I am a myfitnesspal dropout. Because you might be, too, I put together 31 alternatives to myfitnesspal.

My Experience with Myfitnesspal

The truth is that I used myfitnesspal for quite some time. It was my go-to method during periods of strict food restriction from an aesthetics standpoint (not for healing or health).

I was meticulous.

During that time period, I would measure and/or weight everything.

My cousin and I used to remind each other, 

You bite it. You write it.

It didn’t matter that I was running 3-10 miles day, and sometime doing 2-a-day workouts. 

Nah. I just wanted the result of weight loss. And myfitnesspal was the promise for seeing me to said result.

But here are 5 reasons I did not like it then (and certainly do not like it now). 

Myfitnesspal App

1. It’s an app.

   Though I’m a highly digital person, there are many things for which I do not want digital. Tracking my food and workout habits are two of them. This is not a popular opinion, and I get that. I know you might love tracking via an app. Personally, I loathe it. It’s just one more thing to enter in.

2. Quick tools.

   Even though they make it easy to save commonly eaten foods and meals, I didn’t find anything quick about all the manual entry. And if I did use the “quick” way, it was only because I was lazy so if I didn’t feel like entering in a new food or meal, I’d just eat the same thing as earlier in the day. In other words, I wasn’t getting great variety.

3. Obsession with fat and calories.

   I became obsessed with fat and calories; two things I never think about these days. I understand why you might, but while healing my gut that was not helpful. If, based on my current height, weight, and goals set via the app, I went over that 1200-1300 calorie mark, I was very disappointed in myself.

4. Exhausting.

   In order for the app to work as intended, you must measure and/or weigh all your food. If you don’t, then the macros tracked aren’t accurate. And in that case, what is the point of using myfitnesspal? I look back at food portions: 1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds, 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 Tablespoon full-fat coconut milk, etc. That practice was exhausting and stressful. 

5. Myfitnesspal Down

   Finally, I found that I became too frustrated when the app was down for any reason. And honestly? That’s sort of ridiculous (on my part). But you should know that because it’s an app, it will be down from time-to-time.

“But,” you’re asking, “Maybe if you had myfitnesspal premium it would have been better?”

What is Myfitnesspal Premium?

Nope. Not even a little bit. Their promise for signing up for the premium membership is,

Premium members are 65% more likely to reach their weight loss goal.

And remember, healing your gut and solely focusing on weight loss are conflicting goals.

Just in case you are interested, though, with the myfitnesspal premium membership, you get:

• no ads clogging up the app
• insight into your nutrition through recipes and meal plans
• guidance and coaching that’s tailored for you with personalized goals
• customizable for any specific diet plan (i.e. low carb, macros, etc.) 
• ability to subtract exercise calories

The myfitnesspal premium cost is $9.99 a month or $49.99 for the year.

If you like this sort of tracking method, then those prices are very reasonable.

The Journey with Myfitnesspal

Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty of this conversation; why I believe in alternatives for myfitnesspal.

If you were to go back into my own myfitnesspal archives, you would see that I started the account in 2012; May 27, 2012 to be exact.

This was almost 2 months after the failed IVF that left me in the ER with multiple ruptured cysts.

At the time, so many things about my life felt rock bottom. And to add to my perceived stress at the time was the fact that all the drugs, medications, and lack of working out during the IVF process left me feeling miserable on all accounts.

Out of control is how I felt. 

So I took that back into my hands, controlling food and fitness with my new pal, myfitnesspal.

At the time, though, it was by far the worst thing I could have done. 

Why?

Because my gut was a mess. I had stress pouring out of every single cell in my body. And I had no idea what I was doing.

Hindsight is my friend these days because I am able to give you thoughts based on a real life experience. Something that should never have lasted as long as it did, just cycled and re-cycled until I “got it.”

Why I Chose a Myfitnesspal Alternative

Ultimately I sought out alternatives to myfitnesspal for the reasons listed above that I didn’t like about the app.

But why I’m hoping you will consider an alternative is so that you can heal your gut vs. find yourself trapped in a similar cycle I was in.

So with that, here are 31 alternatives to myfitnesspal.

PLEASE keep in mind that I have curated a huge list of alternatives to myfitnesspal, but that still does not mean that some of these alternatives don’t have the same negatives as myfitnesspal. 

You must know that you should always work with your medical provider, know your own, personal goals, and listen to what your body is telling you when choosing any app or journal.

Alternatives to Myfitnesspal {31 best alternatives in 2021}

Click HERE to save these 31 best alternatives to myfitnesspal for later.

1. Healing Blooms from Within

   The 90-day gut healing journal I created was my own, personal answer to never wanting to return to myfitnesspal again. Of course I’m listing this one first because it contains none of the things I loathe about myfitnesspal.

   The journal focuses on healing your gut so you heal your life. I practically beg you not to count calories with the journal. You’ll find the full FAQ for the journal HERE. 

    

2. Lose it!

   Set your goals – track what you eat – hit your calorie budget – track your progress – reach your goals. “We take the complexity out of losing weight by creating a personalized weight loss plan for you based on factors such as your age, height, weight, activity level, and weight loss goals.”

3. Fitbit

   Fitbit is a wearable activity tracker or smartwatch that has the added appeal of the Fitbit services. With the device, you’ll be able to track things like heart rate, total distance, calories burned, pace, and sleep. It also has GPS tracking and music.

   The membership gives you advanced insights, stress and mindfulness techniques, sleep tools, challenges, workouts and more. You can upgrade to have your own health coach accompany the app.

4. Weight Watchers

   Weight Watchers is a weight loss program that also has an app. The app is customized to you based on your needs and preferences. There is a meal planning component, barcode scanner for easy shopping, trackers, free rewards, and more. Foods are assigned points, which comes from a system factoring in calories, sugar, saturated fat, and protein. 

5. Noom

   Noom‘s focus is on making behavioral changes surrounding dieting and weight loss. Based on their initial quiz questionnaire, they appeal to those who want to lose weight for good, get fit for good, or both. The app “rewards” for making behavioral changes.

6. FatSecret

   A calorie counter and diet tracker for weight loss. FatSecret claims they are 100% free. The app contains a food diary, healthy recipes, nutritional information, exercise journal, and a weight chart and journal. 

7. MoodKit

   MoodKit provides means by which people with anxiety or depression can improve their mood. It features reminders, self-monitors, trackers, and information.

8. Cronometer

   Track nutrition and count those calories! With this app you can track up to 82 micronutrients from 300,000+ foods. There is a version for the general consumer population. And there is also a Professional Version for dietitians, doctors, and wellness coaches.

9. Fooducate

   Fooducate is a healthy diet toolbox. They claim to “empower you to achieve your diet, health, and fitness goals.” You’ll still enter in all your daily food intake, but this time the app analyzes overall food grade. The food grade is determined by calorie quality.

10. SparkPeople

    SparkPeople is the largest online diet and healthy living community with over 12 million registered members. As a member you have access to a calorie counter, personalized fitness programs, and support from their community of members and experts.

11. MyNetDiary

    Your online calorie counter and diet assistant. MyNetDiary will give you premium recipes, an easy way to track your daily intake, and insights plus guidance.

12. Sworkit

    This app helps with at home fitness and workout plans. Sworkit is your daily workout app designed to help you reach your fitness goals faster and simpler. The app contains more than 400 unique workouts and over 800 exercises.

13. Runkeeper

    Runkeeper is a GPS fitness-tracking app. It is for, you guessed it, runners. Whether you are a brand new runner or a veteran, the app has something for you to see the next level.

14. Happy Scale

    Happy Scales slogan is, “Tame the scale.” It is another all-about-weight app that uses fancy math behind the scenes to give you insights into how quickly you’re losing weight and when you’ll achieve your goals.

15. HealthyOut

    This app helps you find food-to-go that fits within your parameters. HealthyOut allows you to search by calories, nutrition tags like heart healthy and paleo, cuisines and more.

16. Done

    Done helps you build good habits and quit bad habits. Improve yourself, one color at a time. Done helps you create healthy routines by helping you set goals, tracking your progress, and then motivating you with streaks/chains, all in a simple, clean, package. Think of this one sort of like a Habits Tracker.

17. Health Pal

    Health Pal is a colorful app created by Google that helps you to keep up your body healthy and fit. It records and manages your daily activities like walking, exercises, calories, and water consumption to attain and lead a healthy lifestyle. It also gives you real time status and health reports of your daily health related activities.

18. Remente

    The Remente app encourages small actions everyday to create life changing behaviors. The app helps you understand where in life you should focus. It focuses a lot on the mind.

19. Health and Nutrition Guide & Fitness Calculators

    Not just a logging tool, but this app shares the health and nutrition benefits of the foods you’re eating through pictures and information.

20. Lark

    Lark is a friendly text-based based coach that can help you reach your health goals, providing you with personalized advice for losing weight, managing diabetes, lowering blood pressure, reducing stress, getting more active, and eating better. 

21. Self-help for Anxiety Management

    The SAM app offers a range of self-help methods for people who are serious about learning to manage their anxiety. It was developed by a university team of psychologists, computer scientists and student users. It includes an anxiety tracker.

22. ShopWell

    The ShopWell app simplifies nutrition labels and helps you discover new foods that fit your lifestyle. The app helps you stay on track by offering alerts and support for food allergies and intolerances like gluten-free, low-FODMAP, high cholesterol, etc.

23. nutritionix

    The nutritionix app is similar to many other calorie counters and trackers. However, this app allows you to speak or type freely in the app, and they take care of the rest. If you are a coach and/or you use a coach, the logs can be shared between the two of you.

24. Glo

    The Glo app is a yoga, meditation, and pilates app. You can try the first 15 days for free and then it’s $18/month for unlimited classes.

25. Lifesum

    Lifesum states that they are a, “digital self-care app that helps you reach your health and weight goals through better eating.” The app offers simple tracking of meals (including barcode scanning), exercises, habits, weight and body measurements, diets to choose from, and a weekly Life Score – what’s gone well and how you can improve.

26. Rise Nutrition

    Rise Nutrition is another nutrition and weight loss coaching app. You’ll snap photos of your meals, then get daily feedback and tips. The app pairs you with a top-notch nutritionist who will take the guess work out of dieting and figure out what works best for you.

27. 8Fit

    The 8Fit app includes custom home workouts, personalized meals based on dietary preferences and self-care guidance, meditation and stretching for overall wellbeing.

28. Streaks

    The Streaks app helps you form to-do lists to create habits. Every day you complete a task, your streak is extended. You can choose or create up to twelve tasks.

29. Beachbody

    The Beachbody app offers at-home workouts. You tell the app what your goal is and it give you workout options and a meal plan (if desired).

30. Apple Watch

    If you have an Apple Watch, there are so many ways to track workouts and fitness. I use the basics (trying to hit my move, exercise, and stand goals daily) and also the breathing app. But there are so many different apps you can easily add to the watch: StepDog, Moodistory, Heart Analyzer and more.

31. My Diet Coach

    My Diet Coach is a weight loss app. It’s visually very appealing (character nature), and in addition to other common weight loss things, there is a motivation tab that helps with motivation and inspiration.

Most Helpful Healing Tracker Method 

If you want my honest thoughts, here they are.

You are here because you have been diagnosed with and/or suspect IBS and/or IBD.

Unless a doctor specifically told you, “Lose weight or your condition is going to escalate within the next 7 days,” (which is almost 100% unlikely) I would absolutely, positively advise against any app that has you tracking food, calories, and weight loss. 

I promise with my whole heart that I know how you’re feeling and that the temptation is so real. (Read the beginning of this post again for that friendly reminder.)

But here’s the problem with the strict weight-loss method when you’re feeling “fat and bloated:”

1. No amount of weight loss will fix the underlying problem for the bloat. In fact, just like what happened to me, it might get worse.
2. It’s a distraction from the real task and goal at hand: healing your gut and uncovering the reasons your gut is not functioning optimally to begin with.

Health Tracking Apps Mash-Up

However, I do believe that you can use a couple of the apps above successfully.

After reviewing and researching all the alternatives to myfitnesspal, I can confidently recommend this approach.

1. Get your copy of Healing Blooms from Within [HERE]. 
2. And if you still want more, then consider adding the following on to assist your journaling….
   1. Food/nutrition:
      1. Fooducate
      2. Cronometer (for the micronutrient information)
   2. Fitness/workouts:
      1. Apple watch (I use this to make sure I’m moving in general because somedays I would rather just be on the computer all day!)
      2. Glo
      3. Beachbody (I have this and use it, but only for the at-home workouts)
   3. Misc.
      1. Remente
      2. MoodKit
      3. Self-help for Anxiety Management
      4. Streaks

Had I followed that map over a decade ago, my life might have looked very different.

Turning Healing Blooms from Within into a Digital App

Honestly? I’m not interested in using my 90-day gut healing journaling system digitally. I don’t desire to use it as an app, but I’m no longer the end user.

You are the true user, and so many people would love to see the journal also have a digital app option. 

Creating an app is not easy or cheap if you do it really well. And I’m also not interested in creating an app unless it’s the best poop app out there! 🙂

But I’m already trying to understand the elements and things this app would include just in case the timing or opportunity should arise.

If you’re interested in someday seeing the app come to fruition, leave a comment below with any thoughts on what you’d love the app to have.

If you liked the alternatives to myfitnesspal post, you might also enjoy:

1. Food Tracker
2. Insane Fitness and Diet
3. 12 Months of Whole Healing

Xox,
SKH