues and searching foods could be a real pain. Their database was unweildly (always going to be difficult) nad the whole functionality was clunky. I would never go back to Livestrong now, MFP is much better - IMHO

I had already lost my weight before using either App and that was just by using an excel spreadsheet with a basic formula. As others have said the App will help but you have to want to do it, no weight loss site will lose the weight for you.

I've tried other internet sites that track calories, including some pay sites. I switched to myfitnesspal and have stuck with it for these reasons:

(1) It has one of the largest, if not the largest, database of foods.

(2) It allows you to very quickly enter information into it. This includes both making entries into the food diary and adding foods.

(3) It has an Android app so I can enter information in it immediately. The Android app works well.

(4) You can use the Android app to scan UPC codes.

Recently, myfitnesspal has made two big improvements that are likely to keep me using it:

(1) When you scan a UPC code and it's incorrect, if you enter alternate information, you'll get that alternate entry the next time you scan the food.

(2) When you search for a food, you get the foods you've created first.

I saw that many people wrote that they stick to myfitnesspal because of their friends on it. That particular reason has not been a reason for me to stick to myfitnesspal. Until a day or two ago, I didn't have a single friend on myfitnesspal. However, I recently read that people with more friends on MFP are far more successful at losing the weight. Thus, I intend on adding friends. Please feel free to add me. I need to add a picture and I ought to add profile information. Hopefully, doing that, and looking at and responding to the message boards, will help keep me on track. My weight loss plateaued as I followed my initial weight loss with less than perfect compliance with tracking all my food. That's when I get into trouble: Even if I exceed the totals, so long as I have tracked all that I eat, I have continued to make progress in losing weight. It's only when I become frustrated and stop recording stuff that I have failed to progress.

Despite all my good words about myfitnesspal, I'd switch to one of its competitors if I thought it did a better job. I heard Weight Watchers does a good job helping people lose weight. However, I'd feel funny going to Weight Watchers considering my goal weight is only 25 pounds less than my current weight. Nonetheless, losing weight is important to my health. My doctor told me that I'd be able to stop taking a cholesterol lowering drug and high blood pressure medicine if I lost weight.

Why MFP? Simples, it was free and it came up as the first download on my iPhone when I was looking for a calorie counter.

As an aside, if your friends/family aren't interested trying to lose weight, then leave them be - it's their choice and they'll lose the excess baggage when they're ready.