I used to use the My Fitness Pal app to count calories, but it seems that since I’ve last used it they put more things in the paid tier, including barcode scanning which I always found super useful. But I think I’ll go back to CICO tracking because my weight has crawled back up to where it was before.
Is there a good alternative app with as powerful logging and calorie counting features or should I just pay the money?
I’m a big fan of Calorie Counter by Lose It. It has a nice UI and a lot of bells and whistles (including barcode scanner) included in the free version. I actually pay for premium now because I like the app so much.
LoseIt is (or was last I looked) pay once, use forever and pretty good overall, but I found the crowd-sourced database highly inaccurate and/or unhelpful often. I moved to Chronometer about 6 months ago, which is subscription based, but has a large verified database of foods and a great custom food/recipe creator/importer. I would prefer a pay-once model, but Chronometer is sufficiently worth the ongoing expense, at least as long as I am a work-in-progress. When I reach my target, I’ll reevaluate.
Tacking onto this with more info: LoseIt has a decent free version (barcode scanner is available but stuff like logging future days and setting macro targets is not), otherwise they’ve got a monthly/annual and a lifetime subscription that are kind of pricey but all go on sale pretty regularly. Overall it has been my go to for a long time. Totally agree about the useless database though, even the “verified” foods tend to be wrong. I’ll have to check out Cronometer!
I use the free tier of Cronometer and really like it.
LoseIt! is the app I use. The free version has very good functionality. I pay for premium currently because I wanted to put food in future days and track protein, but you really don’t need to. I didn’t for several months. It’s a very intuitive interface and the way it does streaks and cutesy motivation things works really well for me. I also like the big calendar that the iOS version has because it helps me visualize my weekly calories, not just the daily version.
I agree with the other commenter about the database being somewhat questionable, you have to be a little discerning. Typically I look for entries that have other nutrition facts listed besides the calories. You can also filter for verified only. But it’s quite good for individual ingredients, so as long as you’re logging 1 tortilla, 2 eggs, etc rather than just “breakfast burrito” it shouldn’t be a problem, and that’s a more accurate method anyway. But I also have heard great things about chronometer.
I am using FatSecrets as it was recommended to me b a dietician
