Macro Diet Apps
Counting your macros is an essential part of following a macro diet. If you are new to macros, then start at the beginner’s guide, or check your target macros with our calculator.
Tracking macros can be done either by following a pre-prepared meal plan, by using a spreadsheet or more easily done using a macro app to track on the fly.
Here are some of the best macronutrient tracking apps we’ve found.
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal (MFP) is a hugely popular app, owned by apparel company Under Armor. With a food database of 5 million items, it is the most popular system for tracking food intake.
We have a basic tutorial on using MFP here, and an extensive guide comes with our program: The Macro Solution.
For macro counters: If you sign up to the premium subscription, you can set your own macro targets (greatly beneficial for a macro diet).
MyFitnessPal is free to download. The premium edition has an extensive set of features for a macro diet (such as setting goals by gram or percentage and allowing different macro targets for sedentary and workout days).
MyPlate
Myplate comes from the Livestrong foundation. It is essentially a food tracker (2 million food database), with extra mutual support tools built-in.
For macro counters: The daily view shows a breakdown of macros (both grams and percentages) – allowing you to monitor your food until you reach the desired target.
Myplate is free to download. The gold edition costs a monthly subscription fee and will give you: an ad-free experience, private support groups, advanced stats, and priority support.
MyMacros+
MyMacros is one of the few food tracking apps focused specifically on macro counting. See our tutorial on MyMacros here.
For macro counters: Focused on counting macros, where you can set macros for both exercise and non-exercise days.
MyMacros is $2.99 to download. There is also a premium subscription that allows you to access your data from anywhere (desktop, laptop, etc).
Lose It!
Lose It! is a calorie tracker (been around for 10 years). One of their latest features is integration with EmbodyDNA (for $190 DNA can be tested and integrated with the tracker for personalized insights).
You can track macros on the Lose It app.
All user can use Lose It to track their macros but the premium subscription allows people to set specific macro goals.
Lose It! is free to download. The premium subscription allows a broader set of things you can track, along with more integration with fitness trackers.
Lifesum
Lifesum is a broader health app offering suggested diet plans, along with recipes and other features.
For macro counters: The home screen shows your daily macro counts, and it is possible to set a manual macro target.
Lifesum is free to download. As in other apps, the premium subscription is the only way to access more useful features (recipes, macro tracking).
Fitbit
Fitbit not only helps you track your exercise calorie burn, but it also comes with a very robust companion app for your smartphone.
You can now set macro goals on the Fitbit app.
That’s right, you can set your macro goals and even track your food using Fitbit. You no longer need a second app like MyFitnessPal when using your Fitbit wearable.
You can download the app for free but it will be most useful for people who have a compatible Fitbit wearable device to use alongside their macro app.
Do Fitbits help you lose weight?
Fitbits do motivate people to be more active which burns calories. However, people still need to be mindful of how much they are eating in relation to that exercise. This is where the Fitbit Macro App can be used.
Best Macro Apps Ranked by User Reviews
- MyFitnessPal: 4.7 Stars, 743k ratings
- Lose It: 4.7 Stars 330k ratings
- Lifesum: 4.7 Stars 66.7k ratings
- MyPlate: 4.6 Stars, 17.2k ratings
- MyMacros+: 4.7 Stars, 12k ratings
- Fitbit App: 4.2 stars, 81k ratings
Which one do I use?
- MyFitnessPal is popular but can take time to setup.
- MyPlate and Lose It! have much nicer designs (but will requires premium subs to unlock macro features).
- MyMacros allows fine-grained controls (suitable for more of an advanced user).
- Do consider subscribing to premium.
(most are between $40-$45 per year). You have a better chance of using the thing if you pay for a subscription, and in many of the apps only unlock certain features. - Bigger food databases don’t always mean better.
Lots of the entries are user-submitted can have errors, or make some foods more difficult to find. The example below: A search for Starbucks on myfooddiary (left) and myfitnesspal (right).
Can Apple Watch Track Calories Eaten?
Unfortunately, your Apple Watch can be a useful app/tool for tracking calorie burn and activity, but it does not have the ability to track the food you eat. You will need one of the above macro/calorie-tracking apps for that.
However, Apple Watch does link up to most of the apps mentioned above so they will share data with each other making the tracking process easier since it can integrate your activity data, etc.
Accelerate Your Diet and Fitness Goals with My Macro Solution System
Step-by-step self-guided program -or- fully customized personal macros coaching. Feel exhilarated as you conquer your goals!
Ted Kallmyer BA, M.Ed., is an ISSA certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, Certified Trainer, the author or Healthy Eater, and a professional nutritional coach. If you need help reaching your weight loss/fitness goals see his personal coaching options.6 Comments
Can you explain how to set a macro goal in the Fitbit app? I don’t see that option, thanks!
Hi Jacquelyn, Unfortunately, I don’t offer support for the Fitbit app. Have you reached out to the developers?
What are your thoughts on carb manager? I’ve recently started using it but it counts net carbs. Are your carb calcs total carbs or net carbs?
Are you doing keto or balanced macros? With keto, net carbs are useful but with balanced macros, tracking nets carbs makes the process a bit more work especially since a lot of nutritional data doesn’t display info in that format.
I personally use Yazio now (https://www.yazio.com/en), I previously used My Fitness Pal, but for some reason after a while the app wasn’t as good as it used to be.. so I changed for Yazio, that offers recipe ideas, challenges, tracking tools and an integrated pedometer which is great 🙂
Can you elaborate how this is for tracking macros (specifically). Otherwise your comment does sound a little bit like a shill…