Diet tracking

Things that can be measured with these tools

calorie intake

macronutrients; carbs proteins fats

micronutrients; iron calcium vitamin D

brands and manufacturers

enjoyment, circumstances, environment surrounding eating

Patients and communities that need these tools

Weight loss is a very common goal. Communities about stomach and liver problems.

Technical guide to these tools

Usually just install them and the rest is self explanatory. Buy a kitchen scale for accuracy on amounts eaten if you cook or eat at restaurants without standard food quantities.

List and table

Tool Infobox
Related topics
Linked pages on this wiki	Projects (0), People (0)

name	quantity timestamp export	notes	offline	Price & paywall	search fave/recent barcode	detailnutrition serv.choiceselect customfood	water
bitesnap	y y y	y	y	F	w y y	y y n	w
cronometer	y p p	p	n		y y y	y y y	n
myfitnesspal	y p w	w	w	40/y	y y y	y y y	y
Waistline	y n y	y	y	O	y ? n	w w y
looseit	y n y	n	y		y y y	w n ?	p
SparklePeople	y n p	n			y y y	y n y	y
fooducate	y n p	n			y y y	y n y	n
fatsecret	y n ?	n			y y w	y y n	w
eathismuch	y n ?	?			w y w	w y y	n
mynetdairy	y n ?	n	y		y y y	y y y	w
glucosebuddy	? y n	n			w y y	y y n	n
my diet diary	y n ?	n	w		w y n	y y y	y
MyPlate	y n ?	n	w		y y y	w n y	?
smartplate	n n ?	n			y y y	n n ?	?
openfoodfacts	n n y	n		O	y y y	y y y most detailed Database	n

What the columns mean.

• quantity = allows changing quantity
• timestamp = includes detailed to the minute timestamps
• export = allows exporting to file like CSV. Likely missed transfer through 3rd party aggregation.
• Ordered by these three features because they are critical to QS.
• notes = manually entered text field that allows writing down custom information and features. For example how tasty the food was, or where it was bought, or what brand of generic food was purchased.
• offline = does not require connection to internet for some or almost all of their features to work.
• Price = Apps can require continuous payment (such as MFP requiring 40$ per year), one time upfront cost, free and one is even open source. The amount of features walled off from non paying users also varies.
  • O = Open Source
  • F = Free
  • /y = per year.
• search = search by name
• fave/recent = can repeat or rank in search based on popular/recent
• barcode = can find food by scanning barcode (requires online connectivity)
• detailnutrition = Detail of nutrition tracked varies between apps as some track just macronutrients while others go into greater detail.
• serv.choiceselect = Some apps use user contributions to populate their database of foods while others use formal databases like USDA.
• customfood = Some apps do not allow entering custom foods!

What the letters mean.

• y = Yes, has feature.
• n = does not. ’ ’ is same as n
• p = feature requires membership
• w = the feature exists but is not as good as a y
• ? = I do not know.

References

Source: https://forum.quantifiedself.com/t/recommended-food-tracking-apps/252/38 (May 2019)

Opinions and Advice

Gedankestuek pointed out in a community meeting that many people find the task onerous and quit after a few months. DG suggests using bitesnap and repeating meals both because that is probably going to help find patterns and also speed up the act of diet tracking.