Journaling App

[BlessedMomma91 21]

I've used the Carb Manager app in the past to track my nutrition and linked it to my fitbit. However, their nutrition info on a lot of things were off. It was annoying always correcting it or creating my own for simple things. I tried the Baritastic app the last few days but I don't like how you can only create recipes using servings sizes instead of actual weight. (Example: I cook Soup for me and my family and it equals 65 ounces of food. I eat 20 ounces. It will calculate the nutrition info of exactly what I ate instead of guessing serving sizes especially since I cook for 6 people.) I am pre-op still (surgery in Nov.) but want to find a reliable, easy to use, accurate food and fitness journaling app. Any suggestions?
Sent from my SM-S115DL using BariatricPal mobile app

[Sleeve_Me_Alone 656]

I use Baritastic, but I don't use the recipe function. I just use an existing item that is as close as I think I can get (if I made Soup, I search for that kind of soup and find on that looks similar, etc). I figure with as little as I eat, its not going to make a huge difference one way or the other, and the only thing I'm really concerned with is Protein so as long as I'm hitting my goal then I don't worry about the rest. That being said, I think the cult classic, and likely most accurate, is MyFitnessPal.

[SpartanMaker 681]

I use myfitnesspal. I've used it for a number of years and generally find it's the best and easiest to use. There are a couple of things you have to get used to:

1. Anyone can add a new food, This can be a blessing if what you find in the database does not work for you. Don't find what you need? Add it. The downside is that some common foods have dozens of entries and a fair number of them will be wrong. The entries that have been verified as correct by staff have green checkmarks, so you'd be well advised to look for those.
2. It's not as easy is log small portions accurately of some foods because not all entries have weights in grams (or even ounces). They may only have a "serving", so you're stuck estimating a percentage. This is compounded by issue #1 in that you may have to look through multiple entries to find a "good" one. The flip side is that if you do find an accurate entry that is properly entered by weight, our small portions are fairly easy to accurately enter.
3. Both Meals and recipes can be built and saved. This generally works well, except that when building a recipe, you can't see all the nutrition info for an ingredient. This can be a problem again due to issue #1 above. What you find you have to do is check after you add the entry if it looks right. if not, it's back to editing and finding a different ingredient entry.
4. Lately I've been seeing a lot of glitches, especially around my Water consumption. I'll add water, then check again later to find that it's missing.
5. Finally the biggest gripe: this program is not customized for bariatric patients. At the end of the day if you "Complete This Entry", you'll get a nasty message telling you that you're not eating enough.