Fitness and eating apps?

[Discoste]

MyFitnessPal - huge database, good if you just want a food log/tracker. Not too sure on the "activity tracking side"

RP App - diet "coach". Monthly subscription fee after Trial period. Macro counting based, tells you what to eat and when based on your goal. Caters to the "meal prep" folks as the app adjusts to what foods you bought/plan to eat. It's for people who just want to be told how much to eat and when (not my preference though).

Either way, would recommend weighing your food with a scale - eyeballing is not good enough if you want to actually successfully track.

[troutman]

Are step trackers really that accurate in measuring energy expenditure?

I've seen some fitbit users make some highly suspect claims on calories burned based on steps.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...es-burned.html

A Stanford inquiry into the accuracy of seven wristband activity monitors showed that six out of seven devices measured heart rate within 5 percent. None, however, measured energy expenditure well.

https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup...itness-tracker

Another recent study tested four trackers—the Apple Watch Series 4, Polar Vantage V, Garmin Fenix 5, and Fitbit Versa—and concluded that while the Apple Watch and the Polar Vantage V did pretty well at measuring heart rate, none of the four should be used to monitor energy expenditure at the levels tested, which ranged from sitting to sprinting.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearab...ness-trackers/

A recent meta-analysis covering 60 previously published studies showed that fitness trackers are not very accurate at measuring energy expenditure, especially for less vigorous activities like walking or housework. But once again, that doesn’t mean that they’re useless. If you’re aiming to lose weight and want to count calories burned as part of a diet and exercise effort, then fitness trackers can help you do it.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by troutman

Are step trackers really that accurate in measuring energy expenditure?

I've seen some fitbit users make some highly suspect claims on calories burned based on steps.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...es-burned.html

https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup...itness-tracker


https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearab...ness-trackers/

I think anyone that uses these devices as "scientific" needs their heads checked.

That being said, I got a Versa from a buddy that didn't use it anymore. I wanted to try it to increase me activity levels.

It provides a baseline, is it really 16,000 steps or 10 kms a day, to my mind it doesn't matter if the scale/measurement is wrong as long as that is the scale/measurement you always use.

[DoubleF]

MyFitnessPal is still probably the best for overall tracking of dietary habits and picking up some small tidbits of information through the app on whether you are making good decisions and calorie counting.

Activity trackers IMO are pure garbage for accurate tracking of exercise and health in general. However, IMO you are more likely to be more active wearing one than not wearing one, even if the data is highly suspect. If you haven't met whatever unscientific measure it is you set for the day, you get a reminder and you have an idea whether you need to increase your physical activity.


EDIT: I'd also like to add that having a scale that could track my BMI was probably kinda on par with the activity tracker, but the food side. It was also a little unscientific on how I applied the information, but basically I could see a trend and determine if it was appropriate to feast/famine for extra calories to meet a specific goal I had in mind.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Discoste

MyFitnessPal - huge database, good if you just want a food log/tracker. Not too sure on the "activity tracking side"

Just to add my experience on this; you can sync MyFitnessPal with trackers if you want it to adjust calorie intake based on activity.

For example, I sync it with my Samsung Health app and it easily imports my steps for each day or other exercises (if I want it to). I then have the option if I want it to add more allowable calories to my day since I've walked a bunch.

Great points about the meal planning aspects of Noom and getting a food scale.
I personally go with more of a IIFYM (if it fits your macros) diet, so MFP is great for that.
For someone wanting meal planning, Noom does look promising.

[Faust]

Apple Fitness+: A New Engaging and Personalized Fitness Experience Comes to Life with Apple Watch:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...th-Apple-Watch

[indes]

I'm trying out Chris Hemsworth's app Centr right now and doing the 6 week challenge

I'm not doing the recipes because most of them involve a lot of prep so I'm using Cronometer to monitor my diet.

I recently lost 15lbs (205-190)
Then proceeded to get back up to 202lbs in the last two months and need to get my eating under control. ####ing poutines.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

[driveway]

I'm down almost 6kg in a month using Noom. It's a solid A- of an app. I'm finding it particularly helpful as I've never had to be thoughtful about my diet before. I was always a fairly skinny guy, but the closer I got to 40 the more weight I put on until I got to a point where I didn't like at all how I looked.

Starting from essentially zero understanding of caloric intake, calorie density, etc. Noom has been helpful with advice and information. There is also a support network built into the app and it has a somewhat decent database of foods to enter.

[zamler]

You can't eat an app it only exists in the quantum realm.

[t0rrent98]

Beastly App seems pretty decent. Its newly made by the youtuber "how to beast". $20 a month or 184.99 a year. Gives you workouts and allows you to track your meals.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by t0rrent98

Beastly App seems pretty decent. Its newly made by the youtuber "how to beast". $20 a month or 184.99 a year. Gives you workouts and allows you to track your meals.

That guy seems like a total tool