I’m dealing with an ongoing medical condition, which means I want to track my diet effectively for the rest of time. (It’s nothing deathly serious; I need to know what causes problems).
I want an app that makes it quick and easy to log things with little typing. As dull as it may sound, I eat the same breakfast most mornings, so an app that makes it easy to reuse recent meals/items would be good.
I have FoodNoms on my phone, and it is a good app. However, looking at the annual price $US40/yr made realize that I should consider other apps before settling on this one.
You can’t go wrong with MacroFactor. It’s an app that is marketed to lifters, but I’ve used a ton of apps to log nutrition and this is the easiest and most effective. There are three things that you might like: the search database is great; it has a barcode scanner that has correctly been able to scan in at least 90% of what I’ve had that’s pre-packaged; and it has a quick add feature where you can just input the number of calories and other macros directly. Additionally, you can create meals. If you have a recipe, you can input all the ingredients and it will calculate the calories for the dish. Finally, they have an AI tool they just implemented where you can take a photo of something you’re eating and it will tell you what’s in it and calculate the nutrients. I did this with a clam chowder that I made last weekend and it nailed it correctly with just this picture:
I like LoseIt for this. It does offer to let me add yesterday’s breakfast with a single click. Convenient for those of us who tend to eat the same things day after day.
It is an annual subscription, but they frequently offer a discount on their lifetime plan. I think I paid around $50 for that.
Another vote for MacroFactor. I’ve used them all over the years, honestly, and MacroFactor blows them away. The algorithm for weight gain/loss is great, but sounds like you don’t need that part.
The rest of the app would still do great for you. As was previously mentioned it’s super easy to input and it does have a history that will bubble up your usual foods for that time of day. Easily scans labels too to add food to the database.
And the input from a picture of the food is surprisingly good.
Clean app, easy to use, super powerful without being complicated.
AFAIK, all the better apps are subscription-based, and they’re about the same price. I tried Lose it, but didn’t like it. I then settled on Foodnoms. Entirely worth it, IMO.
I am a compulsive app switcher. I switch task managers, web browsers, notes apps, RSS readers, podcast apps. But I’ve stuck with Lose It for 16 years. I lost 100 pounds with LoseIt’s help 2009-2011 and I’ve kept the weight off since then with the help of daily use of LoseIt.
I use YAZIO for about 3 months and I like it so far. Sure, there are better apps, but I had not the time (and money) to test all.
Easy (and simple, for me) to add things which I eat often. Possible to add favourites or recipes.
I think Cronometer’s free version might do everything you want it to. I’ve been very happy with it and find it easy to log what I eat. It also syncs with several apps, so you might be able to log your nausea with your food.
I will also share another option I used for a long time, when I only needed to log what I ate and how I felt - quantities didn’t matter, and I wasn’t counting any macros, and I needed to share this food diary with my doctor. I set up an IFTT or Zapier automation that enabled me to use a channel in the free version of Slack to quickly type in what I had eaten or how I was feeling, and what I typed got logged to a google Sheet.
I have used Yazio consistently for about 18 months and it worked really well. One of the reason I chose it was because out of all the apps I tried, it was the only one who cared about my complaint that it was handling carbs wrongly. In fact, they fixed it within days of me reporting the issue. All the other companies either ignored the problem or were instead trying to tell me that they are doing everything right.
So, what were they doing wrong? It’s been a while, so I’m not sure I remember the details, but here are the basics:
Nutrition labels in the US and in Europe (possibly the rest of the world) work differently when it comes to carbs. Most apps seem to be based on the US system, which means that if you enter data from a European nutrition label, the carbs (and hence the calories) will be wrong.
If you want to know the details, I can dig up the old emails, but I think it had something to do with whether Fibres are included in the total carbs. I think in the US they are but not in Europe.
to see if anything I eat, causes problems a problem/reaction
spot correlations between dietary choices and bloodwork
This may take a couple of tries to acknowledge all of the replies: @TomServo and @iPersuade - MacroFactor is now on my radar. The AI that asses the picture for nutrients is interesting and unexpected. Thanks also to @HobbyCollector
Being Jewish I will leave the clam chowder to @Bmosbacker
…. @clausimausi welcome to our community, with you and @toffy chiming in it is getting good marks. (FWIW In Canada fibre is part of the carbs, good news I’m not super focused on carbs vs protein, Just how fast I can row).
@Rochelle_B-S Cronometer - ok another one added to the list. Piping data from that to Slack is hardcore. Well played.
@Bmosbacker I typed this whole reply in an 11” iPad. It is awkward to keep track of comments. 11” is good for reading, ok for light notetaking and barely adequate for replying to forums.
Bearable might be worth looking at. There is a food diary section in the app. It’s different than the calories trackers mentioned, it’s more for mood and symptoms.
We collect various types of information about users, including personal diet data entered by users into our products (such as height and weight, gender, and details about food and drinks), genetic data (where provided by a user), and information about your use of our products (like contact and device information). Users must specifically consent to the sharing of genetic data with us.
We use the information we collect to make our products better and improve your experience. We share data that personally identifies you in three important ways:
With third parties such as advertisers and business partners.
With third parties that support our communication with you via email or messages or that provide analytics that permit us to better understand how our products are used.
In other limited circumstances, such as when we are required by law or if our company is acquired or merges with another company.
In addition the parent company is ZiffDavis - which means they can share my health and dietary data with a large number of people.
One down.
I also looked at the price for MacroFactors. Wow.
Now, I will look into Cronometer - at least they’re fellow Canadians and compare to FoodNoms.
