There are plenty of health tools in the apps that will allow logging and tracking calories. Two calorie counter tools apps I have used and switched between are MyFitnessPal and Lifesum. I have used them since the beginning of this year. Both apps are to help track calorie intake, just like a handwritten food diary would. The apps integrate pedometers and syncs technology such as Apple Watch and phone to track calories burned via exercise. This is to provide the user with a close accurate idea of the calories in/calories out.
My goal for using a calorie counter tool is to bring awareness of how many calories I consume daily, weekly, and monthly. I was and am not on any specific diet. I’m not using it to lose weight, although these applications are an excellent tool for it. I often eat healthily with a diverse food category of fresh fruits, vegetables, and high protein foods. Once in a while, I will have a relaxing food day with sweets, sugar, and/or alcohol. MyFitnessPal and Lifesum allow me to see how much grams I eat of carbs, protein, and fat, as well as the vitamin intakes based on the available macronutrient breakdowns.
In this article, I compared the MyFitness Pal app and Lifesum app; each used for 2 months straight; to see which one is a better fit for me. I only used the free account of both apps, so I’ll only be talking about its free features. There are premium subscriptions available at a cost for both applications. Please bear in mind the information below are all based on my personal experiences.
UI Interface
MyFitnessPal app
- Simple designs with simple black, white and blue charts and graphs
- End of the day summary food diary
Lifesum App
- Smooth, precise, updated design with sharp and colorful charts and graphs
- Easy usability and understanding
- Shows more information details within one screen
Tracking Calorie Goals & Macronutrients
MyFitnessPal app
- Customizable calorie goals and macronutrient percentages
- Tell the user how much he/she will weigh based on the calorie intake that day if the user keeps up that specific calorie intake of the day for 5 weeks.
- Calorie percentage breakdowns are displayed on a colored pie chart.
- Weight tracking
- Breakdown details of all nutrition aspects (example: fat to saturated fat)
Lifesum App
- Standard calorie goal and typical macronutrient percentages; carbs 50%, protein 20%, fat 30%; based on the user’s basic profile of the gender, height, current weight, and goal of using Lifesum, which is loose, maintain, or gain weight
- Weight tracking
- Overview outline of the macronutrient aspects. It won’t show nutrition details such as saturated fat, trans fat, and vitamins unless they use the premium account.
Water Tracking
MyFitnessPal app
- Track 8 oz water cups
Lifesum App
- Track 8 oz or 16 oz water cups
- Reminder notifications to drink water throughout the day
Food Database
MyFitnessPal app
- Barcode scanner
- Accessible and huge populated database of food to add in the US and Europe; both produce and restaurants
- Able to add food and import recipes via URL
- Inaccurate at times
Lifesum App
- Barcode scanner
- Nutrition grade system; A-F graded
- Unable to self populated recent food to add to the meal unless its information is already within that meal (example: If you have scanned produce within Lunch and want to use the same product again for Dinner, you’ll have to review the product also. It won’t appear within recent as it is in a different meal category.)
Daily Food Diary Organization
MyFitnessPal app
- Allow customization up to 6 meals per day to add food.
Lifesum App
- Standard 4 meals per day; breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack
Social Community
MyFitnessPal app
- Community build and access within the app with the public and MyFitnessPal friends to see each others’ diary, leave comments, likes, etc.
- A blog option available
- Social media sharing to Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Export the food diaries on Excel sheets
Lifesum App
- No community build
- Private for the user’s eyes and pleasure only
Ultimate Decision
After using and testing both applications for 4 months, I have decided to choose the MyFitnessPal app to continue my calorie tracking. Even though the UI interface does not have a modern look, it still is easy to use, understand, and simple looking. MyFitnessPal app provides me plenty of features free to use and read. Having a high food database worldwide and viewing a detailed nutrition aspect without paying for the feature are huge pluses.
I hope the experiment I have done will help you find the best calorie counter tool that best suits you.
