While I am working towards a fitness goal, it’s very important for me to track meals and calories intake accurately.
Usually, my diet regime would last 2-3 months, during which I log every meal to ensure my macros are matching my set targets.
Whatever your goals are, be it fat loss or muscle gain or strength gain or maintain body composition, you have to follow a balanced diet and know exactly how much protein, carbohydrates or fats you are consuming every day.
As it sounds, it really is a taxing job to keep a count of every food item and its macros. Also, it’s not very convenient to google macros every time you eat something.
To make it easier and save time on it, I use the HealthifyMe app. I started using this app since January 2017 and it’s really one of the most used apps on my phone, of course after WhatsApp ;).
Why I use Calorie counting app HealthifyMe
Disclaimer: Before discussing the app, I want to state that I am not in any way associated with HealthifyMe company. This is NOT a promotion. I genuinely use the product and find it very useful. It has helped me a lot and I want to help other fellow fitness enthusiasts.
Being a Product Manager (specialize in mobile apps), I love exploring new apps. I review apps in detail and recommend only when I am sure that it works as expected.
For meal logging, I experimented with one of the most popular apps for meal logging, MyfitnessPal, before using HealthifyMe. Though MyFitnessPal is an amazing platform, it did not serve my purpose to the fullest, since it lacks a lot of Indian food items or meals.
I found Healthifyme providing macros of most of Indian food and brands. This makes it really simple for me to just add them to my daily logs.
How to use Healthifyme App for tracking calories
Step 1. Install HealthifyMe App and Setup Your Account
Android users – HealthifyMe App on Playstore
iOS users – HealthifyMe App on Appstore
Once installed, create your account and answer simple questions that the app asks, like your height, weight, activity levels and fitness goals. Once you complete this, you will be signed into the app.
Step 2. Log your meals and start calculating calories and macros
Note: If you want to know your BMI (body mass index), go to your profile and enter your body weight and height details.
Note 2: If you want to know how many calories you should consume, set your targets in profile. Based on these details, the app tells you the calorie and macros count for each meal.
For logging the meal, click on ‘+’ icon in front of text – ‘0 out of XXXX cal eaten’. Now you see different meals, click on ‘+’ icon again. Now search for your food item, select the measuring unit and the quantity. The app displays macros for each item. Click done, and now the food is added to your meal tracker.
Step 3. Analyze your macros for each meal or the entire day
You can view macros and calories by clicking on ‘Analysis’ tab within meal tracker. The app gives detail analysis of macros and calories for each meal or collectively for a day.
Based on your macro intake during the day, you can plan your food intake. Also, if you click on a macro like protein or carb or fat, you will be able to see which food items are contributing towards it and by how much. This way you can limit the quantity of your intake.
Other Useful Features of HealthifyMe App
1. Water tracker
Similar to food, you can log your water intake to reach to your water consumption targets. This is one of the good ways to push yourself to consume the adequate amount of water every day.
You can also set reminders in the app if you tend to forget drinking forget when you get busy at work. Logging water intake in a water reminder app is one of the 7 effective habits to keep you hydrated.
2. Set meal reminder
I don’t use this feature as I never forget my meals. 🙂 But if you are one of them who tends to forget eating, you can set specific meal reminders for breakfast or lunch or snacks, whichever you miss usually.
3. Meal suggestions
This is a fantastic feature and you can utilize this if you are new to clean eating habits. The app recommends you meal options based on your food preference. You can find this inside the meal tracker, under ‘Suggestions’ tab.
To use this feature, set your food preferences in your profile, like veg/non-veg or type of food you like etc. Now, the app automatically tells you items you can eat in each meal based on your preferences and history.
Additionally, you can click on small ‘refresh’ icon in front of every meal to magically get new set of options. This is a great way for meal ideas.
Suggestions / Ideas for improving HealthifyMe App
Since I have used this app for such a long time, I would like to share the ideas that can improve the app functionality for pro users.
1. Plan for Meals in Advance
Like I am able to track today’s and past days meals, if the app also allows entering future date’s meals, it will make it easy to do meal planning and preparations in advance. (PS: MyFitnessPal has this feature.)
2. Customizable Macros Targets
As a pro user, I would like to enter day’s macros myself. instead of the app telling me. I want to be able to customize the macros I take in every meal, which may not be same as what app says. This is really important when one is in advanced stages of fitness.
By now, you would have got a good idea about HealthifyMe App. If the app interests you, download and start tracking your meals.
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