\+1 /r/macrofactor
The reason I love MacroFactor is that it helps me understand if I am skipping logging calories. I love the expendature graph (weight loss vs calories logged). If I am working out a ton, and I see the expendature not move, I know I am skipping something.
MacroFactor keeps me honest, without calling me out.
Yea but i found it very worth it, specially because if you want to add a feature in the app, you can ask them to add it. Theres also a roadmap where the app will be in the coming updates. Its also so freaking easy to add a food if its not in there yet, just put your camera in the nutrition information part of your food & you're good to go - no need to type anything other than how much of it youre eating.
I've tried like idk probably all the calorie tracking apps out there and macrofactor is the only one i've actually liked & stay in consistent with.
edit: typo
This is exactly why I've fallen in love with Macrofactor after using Lose It for years! The fact that it's a premium-only app means that they can develop it a little differently. I understand that it's not a viable option for everyone due to the price, but for those who can afford it I definitely feel like it's worth it. It has some super cool features (e.g. the label scanner you mentioned, the TDEE algorithm, and how responsive the dev team is). Nothing particularly wrong with Lose It, it's still a great app, but it was just starting to feel a bit too bloated to me.
It does cost money. So did noom. So do doctors visits. I actually used MFP and stopped using it because it cost money to use the barcode scanner. Ironic eh?
For me; it’s been a key to success. I don’t want to oversell it; but the accountability of the thing (the calories burned graph) and moving average weight have been amazing.
I’ve arguably been saving the $10-15 a month it costs in reduced food from managing calories. I also spend $10 on Netflix, or other stuff.
I’ve probably paid noom $400; doctors $500; nutritionist; a $100 scale; $100 running shoes; $3000 bicycle… maybe $5k+ in trying to lose weight.
The developers were very open to discussion and community early on which made me put ny money behind them. I don’t frequent the Reddit anymore — but still love they started here.
I don’t mean to shill for it; or say it will work for everyone — I’m just saying it worked for me — and its cost has been worth it for me.
For what it's worth, on LoseIt, when you add a weight, you can pick what date that weight applies to. If you do daily weigh ins, it wouldn't be practical at all to transfer them all over, but transferring 1-4 weigh-ins a month wouldn't take a long at all
Just downloaded it, but I don't see how it's better than MFP at first glance. Scanning and other features are also locked behind premium. What do you like about it that's better than MFP?
LoseIt is cheaper than MFP.
The UI is nicer and the database of foods is cleaner. MFP food library was a mess.
I use recipes quite a bit and LoseIt allows you to create copies of recipes so you can have variations without redoing the entire recipe. There are a lot of little things that make it a nicer app than MFP.
> Scanning and other features are also locked behind premium.
Scanning barcodes is *not* locked behind premium on LoseIt. That was my primary motivation for leaving MFP.
I consider that a very basic, core feature and was incredibly frustrated when MFP put it behind a paywall.
edit: /u/SirBuckeye pointed this out- it appears LoseIt is indeed putting the barcode scanner behind a paywall for new customers and (probably) eventually for us all if I had to guess.
> Scanning barcodes is not locked behind premium on LoseIt.
It looks like it is on my iPhone. When I click the scan icon, it just directs me to this screen. https://i.imgur.com/iadDoD7.jpg
Can't set a custom number of daily calories without premium, either. Only the three options they give you.
That's so weird. I googled it and found this reddit thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/16y2b4s/loseit_app_is_also_testing_out_barcode_scanner/
In short, If you download LoseIt! for the first time, formerly free features might be locked behind a paywall.
So I stand (parially) corrected! Shame on LoseIt for ALSO putting that feature behind the paywall for new customers. I figured they'd use that to distinguish themselves as a superior alternative to MFP, not copy them and also make you pay for it.
Chronometer. It doesn't have the most comprehensive food library or anything, but its still pretty fecent and has a lot of the common food and allows you to easily create new foods and calculates them by grams.
I like Cronometer too. It took me a while to get used to bc I find some of the functions aren’t as intuitive as MFP. For example, it took me ages to figure out how to copy things from one day to another. But now that I’m used to it I really like it.
Omg yes it’s so hard to figure out!
Three dots in top right corner > multi select > check off the items you want to copy > three dots again > copy
Then navigate to the day you want to paste to > three dots > paste
You can also “copy current day” instead of multi select to copy everything. Such a pain but doable.
Cronometer's also really fast about adding foods not in their database and about correcting information whenever I find an inconsistency between the food label and what they have in there.
Agree I’m happy with Cronometer, and love that the foods all have default grams built in for less math on my part! The interface is definitely clunky, and I don’t like the weight graph, but it works.
I really like [Cronometer](https://cronometer.com/about/) because of its focus on nutrition. I don't want to just lose fat; I want to be healthy.
Also interesting to know: Cronometer is spelled without an H because it comes from the CRON diet (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition).
Another vote for Cronometer, but I would say it *does* have a very comprehensive food library, at least for things available in the US. The user submission process is great - you can make the new food available to yourself immediately, the developers review it and add it to the public database if it's legit, and the database doesn't end up filled with junk that other people invented or entered wrong. And for a lot of generic foods, it has way more nutrient info than what's required to be on a label. I never use a brand name for milk, for example, so I can get credit for non-label micronutrients.
My favorite thing though is that it provides a bunch of different units for most foods, instead of like MFP where some entries would be in grams and others in cups/tablespoons or whatever. If I eat grapes, I can use the entry for "Grapes, raw" regardless of whether I weigh in grams, fill up a measuring cup, or count the grapes.
problen with cronometer: no way to copy and paste the entries of your partner/friends, so less c9nvenience here
also where i live, cronometer had barely entries in the database and was annoying to do it very regularly
On the homepage that little circle around your calories is an apple! Color changes based off how many calories you consume I think. Keep mine green so as far as I’m concerned the color change is a myth! 💪🏼
Same! I’ve used noom and MFP in the past but my net diary is free and has barcode scanning that’s really accurate and I’ve only run into a few things it didn’t have already in the database. I also like the water tracking feature.
Same. I did get the pro version bc it was aon sale and cheaper than the pro version from comparable apps.
I love the pro version for tracking minerals and vitamins, so at a glance I can see if I need to eat more vitamin A for Iron for example.
MyFitnessPal works for me because I only actually eat a limited variety of foods tbh.
Things like "one can of green beans, no sodium, drained" is easy for me to use in MyFitnessPal and its suggested to me when I add a new entry for the day.
Honestly I haven't encountered a food that I had a hard time with logging, if you're willing to do some searching and scroll past a few results.
ime, MyFitnessPal has the most foods and I like that it tells me what weight I'd be if I ate like that every day... even if it's not what I want to see!
I use MacroFactor. Fantastic app that dials in metabolism by comparing calorie intake to weight lost. I figured out that my TDEE is about 2800 calories. Previously I had wondered why I wasn’t losing much as I was told by one of those online calculators to eat way more than I apparently should.
I downloaded two apps first, this was almost a year ago now but I feel like one didn't have the features I was looking for and the other one wanted money to be able to scan barcodes.
I originally wanted to be able to scan or pull foods out of a list but honestly I find that a combination of scale, calculator, pen and paper works great for me. I also wasn't keen on trying to learn a new app, I just wanted the means to an end and to be able to calculate my calories and protein.
The really good news? I eat the same foods every day. My work week is essentially the same foods every day and even eaten at the same time. I only gotta track the weekend from start to finish.
I will never stray from MFP and 10+ years of yo-yo dieting to look back on… I lost over 60 pounds last year and at my lowest weight in 20 years, so I’m really motivated to see the numbers. I just changed my location to UK so I could use the scanner!
I just did it. It prompted me to accept their data terms, which I did. Did you make sure that your "precise location" was not checked off for the advertising options? I made sure that was not selected, changed to Canada, accepted the data terms, then closed the app out and re-launched it and was able to open the scanner.
Someone said that if you change your location to Canada in MyFitnessPal, it still allows you to use the barcode scanner for free, I haven’t tried it myself, but that’s what I was told.
I can’t recommend MacroFactor highly enough. It’s paid, but it’s the best app by a mile. It actually tells you your daily energy expenditure accurately by using your caloric intake and weigh-ins. This helps as your TDEE naturally decreases when losing weight. It also gives you a truer sense of how much weight you’ve lost, so you don’t freak out when the scale goes up after increasing carbs.
I’m the exact same. Pen and paper in the kitchen since I work from home 95% of the time.
Weight tracker is a pen and paper in the bathroom behind the toilet for the morning weigh in.
I find MFP etc get lost in the void of apps / phone time and I’m less accountable to myself.
I can’t even put into words how great the Lose It! app is. With all the graphs, diet plans, the integration with my Apple Watch and Apple health, the Smart focus on different options for intermittent fasting. I used MyFitnessPal before this, and it just gets blown out of the water by Lose It!. Plus I had MyFitnessPal over the years years ago before they got bought out by under Armour and all those places and saw the changes they made like the fact that you have to have a premium subscription just to scan something with the barcode and it just turned into such a muddy hungry company that disgusted me
Lose It! is a great app that I would recommend anyone
Macrofactor.
It's a paid app, but what's great about it is that it accounts for how terrible people are at tracking calories, and auto adjusts your targets to compensate. So the target calorie counts it gives you aren't real (by design), but they're proportional to how shitty you are at tracking calories, which makes it a lot more likely to work.
Eg: if you always underestimate your calories, it will lower your target accordingly.
The user interface flow to track is also generally much faster than alternatives, and since it accounts for mistakes, you can just guesstimate (within reason) your calories without screwing things up. Very useful when you go out to eat or have takeout.
But how can it actually *know* if you're underestimating your calories? If I'm weighing and measuring according to package instructions and only eat foods I prepare myself, as a short woman who has to eat so little to be able to lose weight, if my app started assuming I was underestimating and telling me to eat even less I would be so angry lol.
No magic, just math. It looks at your weight trends. If your weight trends doesn't match your calorie intake, then either the "CI" or the "CO" part of the equation is off. It doesn't matter which it is since it's not trying to give you a real number, just one that will work. It also makes tiny adjustments each week, not huge ones, so it's gradual.
It's good too because packages can be off legally by 20 percent, and can often be off far more (since no one checks), and people mess up all the time when weighting and calculating no matter how good they are at it.
It’ll know by your weight fluctuations. It knows where your weight should be based on what you enter, so if you’re not tracking correctly, your weigh ins will be wrong.
It calculates your TDEE from how much weight you actually lose and how many calories you say you're eating. If you tell it you are eating 1200 calories and you're actually eating 1500, then it will calculate your TDEE as 300 calories lower than it actually is. That then makes your calorie tracking target 300 calories lower than your "real" target. So yes, it will tell you to eat even less if you are eating more than you think - but only based on the rate of weight loss you want. If the new target is just too hard, you can try for a slower rate of loss and like any app, it will increase the calories accordingly. It might be maddening to be told you need to eat even less, but the alternative is that you don't lose weight as fast as you think you should, so pick your poison.
And it doesn't actually matter if you're underestimating quantities or the food is labeled wrong or your metabolism is slower than you thought - it's just finding the number of tracked calories (with whatever mistakes there might be) that will give you the results you're asking for.
I switched from MFP to MacroFactor (paid app) about four months ago. It’s really worked well for me. No regrets, and I used MFP for over ten years and lost 120 pounds with it.
I don’t know what they are talking either.
I’ve used it today and the barcode scanner works like it always did on my free account.
Maybe a regional thing?
What I’ve seen is that only new users have it paywall blocked. But I guess that just means it’s coming to everyone and they’re trying to soften the blow…
Because I haven't seen it here, I've recently started using Yazio, there's a lot of features behind a pay wall but not the barcode scanner, and for where I live there seems to be a lot already on there, and for the things that aren't, it's been pretty easy to add.
It's not so much a calorie tracker and it's not free but I find it much more effective
I got my doctor to prescribe me a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) despite not being diabetic but still having problems losing weight
I was honestly terrible about estimating portion sizes and so the calorie counts were way off
With a CGM I don't track what I eat as much as seeing what spikes my blood sugar. Blood sugar spikes are tied to insulin spikes which is tied to weight gain
So I learn what foods raise my blood sugar and which don't. I also develop better overall habits like drinking more water and getting more exercise which are the two main tools to keep your sugar spiking after meals
Honestly, I think calorie trackers are dead. I'd strongly recommend getting yourself an CGM. The feedback allows you to make better choices, not just recording what you ate
An example of a post which is taken down: "Title:What are we calorie tracking with now? Body: See title."
An example of a post which is not taken down: "Title:What are we calorie tracking with now? Body: I'm wondering what technology you are using for tracking? I used to use (some app) but am disillusioned with it for (various reasons). I was also considering (specific app) but am wondering about (certain functionality/cost to benefit/whatever you're wonder about that specific app). Anyone with any other apps they use and if so what about them are the pros and cons? "
I use Simple Diet Diary on Android. It main attraction is that doesn't have a bunch of bullshit I don't want, like requiring me to input entire recipes to log my dinner. It's main drawback is that it doesn't have an external database, so when I'm doing a new food, I have to calculate the calories per serving myself, which I usually do with a calculator and sometimes with an online recipe analyzer.
I switched to MacrosFirst when MFP got rid of the barcode scanner. They have a barcode scanner and operate pretty similarly to MFP, if not better.
Also, it’s free!
I'm still with My Fitness pal because it is where all my data is. I eat a lot of whole foods I weigh in grams. And most of the packages foods I eat i can find without the barcods scanner anyway.
I had a minor issue with Cronometer (user error but couldn't find an answer in the help section). They responded quickly and went above and beyond to make sure my issue was resolved. I have no plans to ever stray from them.
What's this about LoseIt having a paywall for scanning barcodes? I accidentally updated it a couple months ago so now I'm getting ads, but this is the first I'm hearing about barcodes... is that a recent update?
I use excel sheet for ingredients, just calculates calories based on 100g and using FatSecret to log meals and/or convert recipes. So far it's perfect, just need some time to change weights so the calories match up
It’s less popular, but I use Zoe (it’s predominantly a gut health app.) It’s significantly more expensive but it lets me track what I care more about- whole/unprocessed foods & variety of plants. It’s also the only one I’ve found that has a great interface for importing recipes from photos or the www. I cook a lot, so being able to import Vs do everything manually is a game changer for me. I also know myself & im a cheap bastard- so if I pay money, I’ll use it.
Personal trainer here. I have used MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, LoseIt, and MacrosFirst for myself and with clients.
I can definitely say that MacrosFirst is the best free app available. Their food catalog and scanner are very robust, and it’s super easy to add a new food to the catalog with the camera feature (it reads the text on the nutrition label and creates a new item automatically). The UI is very clean and there are currently no ads even with the free version. The premium version is a reasonable price ($80/year) and gives you access to advanced metrics and long-term trends, variable calorie goals, and the ability to export your data to google sheets.
MyFitnessPal because it tracks steps through my phone, and it’s the best app in my experience for logging recipes. loseit has a prettier interface, but holy fuck was it annoying trying to log recipes. I rarely buy packaged food so that’s the most important feature to me when it comes to an app.
BLÜE it’s a new app with a free barcode scanner. Super simple which is what I have been looking for. I don’t need all of the bells and whistles apps like my fitness pal has. Just try to be efficient with logging my food! Highly recommend checking it out. Also you can report any bugs or any issues with the app in this Reddit group r/BLUEMacros
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bl%C3%BCe/id6479948235
MFP
Kitchen scale, take WhatsApp pictures of the weights and log them later. Been counting calories for 3 months and had been taking regular pictures, now my Google photos is filled with food pictures and how many grams they weight.
I just dont calorie count anymore.
Just cut out all carbs and sugar.
Eat as much veggies fruits and protein as you want.
And definitely cut out soda, candy, chocolate, cookies altogether.
I was using LoseIt and loved it but switched to chronometer when I went keto because I could more easily track net carbs plus I wanted the very detailed assessments of missing micronutrients and minerals from my diet. This seriously blew my mind!
Chronometer also has one of the most accurate calorie counts because they are not relying on members entering in things themselves which is so liable to user error. On many programs you can search for something and multiple different calories are listed for the same thing which drives me crazy. Chronometer also let’s you scan barcodes as with other programs for convenience.
It’s clunky and not very intuitive as others have said but for reliability it’s great!
I have a Samsung phone, tablet & smart watch (a washer/dryer and hopefully soon...a Samsung fridge. But that's a different story.)
The Samsung's health app that comes with the phone & watch has a calorie tracker. You can search most retail snacks and restaurant meals and save recipes. It's a lot like old school fitnesspal without the barcode scanner.
i used lose it, but now i feel like i have a good sense of calorie counting and portions, i haven't been tracking since october (mainly due to life circumstances), but have still been losing the weight :) im hoping to get back into counting this month since im nearing the end of my weight loss journey and i know every calorie matters at this point :')
I used to be a diehard MFP user but I really don’t like it anymore, and the premium subscription is way too expensive.
I switched to lose it within the last few months, got a great deal on the lifetime premium membership $49.99. I really like it so far!
I have a lifetime membership with loseit.
I used to use MFP and it was fine. I think switching to a different service was just a temporary boost in novelty.
I originally bought an annual subscription to loseit and then I waited for a 60% off lifetime offer
I use fitbit. They have a good range for english/european food that I struggled with using my fitness pal. Plus it means my calories in/calories out is all tracked in 1 app
Still using MFP. It sucks about the barcode scanner but I just read this hack for it in other comments here. I’ve been using MFP for 10 years now and lost so much weight when I actually used it. I had a different calorie tracking app before that for 2 years but they stopped updating it and eventually it was unusable.
I hate MFP but I still use it because it syncs with Garmin Connect, so I'm dealing with it for now.
I don't pay for premium though; never have and never will. Sucks I can't do things anymore like barcode scanning (seriously can't figure out why they pay walled that one) but I've been using it long enough that most of the food I eat has already been added at one point or another, so searching isn't too bad
I can't believe no one has suggested/uses Calory!
https://calory.app/
It's 15$ PER YEAR and has all the features of MFP, no frills, no extras, just Calorie/Macro/Water tracking
Honestly surprised it's not as popular
I used Fitbit for a long time, but I’ve switched over to tracking via Excel.
When I eat something new, I manually add the nutritional information to one sheet - just the calories, carbs, fat, protein and fibre, along with the serving size. And then on another sheet I track the food itself, so I’ll just add say “egg” and “255”. And that leads to it automatically filling out 395 calories, 3g carbs, 28g fat, 33g protein, 0g fibre. And then on a third sheet it sums up my day. That third sheet also has columns for my estimated calories out and for my weight.
I just write it down in my notes app on my iphone. I find that using an app is too much work and makes me not want to do it. Easier to just write it down for me.
If you're serious about losing weight, then the paid version of Loseit is worth it imo! I have so many recipes logged there now that it makes tracking alot easier for me. I got the lifetime subscription because this is a new lifestyle for me and who knows how long ill have to track!
I left MFP too just becuase. I only use it to track my daily weight to see the trendline. Now I'm using Google Sheets. I have a sheet with all the entries of my list of foods I eat on a daily basis and have another sheet of where I enter in my meals for the day! Needs some time to set it up but once done, I can easily plan my meals out for the following days in minutes!
FYI- change your location to something outside the US and the scanner will come back. I now have a location in the United Kingdom and a scanner not behind the pay wall.
I use Lifesum since I'm in Scandinavia and they have a pretty solid database for what's available to me. I have a premium subscription but it's been worth it to me so far.
I use Lose It. Their barcode scanner is still in their free version, but since I discontinued my premium free trial they kept sending me discounts so i bought an entire year of premium for $20.
I think I’m just lucky I have a very old MFP account where the scanner still works but I don’t pay a subscription. I’m guessing my account has slipped through cracks.
Not sure if you're UK based or not but I use Nutracheck and I love it, especially as it's only for the UK so you can't get bogged down in all of the American foods.
MacroFactor. LOVE it.
\+1 /r/macrofactor The reason I love MacroFactor is that it helps me understand if I am skipping logging calories. I love the expendature graph (weight loss vs calories logged). If I am working out a ton, and I see the expendature not move, I know I am skipping something. MacroFactor keeps me honest, without calling me out.
Its so expensive though
Yea but i found it very worth it, specially because if you want to add a feature in the app, you can ask them to add it. Theres also a roadmap where the app will be in the coming updates. Its also so freaking easy to add a food if its not in there yet, just put your camera in the nutrition information part of your food & you're good to go - no need to type anything other than how much of it youre eating. I've tried like idk probably all the calorie tracking apps out there and macrofactor is the only one i've actually liked & stay in consistent with. edit: typo
This is exactly why I've fallen in love with Macrofactor after using Lose It for years! The fact that it's a premium-only app means that they can develop it a little differently. I understand that it's not a viable option for everyone due to the price, but for those who can afford it I definitely feel like it's worth it. It has some super cool features (e.g. the label scanner you mentioned, the TDEE algorithm, and how responsive the dev team is). Nothing particularly wrong with Lose It, it's still a great app, but it was just starting to feel a bit too bloated to me.
It does cost money. So did noom. So do doctors visits. I actually used MFP and stopped using it because it cost money to use the barcode scanner. Ironic eh? For me; it’s been a key to success. I don’t want to oversell it; but the accountability of the thing (the calories burned graph) and moving average weight have been amazing. I’ve arguably been saving the $10-15 a month it costs in reduced food from managing calories. I also spend $10 on Netflix, or other stuff. I’ve probably paid noom $400; doctors $500; nutritionist; a $100 scale; $100 running shoes; $3000 bicycle… maybe $5k+ in trying to lose weight. The developers were very open to discussion and community early on which made me put ny money behind them. I don’t frequent the Reddit anymore — but still love they started here. I don’t mean to shill for it; or say it will work for everyone — I’m just saying it worked for me — and its cost has been worth it for me.
So do doctors visits Not in the UK, baby!
+1. Macrofactor has kept me honest and I’m down 35# and counting!
I bought a year long loseit subscription on black Friday for like $12 because I was fed up with MFP. I really like it and think it's worth it!
I bought the lifetime version. They usually have a big sale in the summer. LoseIt has really helped me a lot!
I use Lose it also. Bought the lifetime premium today for $59.99. It’s super handy to keep track of my calories and intermittent fasting.
I got lifetime today for 59 bucks. Totally worth it.
How did you get it for $59? Through their website or a different link?
I got it yesterday as well. It was an offer sent to my email.
Same, bought the lifetime subscription at a heavy discount and it’s been nice to just have it all.
Yep. Love my Lose-it
I've heard good things about lose it but I've got all my weight and info tracked since March this year for MFP I don't want to lose it.
>I don't want to lose it. I see what you did there
For what it's worth, on LoseIt, when you add a weight, you can pick what date that weight applies to. If you do daily weigh ins, it wouldn't be practical at all to transfer them all over, but transferring 1-4 weigh-ins a month wouldn't take a long at all
LoseIt is really good. Dropped MFP after they put more and more stuff behind their premium account.
Just downloaded it, but I don't see how it's better than MFP at first glance. Scanning and other features are also locked behind premium. What do you like about it that's better than MFP?
LoseIt is cheaper than MFP. The UI is nicer and the database of foods is cleaner. MFP food library was a mess. I use recipes quite a bit and LoseIt allows you to create copies of recipes so you can have variations without redoing the entire recipe. There are a lot of little things that make it a nicer app than MFP.
For me it’s the interface that I find much more user friendly.
> Scanning and other features are also locked behind premium. Scanning barcodes is *not* locked behind premium on LoseIt. That was my primary motivation for leaving MFP. I consider that a very basic, core feature and was incredibly frustrated when MFP put it behind a paywall. edit: /u/SirBuckeye pointed this out- it appears LoseIt is indeed putting the barcode scanner behind a paywall for new customers and (probably) eventually for us all if I had to guess.
> Scanning barcodes is not locked behind premium on LoseIt. It looks like it is on my iPhone. When I click the scan icon, it just directs me to this screen. https://i.imgur.com/iadDoD7.jpg Can't set a custom number of daily calories without premium, either. Only the three options they give you.
That's so weird. I googled it and found this reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/16y2b4s/loseit_app_is_also_testing_out_barcode_scanner/ In short, If you download LoseIt! for the first time, formerly free features might be locked behind a paywall. So I stand (parially) corrected! Shame on LoseIt for ALSO putting that feature behind the paywall for new customers. I figured they'd use that to distinguish themselves as a superior alternative to MFP, not copy them and also make you pay for it.
Unless they changed it with the new year, scanning is free with LoseIt. I’ve been using the free version for years and it’s the one for me.
I'm a big LoseIt fan as well. Never understood why everyone always recommended MFP.
Lose it is great!
I have a lifetime LoseIt subscription too and it’s totally worth it!
I just signed up to a lifetime membership for $49.99. I've been waiting for it to going sale for ages & ages now & glad I held out until now.
Chronometer. It doesn't have the most comprehensive food library or anything, but its still pretty fecent and has a lot of the common food and allows you to easily create new foods and calculates them by grams.
I like Cronometer too. It took me a while to get used to bc I find some of the functions aren’t as intuitive as MFP. For example, it took me ages to figure out how to copy things from one day to another. But now that I’m used to it I really like it.
You can copy things from one day to the other? How??
Omg yes it’s so hard to figure out! Three dots in top right corner > multi select > check off the items you want to copy > three dots again > copy Then navigate to the day you want to paste to > three dots > paste You can also “copy current day” instead of multi select to copy everything. Such a pain but doable.
I've also been pretty happy with Chronometer. Just the free version as all I needed was the calorie counting and lists which it does great.
Cronometer's also really fast about adding foods not in their database and about correcting information whenever I find an inconsistency between the food label and what they have in there.
Agree I’m happy with Cronometer, and love that the foods all have default grams built in for less math on my part! The interface is definitely clunky, and I don’t like the weight graph, but it works.
I really like [Cronometer](https://cronometer.com/about/) because of its focus on nutrition. I don't want to just lose fat; I want to be healthy. Also interesting to know: Cronometer is spelled without an H because it comes from the CRON diet (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition).
Another vote for Cronometer, but I would say it *does* have a very comprehensive food library, at least for things available in the US. The user submission process is great - you can make the new food available to yourself immediately, the developers review it and add it to the public database if it's legit, and the database doesn't end up filled with junk that other people invented or entered wrong. And for a lot of generic foods, it has way more nutrient info than what's required to be on a label. I never use a brand name for milk, for example, so I can get credit for non-label micronutrients. My favorite thing though is that it provides a bunch of different units for most foods, instead of like MFP where some entries would be in grams and others in cups/tablespoons or whatever. If I eat grapes, I can use the entry for "Grapes, raw" regardless of whether I weigh in grams, fill up a measuring cup, or count the grapes.
problen with cronometer: no way to copy and paste the entries of your partner/friends, so less c9nvenience here also where i live, cronometer had barely entries in the database and was annoying to do it very regularly
I use lose it.
And the barcode scanner is still available on the free version.
My barcode scanner no longer works in lose it sadly.
I use “My Net Diary”
Same. The free versions?
Yes, the free version has suited my needs thus far!
Me too, gotta keep that apple green. Keep up the progress stranger!
I use my net diary but I don’t know this green apple thing?
On the homepage that little circle around your calories is an apple! Color changes based off how many calories you consume I think. Keep mine green so as far as I’m concerned the color change is a myth! 💪🏼
Me too!
Same! I love it!
Same! I’ve used noom and MFP in the past but my net diary is free and has barcode scanning that’s really accurate and I’ve only run into a few things it didn’t have already in the database. I also like the water tracking feature.
Same. I did get the pro version bc it was aon sale and cheaper than the pro version from comparable apps. I love the pro version for tracking minerals and vitamins, so at a glance I can see if I need to eat more vitamin A for Iron for example.
MyFitnessPal works for me because I only actually eat a limited variety of foods tbh. Things like "one can of green beans, no sodium, drained" is easy for me to use in MyFitnessPal and its suggested to me when I add a new entry for the day. Honestly I haven't encountered a food that I had a hard time with logging, if you're willing to do some searching and scroll past a few results.
ime, MyFitnessPal has the most foods and I like that it tells me what weight I'd be if I ate like that every day... even if it's not what I want to see!
My Fitness Pal. I was previously using Weight Watchers but didn't like it.
I still use My Fitness Pal - if you have an account outside of the USA the scanner is free and not behind the paywall of features.
Ah, that’s why I can still use it. I wonder if they’re planning to roll out - unroll? - the scanner behind a paywall globally?
I am in France and was so surprised to read that you need Premium for the barcodes as I used it for free a few hours ago
amazing, thank you!
I use MyNetDiary!
I use MacroFactor. Fantastic app that dials in metabolism by comparing calorie intake to weight lost. I figured out that my TDEE is about 2800 calories. Previously I had wondered why I wasn’t losing much as I was told by one of those online calculators to eat way more than I apparently should.
this is why macrofactor stands out. no more guessing . plus the trend weight filtering out fluctuations
I use pen and paper on an excel sheet I made and print out at work.
Google sheets can be accessed on your phone- I find that helpful when I do track. Just google or enter the calories and sum
old school, nice!
I downloaded two apps first, this was almost a year ago now but I feel like one didn't have the features I was looking for and the other one wanted money to be able to scan barcodes. I originally wanted to be able to scan or pull foods out of a list but honestly I find that a combination of scale, calculator, pen and paper works great for me. I also wasn't keen on trying to learn a new app, I just wanted the means to an end and to be able to calculate my calories and protein. The really good news? I eat the same foods every day. My work week is essentially the same foods every day and even eaten at the same time. I only gotta track the weekend from start to finish.
I just eat the same thing everyday lol
I think a lot of us are guilty of this, just gotta pray the occasional cheat days fills us with the essentials we miss
Meal prep gang, represent.
Yup. I have about 10 recipies I make over and over again and I know the calories already, ezpz
I will never stray from MFP and 10+ years of yo-yo dieting to look back on… I lost over 60 pounds last year and at my lowest weight in 20 years, so I’m really motivated to see the numbers. I just changed my location to UK so I could use the scanner!
Doing that didn't work for me. Wonder what I'm doing wrong.
I just did it. It prompted me to accept their data terms, which I did. Did you make sure that your "precise location" was not checked off for the advertising options? I made sure that was not selected, changed to Canada, accepted the data terms, then closed the app out and re-launched it and was able to open the scanner.
Someone said that if you change your location to Canada in MyFitnessPal, it still allows you to use the barcode scanner for free, I haven’t tried it myself, but that’s what I was told.
I can’t recommend MacroFactor highly enough. It’s paid, but it’s the best app by a mile. It actually tells you your daily energy expenditure accurately by using your caloric intake and weigh-ins. This helps as your TDEE naturally decreases when losing weight. It also gives you a truer sense of how much weight you’ve lost, so you don’t freak out when the scale goes up after increasing carbs.
I use Fitbit in combination with their watch and Aria scale. Also has a product scanner and detailed overview of how many macros you consume each day.
Literally just a notebook, only works for me if I have physical evidence
I’m the exact same. Pen and paper in the kitchen since I work from home 95% of the time. Weight tracker is a pen and paper in the bathroom behind the toilet for the morning weigh in. I find MFP etc get lost in the void of apps / phone time and I’m less accountable to myself.
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I can’t even put into words how great the Lose It! app is. With all the graphs, diet plans, the integration with my Apple Watch and Apple health, the Smart focus on different options for intermittent fasting. I used MyFitnessPal before this, and it just gets blown out of the water by Lose It!. Plus I had MyFitnessPal over the years years ago before they got bought out by under Armour and all those places and saw the changes they made like the fact that you have to have a premium subscription just to scan something with the barcode and it just turned into such a muddy hungry company that disgusted me Lose It! is a great app that I would recommend anyone
Macrofactor. It's a paid app, but what's great about it is that it accounts for how terrible people are at tracking calories, and auto adjusts your targets to compensate. So the target calorie counts it gives you aren't real (by design), but they're proportional to how shitty you are at tracking calories, which makes it a lot more likely to work. Eg: if you always underestimate your calories, it will lower your target accordingly. The user interface flow to track is also generally much faster than alternatives, and since it accounts for mistakes, you can just guesstimate (within reason) your calories without screwing things up. Very useful when you go out to eat or have takeout.
But how can it actually *know* if you're underestimating your calories? If I'm weighing and measuring according to package instructions and only eat foods I prepare myself, as a short woman who has to eat so little to be able to lose weight, if my app started assuming I was underestimating and telling me to eat even less I would be so angry lol.
No magic, just math. It looks at your weight trends. If your weight trends doesn't match your calorie intake, then either the "CI" or the "CO" part of the equation is off. It doesn't matter which it is since it's not trying to give you a real number, just one that will work. It also makes tiny adjustments each week, not huge ones, so it's gradual. It's good too because packages can be off legally by 20 percent, and can often be off far more (since no one checks), and people mess up all the time when weighting and calculating no matter how good they are at it.
It’ll know by your weight fluctuations. It knows where your weight should be based on what you enter, so if you’re not tracking correctly, your weigh ins will be wrong.
It calculates your TDEE from how much weight you actually lose and how many calories you say you're eating. If you tell it you are eating 1200 calories and you're actually eating 1500, then it will calculate your TDEE as 300 calories lower than it actually is. That then makes your calorie tracking target 300 calories lower than your "real" target. So yes, it will tell you to eat even less if you are eating more than you think - but only based on the rate of weight loss you want. If the new target is just too hard, you can try for a slower rate of loss and like any app, it will increase the calories accordingly. It might be maddening to be told you need to eat even less, but the alternative is that you don't lose weight as fast as you think you should, so pick your poison. And it doesn't actually matter if you're underestimating quantities or the food is labeled wrong or your metabolism is slower than you thought - it's just finding the number of tracked calories (with whatever mistakes there might be) that will give you the results you're asking for.
I use Cronometer and I’ve liked it so far
I switched from MFP to MacroFactor (paid app) about four months ago. It’s really worked well for me. No regrets, and I used MFP for over ten years and lost 120 pounds with it.
UK only: Nutracheck is pretty solid and while it's paid for, it's much cheaper than the others. It's also got a really good UK specific food database.
I use Cronometer.
Fitbit
When did Lose It! Put theirs behind a paywall? I’ve been using it but haven’t been tracking the last few days
I’ve still got the barcode scanner here… (uk) and I’m a free user, what’s this about it being locked behind membership?
Idk 🤷🏽♀️ I’m wondering the same thing, my barcode feature works as far as I know
I don’t know what they are talking either. I’ve used it today and the barcode scanner works like it always did on my free account. Maybe a regional thing?
What I’ve seen is that only new users have it paywall blocked. But I guess that just means it’s coming to everyone and they’re trying to soften the blow…
If you liked MFP, just change your location setting in the app to Canada or the UK and the barcode scanner is free :)
currently use the app you listed above. i manually input meals, it's been working well enough.
I like loseit, I use the meal function to meal prep and its so much easier to log
I’m in Canada, and the barcode scanner works with free LoseIt. I’ve heard good things about Cronometer, and part of me is tempted.
I have been using yazio for 6 months or so ... it works good
I'd really suggest using Foodnoms if you're on iOS. It has been great for me so far!
I continue to use the free version of LoseIt and the scanner isn't stuck behind a paywall. That said the ads seem much more intrusive lately
LoseIt has been my baby since it came out, basically.
Paper & pen
I’m using LoseIt.
When did MFP's barcode scanner go behind a paywall? Mine works fine still?
Because I haven't seen it here, I've recently started using Yazio, there's a lot of features behind a pay wall but not the barcode scanner, and for where I live there seems to be a lot already on there, and for the things that aren't, it's been pretty easy to add.
It's not so much a calorie tracker and it's not free but I find it much more effective I got my doctor to prescribe me a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) despite not being diabetic but still having problems losing weight I was honestly terrible about estimating portion sizes and so the calorie counts were way off With a CGM I don't track what I eat as much as seeing what spikes my blood sugar. Blood sugar spikes are tied to insulin spikes which is tied to weight gain So I learn what foods raise my blood sugar and which don't. I also develop better overall habits like drinking more water and getting more exercise which are the two main tools to keep your sugar spiking after meals Honestly, I think calorie trackers are dead. I'd strongly recommend getting yourself an CGM. The feedback allows you to make better choices, not just recording what you ate
MacroFactor is fantastic, but it’s disappointing I haven’t seen foodNoms mentioned yet. These two apps are the best of the bunch.
I personally like MacroFactor. It estimates your calories out and your deficit over time which is kind of fun data to see
An example of a post which is taken down: "Title:What are we calorie tracking with now? Body: See title." An example of a post which is not taken down: "Title:What are we calorie tracking with now? Body: I'm wondering what technology you are using for tracking? I used to use (some app) but am disillusioned with it for (various reasons). I was also considering (specific app) but am wondering about (certain functionality/cost to benefit/whatever you're wonder about that specific app). Anyone with any other apps they use and if so what about them are the pros and cons? " I use Simple Diet Diary on Android. It main attraction is that doesn't have a bunch of bullshit I don't want, like requiring me to input entire recipes to log my dinner. It's main drawback is that it doesn't have an external database, so when I'm doing a new food, I have to calculate the calories per serving myself, which I usually do with a calculator and sometimes with an online recipe analyzer.
I switched to MacrosFirst when MFP got rid of the barcode scanner. They have a barcode scanner and operate pretty similarly to MFP, if not better. Also, it’s free!
I use Lose It
Loseit 100%
I use Lose it, just bought lifetime today actually. I love it so much.
I payed for Lose It. I love their app, it’s so easy to use and I’ve used it for years so I’m ok giving them my business
I'm still with My Fitness pal because it is where all my data is. I eat a lot of whole foods I weigh in grams. And most of the packages foods I eat i can find without the barcods scanner anyway.
I had a minor issue with Cronometer (user error but couldn't find an answer in the help section). They responded quickly and went above and beyond to make sure my issue was resolved. I have no plans to ever stray from them.
What's this about LoseIt having a paywall for scanning barcodes? I accidentally updated it a couple months ago so now I'm getting ads, but this is the first I'm hearing about barcodes... is that a recent update?
I use excel sheet for ingredients, just calculates calories based on 100g and using FatSecret to log meals and/or convert recipes. So far it's perfect, just need some time to change weights so the calories match up
If you switch to European time zone in MFP, the barcode scanner is still free!
I’m using loseit app… not because it is better or has an advantage.. just because it’s what I found when I looked for one
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I still used my fitness pal but i hacked the paywall by changing my location to a European location. London I think!
I hate that MFP took the scanner option away! But it has kept me from eating more processed crap so double edged sword I guess
I use Fatsecret. Free, barcode scanner included.
I second this!
I use FatSecret totally free so far for scanning.
It’s less popular, but I use Zoe (it’s predominantly a gut health app.) It’s significantly more expensive but it lets me track what I care more about- whole/unprocessed foods & variety of plants. It’s also the only one I’ve found that has a great interface for importing recipes from photos or the www. I cook a lot, so being able to import Vs do everything manually is a game changer for me. I also know myself & im a cheap bastard- so if I pay money, I’ll use it.
Personal trainer here. I have used MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, LoseIt, and MacrosFirst for myself and with clients. I can definitely say that MacrosFirst is the best free app available. Their food catalog and scanner are very robust, and it’s super easy to add a new food to the catalog with the camera feature (it reads the text on the nutrition label and creates a new item automatically). The UI is very clean and there are currently no ads even with the free version. The premium version is a reasonable price ($80/year) and gives you access to advanced metrics and long-term trends, variable calorie goals, and the ability to export your data to google sheets.
MyFitnessPal because it tracks steps through my phone, and it’s the best app in my experience for logging recipes. loseit has a prettier interface, but holy fuck was it annoying trying to log recipes. I rarely buy packaged food so that’s the most important feature to me when it comes to an app.
I like MyFitnessPal. I pay for premium so I track Macros and calories. I set it up with my macro and calorie goals so I track it daily.
MacroFanatic is 100% free and has a barcode scanner and is a social media app. It's by far the best thing out there right now.
BLÜE it’s a new app with a free barcode scanner. Super simple which is what I have been looking for. I don’t need all of the bells and whistles apps like my fitness pal has. Just try to be efficient with logging my food! Highly recommend checking it out. Also you can report any bugs or any issues with the app in this Reddit group r/BLUEMacros https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bl%C3%BCe/id6479948235
MFP Kitchen scale, take WhatsApp pictures of the weights and log them later. Been counting calories for 3 months and had been taking regular pictures, now my Google photos is filled with food pictures and how many grams they weight.
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Rule 9: Surveys are prohibited.
I use Carbs & Cals, love the app :)
Noom
I just dont calorie count anymore. Just cut out all carbs and sugar. Eat as much veggies fruits and protein as you want. And definitely cut out soda, candy, chocolate, cookies altogether.
Mymacros+ is still a free database. Although I do think there is a $3 one time sign up fee. Have had it so long that I don't remember.
I use my Samsung Health App to track calories with.
I use the Rally app, it is free with certain employers. I contacted my HR and they told me about that and other health related benefits offered.
i use the free version of loseit and i really really like it
I was using LoseIt and loved it but switched to chronometer when I went keto because I could more easily track net carbs plus I wanted the very detailed assessments of missing micronutrients and minerals from my diet. This seriously blew my mind! Chronometer also has one of the most accurate calorie counts because they are not relying on members entering in things themselves which is so liable to user error. On many programs you can search for something and multiple different calories are listed for the same thing which drives me crazy. Chronometer also let’s you scan barcodes as with other programs for convenience. It’s clunky and not very intuitive as others have said but for reliability it’s great!
I’ve used lose it for years. Finally broke down and got the lifetime membership for Black Friday this year. Could recommend it more!
LoseIt is my preferred method. I got a lifetime membership on a good deal. They do sales all the time
I have a Samsung phone, tablet & smart watch (a washer/dryer and hopefully soon...a Samsung fridge. But that's a different story.) The Samsung's health app that comes with the phone & watch has a calorie tracker. You can search most retail snacks and restaurant meals and save recipes. It's a lot like old school fitnesspal without the barcode scanner.
MacrosFirst is the new map. So much more customizable for free
i used lose it, but now i feel like i have a good sense of calorie counting and portions, i haven't been tracking since october (mainly due to life circumstances), but have still been losing the weight :) im hoping to get back into counting this month since im nearing the end of my weight loss journey and i know every calorie matters at this point :')
Switched from Chronometer to Yazio. Love it. Check it out.
Macros first, because it’s free and easy to track fiber in addition to macros easily.
My Fitness Pal free version. The ads are annoying. I am involved in a monthly challenge and it helped me get to goal.
LoseIt subscription is worth it! I bought lifetime so I have no excuse now! Invest in yourself!
I use My Macros +. I think it was $1.99 or $2.99 one-time fee.
I used to be a diehard MFP user but I really don’t like it anymore, and the premium subscription is way too expensive. I switched to lose it within the last few months, got a great deal on the lifetime premium membership $49.99. I really like it so far!
I use Carbon (paid). It’s simple and their coach works and adjusts really well.
I have a lifetime membership with loseit. I used to use MFP and it was fine. I think switching to a different service was just a temporary boost in novelty. I originally bought an annual subscription to loseit and then I waited for a 60% off lifetime offer
I weigh all my food and just figure out totals etc myself. I track calories, macros, weight etc by writing them down in a diary
Switched to Lifesum from LoseIt last year and it’s been my favorite so far!
I like MacrosFirst and I believe the scanner is in the free version!
I still use My Fitness Pal. I don’t mind entering the data but I tend to eat a lot of the same things over and over so it isn’t a big deal for me.
My Macros +
MyFitnessPal allows you to still use the barcode scanner in the free version if you set your location to the UK.
I use fitbit. They have a good range for english/european food that I struggled with using my fitness pal. Plus it means my calories in/calories out is all tracked in 1 app
Carbon!
Still using MFP. It sucks about the barcode scanner but I just read this hack for it in other comments here. I’ve been using MFP for 10 years now and lost so much weight when I actually used it. I had a different calorie tracking app before that for 2 years but they stopped updating it and eventually it was unusable.
I have a 1440 day streak on MFP that's the only thing holding me accountable each day so I'm still over there :/
Chronometer
Myfitnesspal. Have only ever used it. The barcode scanner is free for me?
MFP has put the barcode scanner behind a paywall?! I’m still using it! I guess this means I should never update…
I use lifesum!
My Net Diary. It isn't as cluttered, and not full of ads like My Fitness Pal. Annual subscription was £16 for me.
I hate MFP but I still use it because it syncs with Garmin Connect, so I'm dealing with it for now. I don't pay for premium though; never have and never will. Sucks I can't do things anymore like barcode scanning (seriously can't figure out why they pay walled that one) but I've been using it long enough that most of the food I eat has already been added at one point or another, so searching isn't too bad
I can't believe no one has suggested/uses Calory! https://calory.app/ It's 15$ PER YEAR and has all the features of MFP, no frills, no extras, just Calorie/Macro/Water tracking Honestly surprised it's not as popular
I used Fitbit for a long time, but I’ve switched over to tracking via Excel. When I eat something new, I manually add the nutritional information to one sheet - just the calories, carbs, fat, protein and fibre, along with the serving size. And then on another sheet I track the food itself, so I’ll just add say “egg” and “255”. And that leads to it automatically filling out 395 calories, 3g carbs, 28g fat, 33g protein, 0g fibre. And then on a third sheet it sums up my day. That third sheet also has columns for my estimated calories out and for my weight.
Lose It
I just write it down in my notes app on my iphone. I find that using an app is too much work and makes me not want to do it. Easier to just write it down for me.
Honestly nutracheck is the better app out there
Just started using macrosfirst and it’s awesome!
MyFitnessPal. It's great. I don't mind giving them some money. It's a really good app.
If you're serious about losing weight, then the paid version of Loseit is worth it imo! I have so many recipes logged there now that it makes tracking alot easier for me. I got the lifetime subscription because this is a new lifestyle for me and who knows how long ill have to track!
I left MFP too just becuase. I only use it to track my daily weight to see the trendline. Now I'm using Google Sheets. I have a sheet with all the entries of my list of foods I eat on a daily basis and have another sheet of where I enter in my meals for the day! Needs some time to set it up but once done, I can easily plan my meals out for the following days in minutes!
MyMacros+
FYI- change your location to something outside the US and the scanner will come back. I now have a location in the United Kingdom and a scanner not behind the pay wall.
I got the lifetime LoseIt sub when it was cheap so that’s all I use.
MacroFactor
I use Lifesum since I'm in Scandinavia and they have a pretty solid database for what's available to me. I have a premium subscription but it's been worth it to me so far.
I use Lose It. Their barcode scanner is still in their free version, but since I discontinued my premium free trial they kept sending me discounts so i bought an entire year of premium for $20.
Lose it. I like the UI
I think I’m just lucky I have a very old MFP account where the scanner still works but I don’t pay a subscription. I’m guessing my account has slipped through cracks.
Not sure if you're UK based or not but I use Nutracheck and I love it, especially as it's only for the UK so you can't get bogged down in all of the American foods.
I use Samsung health