Export MyFitnessPal Data: Diary, Weight, Exercise

What MyFitnessPal records about you

• Food diary: every entry, including meal type, time, food name, serving size, calories, and full macros (protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sugar, sodium, and micronutrients where labelled)
• Exercise log: type of activity, duration, calories burned, distance, and any notes attached
• Measurements: date-stamped weight, body fat percentage, BMI, neck, waist, hips, chest, and other body measurements
• Daily nutrition summaries: totals per day calculated from your diary entries
• Free-text notes on food entries: anything you typed into the "notes" field of a food, including ingredients, substitutions, or context (often the most sensitive content)
• Custom foods you saved: recipes and branded foods you added to the database
• Account metadata: email, registration date, premium status, goals (weight, calorie, macro targets)
• Premium-only data: custom recipes, saved meals, more detailed micronutrient targets (if you had Premium)

Use the web export: the mobile export is unreliable

• myfitnesspal.com > username menu > Settings > Account > "Download Your Data" is the supported path
• The in-app export on the iOS and Android apps has been broken intermittently since 2022; do not rely on it
• No public API exists for personal data export; the web form is the only way
• The export is delivered by email and is a one-shot per request (no live sync)

Native export: step by step

1. Go to myfitnesspal.com in a desktop browser and log in to your account.
2. Click your username in the top right and choose "Settings".
3. Click "Account" in the left sidebar.
4. Scroll to the "Download Your Data" section.
5. Confirm the email address where you want the export delivered, and the date range (default is "everything").
6. Click "Request Data Export".
7. Check your email: typically under an hour, up to 24 hours for very large archives.
8. Click the download link in the email and save the ZIP file before the link expires.

What is inside the export ZIP

• food_diary.csv: one row per food entry: date, meal type, time, food name, serving size, calories, and full nutrient columns
• measurements.csv: date-stamped weight, body fat, BMI, and other body measurements
• exercise.csv: exercise log entries with duration, calories burned, distance, and notes
• water.csv: water intake log
• profile.csv: account metadata: email, registration date, goals
• custom_foods.csv: recipes and branded foods you added to the database
• recipes.csv: saved meals and recipes (premium-only)
• Note: free-text notes attached to food entries are typically carried as a "Notes" column inside food_diary.csv rather than as a separate file

Inside diary_entries.csv: what each row looks like

• Each row is one food entry: date, meal (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snack), time, food name, brand (if applicable), serving size, calories, and per-nutrient columns
• Macro columns include: protein (g), carbs (g), fat (g), fiber (g), sugar (g), sodium (mg), and micronutrients where the food entry has them
• The "Notes" column carries whatever you typed in the notes field. Ingredients, substitutions, context, or private remarks
• Imported foods (from barcode scan or recipe) appear as their underlying food entries, not as a single row

Why MyFitnessPal data is unusually sensitive

• Eating-disorder recovery notes: many users log triggers, refeeding meals, or therapist-recommended foods in the notes field, and do not want those surfaced
• Weight history can reveal chronic conditions, pregnancies, or recovery timelines
• Food preferences and aversions are a fingerprint. Combined with timestamps, they can de-anonymise a diary
• Calorie targets betray diet intentions (weight loss, gain, maintenance, athletic) that may be personal or medical
• Exercise entries correlated with food entries reveal habits, mood patterns, and menstrual-cycle correlations
• Export the file, encrypt it, and store it locally. Never paste the CSV into a public tool without scrubbing the Notes column first

Combining MFP with Fitbit, Garmin, or Apple Health

• If you also use a wearable, the date columns in diary_entries.csv match the date columns in <a href="/guides/fitbit-data-export">Fitbit</a>, <a href="/guides/how-to-export-strava-data">Strava</a>, and Apple Health exports. Join them by date in a spreadsheet for a single timeline
• Use the exercise entries in exercises.csv as a starting point; if any run or ride was logged in Garmin too, link them by date + duration
• measurements.csv can be imported into Apple Health via Health Auto Export. Weight, body fat, BMI all map cleanly
• For serious analysis, load the CSVs into a notebook (pandas, R) where you can join across sources without sharing the raw files

Where to store it

• Store in a folder named myfitnesspal-2026-04
• The notes.csv file is the most sensitive: encrypt the folder before uploading anywhere
• Off-site encrypted copy in ProtonDrive (ProtonDrive) or pCloud (pCloud)
• Local encrypted copy on an external SSD (portable SSD) using Cryptomator
• If you want to import into Cronometer or Lose It, do that from the CSV before deleting the MFP archive. Most importers are one-way and you may want to retry

Related guides

• Getting Started with Digital Takeout Day (2026)
• Export Fitbit Data: Sleep, HRV & GPS Files
• Back Up Your Data Exports: Storage, Encryption & Organisation (2026)

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