What's the best iPhone app for calorie counting?
January 21, 2012 5:52 PM Subscribe
What's the best iPhone app for calorie counting?
I'd like something that:
* Makes it very easy to enter what you're eating - I eat mostly the same things every day and don't mind spending time entering their nutritional details in at the beginning, but after that it should be a couple of taps max.
* Counts nutrients as well, specifically carbs.
* Has a screen that shows how many calories/carbs are left for the day.
* Is well-designed and looks good; I love apps like Weightbot or Calvetica.
* Has easy export of data.
I'm not particularly interested in social features or paying a subscription to a website. Thanks!
I'd like something that:
* Makes it very easy to enter what you're eating - I eat mostly the same things every day and don't mind spending time entering their nutritional details in at the beginning, but after that it should be a couple of taps max.
* Counts nutrients as well, specifically carbs.
* Has a screen that shows how many calories/carbs are left for the day.
* Is well-designed and looks good; I love apps like Weightbot or Calvetica.
* Has easy export of data.
I'm not particularly interested in social features or paying a subscription to a website. Thanks!
I was coming in to suggest LoseIt. It's a really easy to use app.
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:12 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by bibliogrrl at 6:12 PM on January 21, 2012
Seconding MyFitnessPal, mainly for the fact that by using it, I've lost 43 pounds so far.
It can do much of what you want (though well-designed/looks good...). You can define "meals" that are a set group of foods. I have one for my usual lunch as well as restaurant meals I eat often. It also has the calories, carbs. sugars, protein, &c for the current day.
posted by Fortran at 6:16 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
It can do much of what you want (though well-designed/looks good...). You can define "meals" that are a set group of foods. I have one for my usual lunch as well as restaurant meals I eat often. It also has the calories, carbs. sugars, protein, &c for the current day.
posted by Fortran at 6:16 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh, also, the barcode scanner of MyFitnessPal is quite handy. It makes entering many items very simple. Point, shoot, logged!
posted by Fortran at 6:17 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by Fortran at 6:17 PM on January 21, 2012
My Fitness Pal has a pretty well established database of user-added foods and recipes, too. Half the recipes in the cookbooks I regularly use are already in there.
posted by something something at 6:24 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by something something at 6:24 PM on January 21, 2012
The one flaw of my fitness pal is the exercise section. Seriously, I type in the machine I used at the gym and nada. But the calorie counting and scanning is quite good.
posted by jadepearl at 6:36 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by jadepearl at 6:36 PM on January 21, 2012
nthing My Fitness Pal. I'm on Android but have used it since April and lost 24 pounds. As for exercise machines, I just enter "Elliptical" for 35 minutes and type in the number of calories the machine said. It's not as super cool as the diet/nutrition/bar code scanner side, but it nicely nets the calories burned with your calories ingested, so overall I love MFP.
posted by forthright at 6:58 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by forthright at 6:58 PM on January 21, 2012
I like LoseIt and have set it up to email me daily and weekly reports. When you enter a meal on the app, you can hit the Previous Meals button if you have the same meal again. When my iPod's down, I can go to the website to enter data. Also, the app nags me to enter my info, very useful.
posted by dragonplayer at 8:31 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by dragonplayer at 8:31 PM on January 21, 2012
I'm a fan of LoseIt.
It's easy to use, easy to customize and has a pretty good database of food.
It has a nice exercise section too. I was browsing through all the "exercises" and they even had entries for cleaning the house, sexual activity, and playing specific instruments (guitar, sitting vs guitar, standing).
posted by simplethings at 8:56 PM on January 21, 2012
It's easy to use, easy to customize and has a pretty good database of food.
It has a nice exercise section too. I was browsing through all the "exercises" and they even had entries for cleaning the house, sexual activity, and playing specific instruments (guitar, sitting vs guitar, standing).
posted by simplethings at 8:56 PM on January 21, 2012
I love LoseIt, and use it all day long. Lost 60 pounds so far. You can enter custom foods or use the built in food database. Lots of chain restaurants are listed (although not all menu items). It has a great barcode scanner that picks up most items, which you can then adjust for how much of it you ate. I enter most of my day's stuff by choosing "Previous Meals" and entering everything all at once. I've logged every day for over six months, so it's not burdensome.
It breaks food down into Calories, Fat, Sat Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbs, Fiber, Sugars, and Protein. You can look at your percentages for the day or for the week. The most useful feature for me is the little countdown in the corner that shows me how many calories I have left. It doesn't currently show carbs as a countdown, but they seem to love suggestions, so maybe they'd add it? There is, however, a summary log (under "My Day > Nutrients") which shows you what you've consumed so far, broken down into all the above nutrient listings (including carbs). You can also customize what reports get sent to you or what you can see online.
There is a community that you can use if you want to, but I don't bother. I added a few friends, but they all stopped logging.
posted by clone boulevard at 7:16 AM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
It breaks food down into Calories, Fat, Sat Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbs, Fiber, Sugars, and Protein. You can look at your percentages for the day or for the week. The most useful feature for me is the little countdown in the corner that shows me how many calories I have left. It doesn't currently show carbs as a countdown, but they seem to love suggestions, so maybe they'd add it? There is, however, a summary log (under "My Day > Nutrients") which shows you what you've consumed so far, broken down into all the above nutrient listings (including carbs). You can also customize what reports get sent to you or what you can see online.
There is a community that you can use if you want to, but I don't bother. I added a few friends, but they all stopped logging.
posted by clone boulevard at 7:16 AM on January 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think MyNetDiary fits your criteria. It's what I use, and I'm happy with it. It really keeps track of everything and you can favorite foods that you eat a lot so you don't have to enter in the data more than once.
posted by lovingkindness at 7:23 AM on January 23, 2012
posted by lovingkindness at 7:23 AM on January 23, 2012
Is there a MeFi group on MFP? I have not had luck finding one.
posted by cgk at 5:29 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by cgk at 5:29 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Unfortunately, LoseIt isn't available outside the US but I've been using MyFitnessPal for a week now and it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Thanks everyone!
posted by jobby at 11:44 PM on February 1, 2012
posted by jobby at 11:44 PM on February 1, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
http://massivehealth.com/
http://www.fitbit.com/apps/loseit
posted by specialk420 at 5:57 PM on January 21, 2012