MyFitnessPal is adding a recipe log function to its food-tracking and calorie-counting mobile application to streamline how it helps users build customized meals. 

The app, which is free on iOS and Android, allows users to set daily calorie consumption goals, record daily food intake and log exercise activities. The information inputted into a user?s food diary will automatically sync with the MyFitnessPal Web site, which also offers a community board for dieting and support tips.

?The only way to make healthy living a habit is by tapping into the device that?s with you 24/7: your phone,? said Mike Lee, co-founder and CEO of MyFitnessPal, San Francisco, CA. ?Mobile apps have the power to connect different aspects of health?nutrition, fitness, and crucial data such as blood pressure, heart rate and more?all on one?s phone, the device that?s with us around the clock. 

?Customer success is our true north and these tools are part of our quest to provide tools that facilitate that success. That?s why this is an important addition to MyFitnessPal.?

Recipe tool
MyFitnessPal discovered that it is easier to lose weight if recipes are logged onto food tracking apps, which led to its incorporation of the Recipe Tool and Log It button into the app. The app has already seen 28 million recipes added by users, and recognizes that recipes are a feature with high consumer demand.

?Studies show, over and over, that cooking at home can have a big impact on health - we can even see this in the data from our users,? Mr. Lee said. ?We?ve found that on days when users didn't log recipes, they were over six times more likely to go over their calorie, carb and fat goals, and seven times more likely to exceed their sodium goals.?

The Recipe Tool allow guests to pull from MyRecipes.com and CookingLightDiet.com. Each time that a MyFitnessPal user visits one of those sites, a Log It button will appear next to social buttons such as Twitter and Facebook.

The button adds the selected recipe into the guest?s MyFitnessPal food diary and saves time with the manual tapping process. For users who visit the mobile sites, the recipe can be imported into MyFitnessPal.

Streamlined cooking options
The Recipe Tool lets guests search options by type of entrée and receive access to ingredient lists directly from the MyFitnessPal platform. The company hopes that users with any type of fitness, weight loss or health goal will find the tool beneficial and easy to use for streamlined cooking options.

?We think these tools will encourage our users to cook healthier foods at home and inspire other health-conscious people to use MyFitnessPal to achieve and maintain health goals,? Mr. Lee said.

?The Recipe Tool quickly helps you answer the question ?Does this recipe meet my nutritional needs??  by showing you complete nutritional information with a few clicks.?

?We think our users will be pleased with the ease and speed of the Recipe Tool; with this new feature entering a recipe takes half of the time it did before,? he said.

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York