Calorie counter : best brand comparison by Musklor
Thanks to technology, it is possible to follow one’s diet and nutritional consumption in a simple and quick way, with about the same efficiency as a professional nutritionist. The best thing about all this is that this technology is perfectly adapted to your cell phone.
Best calorie counters 2024
How is this possible? By calorie counters. This type of application allows you to monitor your calorie intake on a daily basis.
The best calorie counters have much more advanced functions that allow you to have a tailor-made diet.
But are all applications of this type effective? How do you choose the best calorie meter?
How to choose the best calorie counter?
Not all calorie counters are the same. Some are so simple or poorly programmed that instead of helping you, they can even make you gain weight, without taking into account a wide variety of factors.
To help you choose the best calorie counter, we have therefore created a list of the essential features of such an application. You may not have them all, but the more the merrier!
Personalized Calorie Needs Calculation
This is the most basic function of all – if your application doesn’t have it, there’s no point in continuing. Basically, it’s about taking some of your information (such as gender, age, current weight, type of routine, etc.) to calculate more accurately the number of calories you need each day. Without this, there is no basis for a diet.
Food Recording
Knowing what you eat is extremely important to track the nutrients that enter your body. To do this, you need to record not only the foods that have calories, but more importantly the macronutrients consumed at each meal.
This function is even more important in diets for muscle gain, for example.
Monitoring Hydration
We all know that water is important for the body. But do you drink the right amount of water for your body? In general, 2 liters are recommended, but in many cases this is much higher.
Therefore, the best calorie meter should have the function to calculate this amount and monitor it when you drink water during the day.
Ideal Diet
This is a feature that usually only paid applications have. Each person has a different goal when dieting, which may be weight loss, muscle gain, lifestyle change, elimination of a certain food, etc.
Therefore, the best calorie counters should be able to calculate not only their calorie needs, but also the needs of each type of macronutrient (carbohydrates, proteins and fats).
Meal Plan
Let’s be honest: if we were nutrition experts, we would do everything ourselves. However, since we are ordinary people, we need a little help choosing what to eat.
Calorie counters can help by making personalized plans based on your nutritional needs.
This requires the help of an experienced nutritionist and is therefore only available from the best calorie counters. It’s almost always a paid job, but it’s worth it.
Recipes
If you want more flexibility in your diet, the recipe function is essential. But for it to be effective, it’s not enough to have the recipe: you have to know what’s in it.
Calories are the minimum, but it is ideal to know how many proteins, fats and carbohydrates you are going to ingest so that you don’t make any mistakes and spoil the diet with nonsense.
Synchronization
This feature is important for those who use other applications to enhance their forms. These are generally referred to as fitness applications such as Apple Health or Google Fit, which are able to monitor your performance during exercise and other physical activities.
With the calorie expenditure information on the one hand and the nutritional information on the other, the diet is much more complete and the results are even better than if you had only one of the two.
What are the best calorie counter applications?
Discover the following four best calorie meter applications you will find in 2024:
1. Lifesum
Best calorie counter
If you are looking for a complete application that not only adds up your calories, but is literally able to change your lifestyle, Lifesum is the best calorie counter for you.
Lifesum makes a complete assessment of your current situation, your habits, your nutritional needs and your goals, whether it’s weight loss, muscle gain or other.
From there, it allows you to create personalized and flexible eating plans to reach your goal in the most efficient way possible.
It is capable of recording the food you eat in a simple and easy way, using only your camera. Thus, the application dynamically calculates the nutrients ingested during the day and gives you real-time feedback on the evolution of your diet.
Lifesum also offers hundreds of healthy and natural recipes for specific types of diets, such as the vegan diet, sugar detoxification, muscle building and ketogenic diet. Whether for aesthetic or health reasons, they have the right diet for you!
Many users report incredible results and a total change in eating habits. Lifesum really works because it was developed by a team of experienced nutritionists and has the practicality needed for a full life.
The application is available for Android and iOS and has a free but much more limited plan. The annual plan costs $31.49 and can be paid in installments on your credit card.
Even with the rising dollar, this figure is quite reasonable considering all the benefits of Lifesum, which makes it the best paid calorie meter of the moment.
2. Lose It!
The best for weight loss
If you simply want to lose weight, Lose It! may be the best calorie counter for you. With a slightly more direct but very comprehensive approach, it guarantees results in the most effective way possible.
Like all the best calorie counters, Lose It! performs an analysis of your current situation and, based on this, develops the best ways to achieve your goal of losing weight by eating healthy.
Thanks to the application, you can monitor everything you eat during the day and follow your diet in real time, whether it is calories, macronutrients or even water, which is also part of a healthy diet.
In addition to real-time monitoring, the Lose It! program also generates periodic reports for a broader view of your progress. That way, you know which days you’ve been eating right – or too carelessly.
The application is integrated with other applications, such as Apple Health and Google Fit, and obtains data on your physical activities for an even more complete view of your progress and areas for improvement.
This application also has a free plan with access to the most basic functions, such as calorie counting. Macronutrient counting, advanced reports and other features are available in the Premium plan, which costs $40 per year.
You can also try the application for free for 7 days and cancel your subscription before being charged.
All this being said, we believe that Lose It! is, in fact, the best calorie counter for weight loss.
3. Myfitnesspal
Option with multiple additional functions
Myfitnesspal is the best calorie counter for those who want an application full of differentiated features. From the most basic features to some exclusive ones, it is an excellent choice for weight loss.
As it couldn’t be otherwise, Myfitnesspal does nothing without meeting with you first: your data and goals are collected to create the perfect plan.
It also has the most common features of the best calorie counters, such as the nutrient counter, diet planner, reports, analysis and recording of fast and easy eating.
One of the great differentials of Myfitnesspal is the community of the application. The food bank has more than 300 million items thanks to the collaboration of users, who are equally motivated, share their experiences and can track everyone’s progress.
The food journal is a feature that is little used in other applications. It is used to record everything you eat and to understand your habits and preferences.
If you need to include a specific nutrient in your diet, it looks for that nutrient in the foods you have eaten most in the past, i.e. the foods you are most used to.
Of all the applications to date, Myfitnesspal offers the most features in the free version: the complete community food bank, a personal food bank, a food journal, community access and much more.
The paid version, on the other hand, offers more personalized features such as customized diets, specific goals, performance reports and a commercial-free experience.
The bonus plan has a monthly version of €31.99 per month and an annual version of $147.99 per year. You can do a one month evaluation for free.
If you like the extra features and a community to support and exchange experiences, then Myfitnesspal is the best calorie counter for you.
4. FatSecret
The best free calorie counter
If you can’t afford to pay too much at the moment or if you just want to test this type of application, then FatSecret is the best calorie counter for your situation. It offers many features of paid applications and can be a good choice if you want to save money.
Like other applications, FatSecret uses your weight, gender and age to calculate your daily calorie needs during your diet.
It also has a very large food database, organized into categories to make your experience easier.
You can also count the calories you have lost through exercise and even daily activities in a very simple way: just search for the activity on the site, its duration and add it to your exercise diary.
In FatSecret, we have also shared recipes with the community, all with calories and macronutrients.
What is very interesting with FatSecret is that it works almost like a social network.
Users share their results, send before and after pictures, share recipes and can comment on each other’s content. This creates a community that helps to motivate the user to pursue his goals.
FatSecret is available for iOS, Android and has a browser-based version. Although its interface is a little less user-friendly than the other applications on the list, it has many interesting features for those who want a healthier life and is the best calorie counter if you don’t want or can’t afford an application at the moment.
So let’s lose weight?
Losing weight is not easy, especially if you don’t know where to start. But with the help of the best calorie counters, this task is much easier and more enjoyable.
With features such as macronutrient accounting, personalized meal plans and performance reports, it’s much easier to stay on track.
To choose the best calorie counter, be sure to check each one and see which one best suits your habits. Everyone has at least one free trial, so lack of money is no excuse not to try them out.