We’re coming to you today with a SUPER exciting iTrackBites update! In case you missed it, this passed January we launched a brand new feature on the iTrackBites app called Meal Plans. We wanted to create a simple set of meals and snacks to make cooking, prepping, and tracking as easy for you as possible. The original release of Meal Plans were a few set collections of foods and recipes that all had specific BITE counts ingredients. Now, as an iTrackBites PRO Member you’re free to create, add, share, and change Meal Plans as you please! We're calling this Community Meal Plans- let's just say that YOU all continue to be our biggest inspiration!
That quote comes from our very own VP of Product, and mastermind behind this Meal Plan update. He is the featured guest on today's episode of the iTrackBites Podcast. Click HERE to listen!If you want to get alllll of the background info, we wrote THIS blog post first introducing the iteration of Meal Plans. We have a great step by step user guide tutorial for following a Meal Plan in that post! Then we wrote THIS blog post as a follow-up and answered our most frequently asked questions. This update has been long awaited by our sweet community. We always aim to give you the best most helpful and supportive features in the app. After-all, we'd have nothing without you all!
This is actually a pretty huge change. Again, in the past, we created Meal Plans for members to follow and use. That was inherently different than how we typically operated. Previously, you told us what you had eaten, via tracking. Meal Plans allowed us to offer you helpful suggestions of what to eat to best accommodate your goals. Through our in-house nutritionist and expert coaches, we provided set plans for you to follow. With this update, we turn the charge back around to you. Now, you have the freedom to create your own and then share it to the community page or with friends and family on social media! The key piece being that iTrackBites is so deeply rooted in connection. That's what we like to base pretty much everything from. This Meal Plan update is one more way to provide support, engage within, and productively inspire each other into health and wellness.
The actual Meal Plan page is remaining the same, as it was before. There's just one tiny change: the + sign in the upper right-hand corner! That, my friends, is where you can now craft your own Meal Plan!
Once you start to create a plan, you'll immediately see this screen, below. This is the iTrackBites version of a blank canvas! :) A helpful hint here is that the more info you can provide for your Meal Plan, the better! The only require field is the title of your Meal Plan. But again, the more info you can provide in your description, the better!
Once you make/ title the plan you'll be prompting to start filling it in. In the iTrackBites Official Meal Plans, each day consists of a breakfast recipe, a lunch recipe, a dinner recipe, and a snack recipe. Those elements are not strictly required for your own plan, because it's just that- yours! If you're aiming to create the next great- popular Meal Plan though, we recommend adding a food or recipe for every meal of the day, for multiple days.There is no right or wrong length of time to set your Meal Plan for, but we've seen that it works best for the plans to last for at least 3 days.
If you're looking for a little bit of inspiration to create your own Meal Plans, we've published. We have a few blog posts that share a free day's worth of meal planning and recipes. Click each name to see our recipes: Mediterranean, Low Sugar, 7 Ingredient or Less, and iTrackBites Favorites.
Once you've added your meals, ingredients, recipes, etc. you'll want to CREATE! This will automatically save and publish your Meal Plan. Your Meal Plan will be saved on your profile page for your easy access.
If you want to start the Meal Plan, simply tap USE THIS PLAN to select the start date and begin tracking!
The next and final piece of this progression would be to share the Meal Plan with your friends, family, and fellow Community Members. We'll publish an entire how-to guide for that, soon. But the synopsis is that you're now about to share, text, tweet, comment, and save Meal Plans! Once you create your own plan, it's all yours. So spread the love- share it with your people!We hope you enjoy this epic update! We've worked long and hard to bring you the next generation of iTrackBites Meal Plans. We'd love to keep coaching you through the nooks and crannies of this awesome feature. What tutorial do you want to see next? Or- what type of Meal Plan are you going to craft first?? And who are you going to share it with?? We'd love to know!Happy tracking and happy planning!!
September 23, 2024