Best app to track fitness and calories?

[KingstonU]

I looking to start getting more involved in my fitness by keeping track of what calories i'm eating and what exercises I do on a daily basis (and anything else you guys recommend)

My goal is not to track my weight loss (which most of the apps i've seen seem to focus on). My goal is add muscle mass and reduce body fat.

Do any of you use certain apps that do this that you think is good for both calorie counting and exercise tracking? If there was one app that does it all that would be the best. (I have an android device)

Thanks

 

[smackababy]

I think myFitnessPal does both, however, their estimates for daily calories seemed way off. I think a lot of the food is user submitted values, so it could be way off.

 

[tortoise]

Best app to track fitness and calories?

The scale.

 

[KidNiki1]

myfitnesspal tracks calories, weight, exercise (both cardio and lifting), neck, waist and hip measurements. you can enter as much or as little of the above information as you wish. if you want to keep track of other info, it allows you to create your own categories to track. if you have a fitbit, it will also add in step and sleep info. i know there are other apps as well, but i really like MFP. it works on my PC, phone and kindle very easily. i like the phone app because it allows me to bar code scan items for auto entering prepackaged items. i also like that it shows me not just the carb/fat/protein macros, but other items like iron, or cholesterol or sodium intake per day.

 

[finbarqs]

I did MFP for 3 months. Lost 50 lbs. I also use a Polar FT7 to track my workouts, to get an accurate measurement of how much I burn. Crazy how I started off with ~ 1k calories per hour at my crossfit gym. Now I'm down to ~400/hr...

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

i use mfp for tracking macros/cals but i think there's so many ways it can be improved on. i'm sure there's a better one out there but i'm too lazy to switch.

 

[z1ggy]

I use a combo of Lose it! and myfitnesspal. I think Lose it! is a bit more accurate with calculating your caloric and nutrient needs.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I use fitday.com to track food .... when I am tracking it.

Exercise .... I use an app when I run but nothing for weights. I use a notepad for weights.

 

[Java Cafe]

I use a combo of Lose it! and myfitnesspal. I think Lose it! is a bit more accurate with calculating your caloric and nutrient needs.

How does Lose It! compare with MFP when it comes to usability (interface, navigation, data entry, etc.), does it have a food database as extensive as MFP, and will it deal as well with custom food and/or ethnic/world cuisine?

TIA.

 

[beach2nd]

another vote for myfitnesspal

 

[smackababy]

How does Lose It! compare with MFP when it comes to usability (interface, navigation, data entry, etc.), does it have a food database as extensive as MFP, and will it deal as well with custom food and/or ethnic/world cuisine?

TIA.

My problem my MFP is that while it does have a huge database, I think a lot of it is user entered, so I think it is all probably fairly inaccurate.

 

[deadken]

I don't mean to take this thread off topic, but I want to ask if it is even possible to get an accurate count of how many calories you are burning without the use of a Heart Rate Monitor?

The reason why I ask that question is that you, the OP, might not really be able to track your calories burned with just an app alone. While it may be possible to get an idea (as stated by others above), it may be wildly inaccurate (as stated by others above).

When I bought my HRM, my understanding is that it would be much more accurate for my app to figure out how many calories I burned.

FWIW: I use Sports-Tracker with the Sports-Tracker blutetooth HRM. I run, ride, and now paddle. http://www.sports-tracker.com/

EDIT:
If you are interested: here is a link to my workouts that have been tracked by Sports-tracker:http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/deadken/2amkm5d65v1p5990
Please note: I just got the HRM about a month ago. Yesterday (09/27/13) the GPS knocked off about .5 miles from my run while the HRM shows my max HR to be 192bpm. It is rare that the GPS messes up (it does happen) and if you look at the route it shows I ran, you can see where it messed up (compare it to the route I've run 5+ times a week for over a year now). This is the first time I've seen the HRM show such crazy numbers. Needless to say, I'll keep an eye on it to see if it flakes out again. Right now, I'm assuming it was just a fluke with the phone or app since both those problems happened on the same workout.

 

[QueBert]

My problem my MFP is that while it does have a huge database, I think a lot of it is user entered, so I think it is all probably fairly inaccurate.

I've entered a lot of stuff I've eaten into MFP, I find it normally to be very accurate. It helps that just about everything has multiple people submitting the info. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I gotta assume if I look up something and it says 5 people have submitted the % it's going to display the majority that match up. I've also entered a decent number of things, and I'm very careful about putting the right numbers in.

 

[deadken]

I've entered a lot of stuff I've eaten into MFP, ... I've also entered a decent number of things, and I'm very careful about putting the right numbers in.

Can I ask how you determined the amount of calories you burned?

 

[Auric]

deadken, I use Sports Tracker too but without an HRM and do not count intake either. Just wondering if you have compared the kcal estimates with and without the HRM?

 

[deadken]

deadken, I use Sports Tracker too but without an HRM and do not count intake either. Just wondering if you have compared the kcal estimates with and without the HRM?

Honestly, I haven't. I've thought about it, but frankly, it isn't really important to me. I dialed my weekly mileage back a bit for a little bit (hit a low of around 13MPW) and now am starting to get back towards the 17MPW I used to do. So, as long as I'm comfortable that I'm doing decent exercise, I don't count calories intake or burned.

Please feel free to check out the link I gave to my workouts earlier in this thread. I'm guessing that with all my 'usual' 2 mile morning runs, it shouldn't be too difficult to find 2 that have similar paces / times and compare the calories burned.

BTW: I bought my Sports-Tracker BT HRM from Radio Shack for $72. That was $8 (%10) cheaper that I found them on the Sports-Tracker website. It was in stock (not special order). More importantly, I had 30 days to return it (just keep the receipt and box). I had heard of problems with BT HRM's, but I found the BT HRM to be pretty simple and reliable (not including the report of 192 BPM yesterday). The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of battery life indicator. I just charge it every 3 days or so.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=22370536

 

[QueBert]

Can I ask how you determined the amount of calories you burned?

Nike GPS Sports Watch with a Wearlink+ HRM when I'm working out. It's accurate enough for my needs, aside from that I weigh everything I make to eat and enter it all into MFP. I eat mostly the same things so I've checked and in MFP they all have the correct %'s.

 

[deadken]

deadken, .... Just wondering if you have compared the kcal estimates with and without the HRM?

I updated the previous reply with this information, but it seems to have not worked. So, I'll post it here:
Here is a workout from 08/13/13 without the HRM showing 2.11 miles, 16:32 duration, 7:50 minute / mile pace and 283 kcal.
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/deadken/899bgeosnupd8qq3
And Here is a workout from 09/13/13 with the HRM showing 2.13 miles, 16:10 duration, 7:35 minute / mile pace and 244 kcal.
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/deadken/a49gc5fm679g2eeb

From the few minutes I've taken to compare a couple of workouts it seems that runs with the HRM read that I've burned about 30-50 kcal less when compared to runs without the HRM. If you look at the links I just gave above, take a minute and click on 'data view' instead of 'workout overview'. Then, scroll down under then information box and you'll see a comparison of similar workouts. The ones with a little heart icon on the far right are workouts that I wore the HRM. You can really get a close look at similar workouts that way. Just look at the kcal column and you'll see the differences.

I wonder why the obvious differences? Perhaps my pace is different from what they used as a 'average runner' and therefore I burn different kcal?

Nike GPS Sports Watch with a Wearlink+ HRM when I'm working out. It's accurate enough for my needs, aside from that I weigh everything I make to eat and enter it all into MFP. I eat mostly the same things so I've checked and in MFP they all have the correct %'s.

Thanks for the information. As I had said earlier, I had heard that determining calories burned without using a HRM isn't very accurate, so, I was wondering how you determined your information. I give you credit for weighing everything you eat. I'm not sure I could do that without becoming obsessed about everything. I give you a big thumbs up if you pull that off without being anal about your diet!

 

[CPA]

Bumping an old thread as I just re-installed myfitnesspal today.

It seems the mfp is not calculating any calorie usage from strength exercises. Is that by design or a user error? I can't seem to find any settings or way to edit caloric burn from strength exercises. If it doesn't calculate it, then obviously I won't be able to get full usage out of the app.

edit: okay, google-fu got me the answer. Seems you have to list strength exercise under Cardio to get a calorie burn estimate.

 

[Mai72]

I use both Jefit and My Fitness Pal.

 

[Plugers]

I use MFP, and have it linked to Endomondo for tracking calories burned during workouts with a Zephyr bluetooth HRM.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I use a running app to track calories while running.

I think tracking calories burned from lifting is more art than science. Remember that you burn while you lift. But your body also expends calories during recovery. And your recovery depends on how hard you push yourself. Not to mention, who did testing for actual calorie burn on hundreds of different exercises? Bench press, decline press, slight incline press, steep incline press, pushups, etc.
Squat, sumo squat, half squat, high bar squat, front squat, low bar squat, etc.

Also, arm length impact calorie burn since calorie burn when lifting weights is based on the amount of weight and how far you move the weight. I'd also guess that people with better form are more efficient than with bad form. When I started lifting, I added about 10% to my bench simply by fixing my form.

Ya, running has it's problems to. Someone that bobs up and down more when running burns more calories than someone that looks like an ice skater gliding on ice when running.

Calorie burn when running is more science than art. Calorie burn with weights is more art than science.

"It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong" - Carveth Read
or put in more elegantly:
"It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong" - John Maynard Keynes

 

[Ns1]

LoseIt wants $30 bucks/year to upgrade to the premium to get fitbit integration!

Anyone pony up the $30 for premium?

 

[smackababy]

LoseIt wants $30 bucks/year to upgrade to the premium to get fitbit integration!

Anyone pony up the $30 for premium?

I haven't. I have no idea what fitbit was until I googled it. And, they make a Tory Burch version, so in the event I get it, I'll have to get one of those as well for the GF. =(