Posted May 21, 2010
It’s the latest diet excuse: I’ll curb my appetite when I find the right app. A smorgasbord of apps promises to help you count calories, right on your smart phone.
I tested five apps on my iPhone in my quest to blast off 10 pounds. They’re fun, and helpful. They favor folks who eat prepared and chain restaurant foods. But they remember what you eat, and kind of nudge you along, and it gets easier. I found myself making exercise a higher priority, so not to disappoint my app. And finding recipes with nutrition info, so I could log them easily. After a week, I’ve lost one pound.
Here is the skinny.
–Lose It (free): Basic, surprisingly effective. Tap the icon–a cute orange scale–and right away it tells you, “Food calories consumed,” “Exercise calories burned,” and how much more you can eat. Beautiful and simple! One friend has used Lose It for nine days and has already lost two pounds.
–My Net Diary(free;99 cents for PRO): More complex and a bit harder to learn, this app has a neat page called “Analysis,” which congratulates and reproaches you. It makes predictions, like: “At this rate you will be losing about 5 3/4 oz. daily.” A chart optimistically plots this weight loss. This app also inquires about your mood. User-assembled food database is slapdash, as is the Web site, www.mynetdiary.com , which I found frustrating. The PRO setting did not add much. –My Fitness Pal (free): Though a bit slower, My Fitness Pal had the most impressive food library yet. It listed seven kinds of Monk’s Bread! But it hassled me as I struggled to enter in my homemade Pad Thai–demanding, for instance, “Servings Per Container.” The app’s best feature is its clean, relaxing Web site. It makes logging easier and includes a great forum for people who like to gripe with other dieters.
–Livestrong ($2.99): This surprisingly Spartan app never asked my goal, only accepting that I wanted to lose a pound a week, presumably into eternity. But, it allowed me a whopping 1,431 calories a day. Good food library, though it’s slow; also, you have to hit the disconcerting statement “I Ate This.” The Web site is colorful but weird and confusing. It also has lively forums where dieters can compare goals and progress.
–Tap&Track($3.99): The ultimate for the prepared food consumer, this app catalogs 405 chains. Wegmans alone has thousands of items! Otherwise, I found it cumbersome. The directions are unhelpful, and after three days I was still having trouble.
Conclusion: Try a free app, and if it’s not right for you, try another.
Just the way we do with diets.
e-mail: mkunz@buffnews.com
Date: May 17, 2010
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