Interface
The website is at best....OK looking. I used to design websites so I have an eye (although no longer the patience) for it. MyFitnessPal can be a bit confusing at times however once you get used to it's retro-Facebook style it can hold a lot of value in recording your fitness journey.
On the Flip side we have the App (I only have Android devices so that's what I'm looking at) which is far more intuitive It should be noted, however, that the app recently went through a major overhaul and I would have originally classified it as the worst fitness app I've ever seen (which is probably the reason I stayed away from it for years). In this version most everything is handled by the "add to Diary" button. Here is where you can add food, exercise, and even put in notes about the aforementioned items. There is also a app for windows phone (shocker), iOS and even Blackberry
Connections and API access
Forgive me for geeking out, but easily my favorite thing about MyFitnessPal is how many sites it is compatible with. I wish all sites were at least half as connected as this one. It doesn't matter if you use Withings, Fitbit, Bodymedia, Everymove, Digfit, iHealth, Runkeeper, or one of the other couple dozen fitness sites that MyFitnessPal supports you'll be able to add their recorded data to your profile. What does this mean exactly? Well, like always I'll use myself as an example. I hate having to enter my weight in the handful of fitness apps I use ('cause they all want it) so I have a Withings scale that has external API access. For those of you non-techies that means that given the proper authorization any program/site whatever could look at what that particular thing provides. In this case it's a scale that records weight. So with MyFitnessPal supporting the ability to read my weight from my scale it doesn't have to ask me every once in a while. With the site also having connections to Bodymedia (my calorie counter) it always knows how much I burn throughout the day. Plus if I record any workouts through RunKeeper I don't have to then add that to MyFitnessPal, connecting the two sites would mean they share information. This is awesome for those who don't want to have to enter there data in a bunch of different places (read: pretty much everyone).
Charts and records
Charts! OMG the charts! Wanna see a chart of your weight patterns? Got it! Wanna see how much your body fat percentage has changed over time? They got that too. Pretty much any record of numbers they keep on file (that you provide of course) they will show you a nice little chart showing your progression. They also give calculators for BMI and BMR which can be handy (although BMR could be more accurately calculated with Bodymedia).
Food Database
Probably the most popular reason to use MyFitnessPal is because of the nutrition database. For the most part users can add food to the database. Of course the first thing that comes to mind is "How do you know if it's right?" Well there is a verification system that allows you to know how many times the nutrition information has been confirmed. this method does allow for you to verify if the food you enter matches the label. However sometimes you'll find indescrepencies which you can correct yourself and update the database. This is especially useful for when you have the label in your hands and you want to make sure what you selected is right.
On the mobile app you also have the ability to use your device's camera to scan the bar-code MyFitnessPal will figure out what the item is based on the code and pull up (usually) the correct product. If it's not you can always report it in a similar fashion as the website.
My Foods and Exercises
Of course not everything is going to be inside the built in Nutrition and exercise database. If you're coming from Bodymedia then adding food to the nutrition will be very familiar you simply enter in all the data you see from the label. The difference is that you can choose to add your the food(s) you enter as part of the public database or not. It is also worth noting that weight is not required here like it is on Bodymedia, this can be especially annoying when you dive into the public database enough times. Need to add a recipie? You'll notice a "recipe" section where you can add in ingredients (that must already be in your personal or public database) this will calculate the final nutritional information and add the food to your personal database, which you can also share.
Exercise is a bit different, you have "Cardiovascular" and "Strength Training". Pretty much any thing that doesn't involve counting reps goes under the Cardio section while everything else is considered Strength Training both will allow you to record your calories burned. The built in database is pretty basic, I had to manually enter in each of my BeachBody workouts. This is a shame since I image that if exercises were made public like food is I wouldn't have to enter in all my workouts manually the first time. Of course this is a minor "First world problem" that I'm not going to condemned the entire site for.
Conclusion
There is even more to this site than what I've mentioned here. I didn't even go into the strong community there (I hope you notice this Bodymedia), or how you can customize your meal names, or even how you can add your own fields to track. This review is already plenty long so I'm sure you get the drift by now. Anyone wanting to keep up with their progress in their weight loss journey should most definitely sign up, while you're at it look me up on my profile.
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