3 top calorie counting apps to kick off 2018



Here's a look at three of the top calorie counting apps to help you get a fresh start on fitness in 2018!

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Tracking the food you eat isn't just about losing weight - it helps you get an idea of the nutrients you're eating, the calories you're consuming and insights into your eating habits.

I downloaded three of the top calorie counting apps to see their features and figure out which one offers the best mix of features for any situation. Many of them connect to data from Fitbit, Apple Watch and others. Here's what I found.

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is the granddaddy of calorie counting apps. The app doesn't have the nicest interface, but it is packed with features. It also interfaces with the widest variety of connected gadgets and other fitness platforms.

Calorie counting with MyFitnessPal is pretty easy since their database has just about every food you can imagine. They also step it up a notch with a nearby restaurants feature. You can choose food from the menus at nearby restaurants for easy calorie counting. There is also the ability to scan barcodes to log food. The database is so vast in part since anyone can contribute nutrition info - so you just have to be sure you're picking the right mix of volume and calories for your item. Green check marks indicate that MyFitnessPal has validated the nutrition info.

This app has the most free features but just keep in mind - like the others - it will push you to pay for a premium subscription every step of the way.

Lifesum

If you want the most beautifully designed app of the bunch, look no further than Lifesum. It looks like something Apple itself would have designed. Lifesum is more of a daily healthy companion app that happens to count calories.

I love the clean design and how it sent me meaningful notifications throughout the day with tips on being healthy. It also reminded me to log meals I forgot to enter in.

Lifesum also has a neat "Life Score" quiz with a bunch of questions that eventually lead to a score of how healthy your lifestyle is. Another useful feature is their food scores - when you enter or scan in an item, you'll see a smiley face that represents how healthy an item is. But, again, this app also wants you to pay up to see many premium features, including why a food got its score.

LoseIt!

LoseIt rivals MyFitnessPal when it comes to the most features available. This app is best if you are actively trying to lose weight. It has loads of useful features and I really liked the way it helped me "budget" calories for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. There is also a huge weight loss community built into this app platform.

One unique feature is called SnapIt. You can take a photo of your food and LoseIt will attempt to recognize the ingredients inside so you can get calorie counts for items not in the database like a salad from a local restaurant.

One thing I didn't like about LoseIt are the onscreen ads. Like the other services, this one also pushes you to a premium membership for more features like the ability to remove ads and track nutrients.