Track New Goals by Adding Custom Measurements in MyFitnessPal!

The Era of the Quantified Self is upon us. Metrics and measurements are increasingly a part of our daily lives, whether it’s tracking our steps or the quality of our sleep. If you’re already using MyFitnessPal, you’re almost certainly tracking calories in, calories out, and the progress of your weigh-ins.

But beyond that… Ask ten MyFitnessPal users how they measure their success and you’re likely to get twenty answers! A bodybuilder might want to add an inch to her biceps, while someone else may want to confirm that his eating and exercise are having a positive effect on his blood sugar, still another user could be focusing on getting back into a pair pre-pregnancy jeans. (Step away from the scale with these other great ways to track your health progress.)

Even if you’ve been using MyFitnessPal for a while, you may not be aware that you can add custom measurements to your account, and log the metrics that matter to you—up to one entry per day for each item.

You’ll need to visit your account on our website to add measurement categories. But once you’ve customized your list, those new items will sync to the “Progress” section of our mobile apps and you can make entries on the go, or on the web. If you’d like to modify or add measurements, here’s the how-to:

• Go to https://www.myfitnesspal.com and log into your account.
• Click on “My Home,” then “Check in,” then “Track Additional Measurements.”
• You’ll be taken to a page where you can add or remove measurements in your account. Any changes you make will be synced to the app the next time the app is connected to the internet.
• On the website, these measurements will be visible in the “Check-In” area. In our apps, you’ll find them on the “Progress” page.

Each measurement can contain only one value per day, so, for instance, if you wish to track your blood pressure, you would need to add two measurements, one for systolic and one for diastolic. Similarly, if you wish to track your blood sugar more than once per day, we recommend creating an AM Blood Sugar and a PM Blood Sugar measurement, as an example.

Set a goal, add custom measurements, and watch your success unfold!

Have you already discovered this feature? Which measurements are you keeping track of with MyFitnessPal? Share in the comments below!