Best food tracking app UK

Food tracking apps have become one of the staples of those trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Keeping track of what food goes into your body and more importantly the calories and nutrients that come with that is going to give you a significant advantage when it comes to reaching your goals.

If your goal is slimming down, then knowing how many calories are going into your body is critical. This and you need to make sure you’re still getting enough protein, minerals and all that other good stuff to stay healthy.

Similar if you’re looking to gain muscle. You should be tracking if you are getting enough protein but also track all the nutrients and minerals for your overall health is key.

Best food tracking app UK

Lose it!

First we’re going to look at Lose it!, this app is a very in depth app when it comes to your tracking – the app works very hard to track everything it can when it comes to health. We’re mainly looking at the food tracking, but it does also track your exercise levels, water intake and even your sleep levels.

These are not necessarily needed but if you use it then it will give you a good idea of your overall health. Apps which are all encompassing can be great if you want to minimise your app usage overall.

When it comes to food tracking, the app is fairly simple. You can select the log tab at the bottom and you’re on the food tracking section.

Here you can enter what you ate for various meals and the app will even help with auto filling the searches including the calories and dietary information. It can be a little inaccurate, but it will give you a rough idea and speeds thing up significantly.

It should be noted you get most but not all of the functionality of the app with the free version. The free version lets you track all your meals but not snacks so if you’re looking for an all encompassing app then the paid version will be the way to go.

Overall, the app performs extremely well. The one downside it has when it comes to tracking is that it tracks only your macronutrients and calories, meaning it won’t be able to track if you’re getting the nutrients you may need.

If you’re primarily looking for weight loss however then the app does everything you need. You can read our full Lose It review here.

8 fit

Next, we’re going to look at 8 fit, this app like most others comes with additions to just the food tracking options it has.

Not only does it track additional points besides nutrition such as exercise, weight and even meditation, but it also provides workouts plans. We’re mainly looking at the food tracking but it’s a nice addition to have if that type of thing interests you.

So, how is the food tracking? Well, firstly you’ll need to get the paid version to use this feature. Second, this is very much a weight loss type of app. As a key part if weight loss is your calorie intake the food tracking side of the app is very much centred around that.

There’s also a heavy focus on the calories that you burn in a similar fashion to the Lose it! app. If you want to lose weight incrementally then 8 Fit is one of the better tracking apps for this.

Overall, the app is very good actually, one of the stand out pros of the app is how well the user interface works, it’s very clear, concise and intuitive when it comes to simply using the app.

It can be a big downside for any user if an app is confusing – we touch on that a little more in our full 8 fit review.

Lifesum

The next app we’ll look at us Lifesum. This app is a healthy eating app with a diary feature to help you keep track of your eating.

The first thing to mention is that the tracking side of the app is free, and the paid version is essentially there to give you recipes and meal plans. If you’re looking for an app to automate your eating and general calorie intake then this is a nice bonus you might want to consider.

For the food tracking side of the app it’s very intuitive and very easy to do. Simply navigate to the diary tab of the app and add meals or snacks that you have throughout your day.

A really nice benefit with this that takes it above and beyond is that it has a summary of your daily in take at the top of the page for calories, macro nutrients and even exercise.

The great thing about this is that you can look at this when you get to your dinner and see exactly how many calories you have to work with and make sure you stick to your daily recommended amount.

Common Questions about Food Tracking apps

Conclusion

In conclusion the 3 apps are actually very similar, as with a lot of these apps the food tracking itself is kept very simple on purpose to make the worry of tracking calories as easy as possible.

This is after all one of the biggest if not the biggest reasons behind weight loss. After all, the whole process of weight loss is simply burning more calories than you are consuming each day.

If we look at the food tracking itself, Lifesum does the best job. Their summary section is very helpful and is a nice bonus to have, but they are all very similar.

8 fit does have a similar summary page but there is less detailed information and is overall a bit more confusing with a lot of visual noise. This may be preferable to some however just keep it in mind.

As far as which app is best for you it’s going to depend then on the extra features around the food tracking that you like for the most part.

Lifesum is very much focused on food with its meal plans and recipes. Lose it! is focused entirely on tracking the various aspects of fitness allowing you track a lot more factors and 8fit’s bonus contribution is that it provides workouts that you can do.

A small note to mention on the usability of the apps is that 8 fit has the best user interface, it’s very clear and easy to use, which may make it worth trying for some people.