Another Great Food Diary App To Consider

One thing I love about posting on Smart Phone Health Care is that when I’m researching for my posts, I come across pretty neat apps or ideas. Awhile back, I posted about some great food diary apps. Tonight, I want to talk about the latest one I have come across, called LoseIt! My interest was sparked after I read this article. The author said he lost 11 pounds in 6 weeks using this free app. After looking at the website and the mobile app I downloaded to my Android phone, I’m pretty impressed and going to start using it in conjunction with Couch-to-5k.

When registering, you are asked your age, gender, and how much you would like to lose a weight. You have to select between .5 and 2 pounds, and, depending on what you select, a daily calorie allotment is adjusted to your specific needs and gives a projected weight goal date. For someone who likes to see something full circle before I begin something, this is great, even though it’s not guarantee.

The process is simple enough. When logged-in, the home page is your log, and you simply just click on “Add Food” or “Add Exercise”, and assign a food to the correct meal. The food database isn’t too bad, but isn’t nearly as comprehensive as I found MyFitnessPal.com to be. The food section is fairly organized, allowing users to select from not only the database, but a selection of restaurants and supermarkets. I think that would be nice if you couldn’t remember the specific name of a food from a restaurant but could recognize it from a list.

There are quite a few different options on the website. Personal goals can be set (or adjusted). A variety of reports can be generated, such as weekly summaries, BMI, or a “MyPlate Report”. The “MyPlate Report” basically analyzes the food from your daily reports and shows you if it matches up with the recommendations from ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Users are encourage to use the app with friends, as the website claims “that users with 3 or more friends lose 3lbs more than users with no friends on Lose It!” There are also quite a few forums available for support, tips, or just chatting with fellow-users. I liked the “Teams, Contests, and Fun” forum the best, because who doesn’t like a little competition for motivation?

One of the best parts, in my opinion, about this website is the “motivators”. You can set reminders at certain times of the day to remind you to record meals if something hasn’t been recorded by a certain point. This reminds me a little bit of a smoking cessation program that has been created to help people quit smoking by sending motivational reminders throughout the day. I could see these reminders being helpful if a person knows when weak times are.

The app is easy to use but nothing too fancy. It’s simple to see how many calories are left for the day, as well as view a weekly report.

Overall, it seems like another great option for a food diary, but I think for the time being, I will stick with the MyFitnessPal platform. Fortunately, this is a free app that is available both for Android and iOS.

About the author

Katie Clark

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

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