I use this app too, and I love it. It really is well designed and easy to use. I tell everybody who might be interested about it. It's honestly one of the best designed apps that I have ever used for anything. And free!

I am not much of a snacker, but I tend to go too long between meals and snacks, and then eat larger portions than I should. It has really helped me get those down to better sizes. I don't know if I have lost any weight, because we don't have a scale, but I notice I feel better after eating.

I use SparkPeople, and I love it as well. Unfortunately, their mobile app doesn't work with my phone, but I can still use the webpage to track on my phone if I am on the go or away from home.
Lots of the food tracking apps are great tools if you aren't sure where the extra weight is coming from, it really helps you see where you can improve.
Good luck with the last 10lbs!

sounds a lot like www.myfitnesspal.com

I lost 15 pounds in the first 4 weeks after knee surgery. It was a bit mystifying at first but I finally figured out that being less mobile removed a lot of snacking "targets of opportunity" as I meandered around my neighbourhood. Now that I'm more mobile again I'm being very vigilant about that kind of thing. Much less work than tracking everything, which my "stupid phone" can't do anyway. Just program yourself to stop and think every time food is involved. Yesterday I stopped myself from snacking several times (oh, those little lime tarts at the bakery! that yummy chocolate bar!) and waited until I got home to eat a proper meal. Now, to work on portion control and getting that first number in my weight down to a 1 from a 2 . . .

Isn't available for UK :(

Thanks for the app suggestion! I've been looking for something like this now that I'm no longer following WW. I am hypothyroid and have estrogen dominance so I gained 40 pounds over a few months when I got sick. I'm still trying to figure out the right dosage of meds but eating healthy and tracking can't hurt the cause :) Thanks!

I've used this app over the years and what I love about it the most is that it helped me establish proper portion sizes as well as eating habits (as the author totes). For me, these lessons have carried over long after I've stopped working with the app. The denial, binge and guilt cycle is ugly, unnecessary, and all to common in our society.

Wouldn't it be great if high schools could use a tool like this in a health/nutrition class to teach about balanced eating? Maybe some already do...

Is this better than myfitnesspal? I've been using that for awhile. But I'm not trying to lose weight. I just want to track my calories and macros (proteins/carbs/fats). Myfitnesspal's settings for protein goals are annoying.

That's a cool app, but I don't eat pre-packaged foods very often which makes it hard to count calories or points. I make almost all my meals and figuring out the actual number of calories in what I eat is really time consuming!

I've been using this app for a few months as well and it's helped me lose 12 pounds! I agree- you might think what you're snacking on isn't a lot, but those calories add up like WHOA.

Yeah, it gets tricky when you go out to eat or when you put food together yourself, but the more you measure food, the better you get at eyeballing how much is a tablespoon and a half cup.

The app is super easy to use and I love it. Hope this post helps more people find it and use it with success!

Actually, Carrotsticks, it allows input of raw foods. I don't eat half as much packaged food as I used to. And even though you'll never get 100% accurate figures, I find if you over-estimate, you'll do even better!

I use "myfitnesspal", which allows you to enter recipes, and it then calculates the calories. I also don't eat much packaged foods, which makes most of these apps difficult. But I've lost over 10 lbs on "myfitnesspal". What I love about myfitnesspal is that it is somewhat like facebook, and your friends can cheer you on.

Apps are really only good if you use them...

If you're in the boat where no amount of dieting helps you lose weight, and/or your cravings don't diminish so that avoiding the snacks is a constant effort to DENY yourself - please google "leptin resistance." The solution is more about restricting carbs than calories. And eating carbs is what CAUSES cravings, so there's not that constant battle going on; you just naturally lose interest..

And here's the thing: it's WAY WAY healthier to reverse one's leptin resistance than to just restrict calories. Leptin is a master hormone like insulin and most of us in this society are resistant. It has to do with the AMOUNT of carbs we eat being way higher than a natural diet would entail.

When we're leptin-resistant, and most people in western society are, it's the beginning of most of the diseases labeled "chronic," and the evidence is overwhelming. Please see a little book called Rosedale Diet, available used for a couple of bucks, for very clear medical explanations and many testimonials. Rosedale isn't selling anything so you can pretty much be sure he's telling the truth.

He has reversed leptin and insulin resistance in many cases and it absolutely worked for me, not only in a matter of weeks, but with very little effort and almost no sense of "dieting."

And please be aware that nowadays whenever a disease is labeled "chronic," it's more than likely because Big Medicine ignores actual research in favor of junk science paid for by Big Pharma who steps up to the plate with a "treatment" that you have to take the rest of your life, and the reason you have to do so is that the only thing getting "treated" is your symptoms, not underlying causes.

My cholesterol and triglyceride levels dropped like deadweight, and in the process I lost 40 pounds that I'd been unable to shed no matter how healthily I ate or how low my caloric intake was.

One last bit of the sermon: leptin was only discovered in the 90's. It's the switch that tells the brain you've eaten enough and can stop now. The pharmaceutical industry thought they'd hit a gold mine; just put it into a pill, and people's hunger will stop. But when they began testing, they found that virtually everybody already had too MUCH leptin, i.e. had become resistant because all the carbs they'd ingested had messed up their metabolism. So they dropped the subject right away - not lucrative.

Rosedale and a few others continued researching and found what is actually the best preventive for heart disease, stroke, etc; but of course cures aren't what make money - disease makes money. if one ever needed proof, this is it.

If there's an app that counts carbs rather than calories, and if you can avoid carbs almost totally for three weeks till the leptin resistance is reversed, and then eat them only sparingly, my personal experience tells me you'll be not only a lot thinner if you need to be, but also a LOT healthier.

I use the app, too! Though, I have to admit that I have fallen off the wagon as of late. But over the summer, I was really good about using it, and lost 12 lbs without really even trying.

It's fun that you can add friends to the app, so you can sort of be competitive about it (or cheer one another on).

I will say one thing about the exercises though... I was counting EVERYTHING, and there's an option for sex. But my mother in law and sister in law are both connected to me on the app and can see all of my activity. So, I had to find an activity of equal caloric value... Turns out, "playing catch" is now my partner's favorite code word. If they only knew :)

I lost all my baby weight + some additional weight using myfitnesspal. awesome and easy to use and saves yr commonly used food items.

LoseIt allows you to save a recipe - you enter the ingredients and the number of servings, and it saves that as an item you can use and reuse. I make the Oatmeal Breakfast Clafoutis from Chocolate & Zucchini a lot in the colder months, and it's easy to just select 1 serving and go. What's also nice is that you can re-select a meal you've had in the last few months, so if you like me tend to eat a lot of the same things, it's very convenient.

I lost 15 pounds on LoseIt, and then I stopped using it and gained 10 of them back! So I'm back on it. The forums are very useful, and for a small additional cost it'll sync your FitBit or other fitness tracker.

Another good one that's really similar, but with a slicker interface, is MyPlate by Livestrong.

I also use and love Lose It! I especially love the option to enter excercies --- I am a night snacker so sometimes if I'm really hungry after my calories for the day are spent I'll do yoga for like 30 mins or something and then I can have a snack! Great app!

Thanks for that info, Annie-O!

Agree with you @Annie-O, this fixation on calories totally misses the mark. Yes, you can (sometimes) lose weight by reducing calories, but it takes so much effort and usualy leaves you outrageously hungry. Changing what types of foods you are eating is way more efficient and actually begins to tackle the inflammatory issues your body is fighting if you are reducing calories but still eating things like... whole-grain pasta, breads, cereals, etc. In addition to being overweight, problems like arthritis, allergies, asthma, GI issues, skin problems... these are all caused by inflammation. You don't even have to be having digestion issues to be allergic to foods. I personally tested negative for all allergies but managed to lose weight as well as completely reverse my asthma by changing my diet. And I did not cut or keep track of calories. I've posted this before and am a bit of a broken record, but I have seen behind the curtain. You should have seen my doctor's reaction when he found out I had achieved such amazing results by just eating good whole foods. (I went paleo, for those interested in my own personal miracle.)

Good point, Annie-O. I dropped 20 pounds and lost all kinds of insane cravings when I eliminated all grains from my diet. This type of eating may not work for everyone but it does for me.

I've lost ~75 #s with a combination of myfitnesspal.com and becoming a bike commuter. Not to my goal yet, but it was really helpful and forced me to be honest with myself about servings and how much fat and sugar I was eating. I never ate too many packaged foods, but I had to cut back on the baking. I didn't know you could enter recipes - I'll have to check that feature out.

I opened this article just to comment! Actually, I opened to add my two cents that LOSE IT! is the best, but it looks like the author is in agreement! I've shed weight and gotten myself back into better habits several times using this.
FOR THOSE THAT COOK AND EAT AT HOME: We do, too. Almost exclusively. From raw foods (not boxes to be scanned). The updates to this app (you know, since I started using it 4 years ago) are amazing, because you can add recipes!! You choose the raw foods and amount, and then you can set how many servings are in the recipe, and it calculates all the nutrients for you. It saves the recipe and you can add it to your day whenever, just like any other raw food or boxed/branded product. LOVE THIS and it made it much easier this time around to track my eating accurately-- I just added recipes as I went, especially our favorites.
This app is SO EASY to use and it's really fun and encouraging! It helps you stay focused, and puts into perspective the difference that little snacks and second helpings make in your day! It's not just good for losing weight, either-- I first started using this as I transitioned from omnivore to vegetarian, and it encouraged me how much more fiber vegetarianism offered while still surpassing the recommended amount of daily protein! As a FREE app, I highly recommend it-- for losing weight, for analyzing your daily intake, for seeing the nutrient breakdown of your homemade recipes, and for checking the nutrient content of foods at restaurants and groceries!

OH, and I'm not one for fixating on calories, either-- this app tracks all nutrients (fat, sat fat, carbs, fiber, protein, sugar, etc) that I try to keep in balance. Much better to see your breakdown of calories so as to better the healthfulness of your intake :)

@Terryjackson, try using my fitnesspal. Its also free and very good, it also provides all calorie content for foods from sainsburys, m&s, tesco, etc. I use it just to track my calorie intake but its also good for weight loss (unless you're like me and never drop a pound even on 1200 calories a day aaargh!)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LoseIt! I've lost 25 pounds with it this year, and it has made keeping the weight off so easy. Tracking exactly what I eat and how much of it has made me so much more mindful of the choices I make and has turned my eating around. It's also so helpful to learn how two seemingly similar foods can have such different nutritional values.

There are lots of restaurants (mostly fast food, but still) in the App as well, which makes eating out really easy.

I can't say enough good things about LoseIt!

In the end, calories DO matter - unfortunately, 3500 calories too much of nutritious food will create the exact same extra pound on your body that 3500 calories of junk food will. The trick, though, is that it's a lot harder to pack on those extra calories if you're eating nutritious food.

So you do have to know about your caloric intake. But I find that focusing on what you SHOULD be eating (veggies, fruit, lean protein) rather than on what you SHOULDN'T is the best mindset. If you're getting your day's fruit and veggies, you won't have any appetite left over for junk food! And you will have both high nutrition and lower calories.

Down 20 pounds this year! (So far.)

I also use this app. The only times it doesn't work is when I don't follow through on recording.

YES! I use this app, too! It's the best, this year I've lost about 18 pounds post baby, and am down to college weight again. Which is nice. I used it for the first six months of the year and am just now back to it. I think the reason weight loss didn't work for me before was that I was woefully unaware of how many calories are in healthy food! So I'd work out and burn 200 calories and eat an extra cup of rice, which negated any effects. My husband uses it, too, with 20 pounds lost as well. I want to lose another 10 or so, and account for breastfeeding with extra calories (I get about 500 extra/day). It was also helpful because I figured out that if I ate below 2000 calories/day while breastfeeding, my supply changed, so I lost weight slowly and steadily, which is the best way!

My husband jokes that this is the poor man's Weight Watchers!

That is a great idea (the school teaching)

Interesting, AnnieO. What you're saying makes sense.

Most people would consider my diet *very* healthy, and I'm bang in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height, according to my BMI (yes, I know it's a flawed measurement, but still). And that's with a fair bit of muscle (I work out with weights 3-4 times a week).

But STILL I have stomach flab I can't budge, and a terrible sweet tooth that I struggle very hard with. I am fairly convinced that I have insulin surges and crashes from eating too many carbs; I just need to get round to doing something about it. It really feels like a physical addiction.

Anyway, thanks for the insight.

Hey charlie26 - I lost 10+ pounds almost exclusively from my middle! I went on the paleo diet for completely different reasons (tackling asthma) and wasn't trying to lose weight at all because I had assumed those vanity pounds would never come off - they'd never budged before. I started with a sort of boot-camp version of paleo called the Whole Thirty, which leads you through 30 days of removing the foods in our diet that can cause those insulin surges and inflammation (no grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, added sugars.) No calorie counting - in fact they make a point to make sure you are eating enough and getting enough fats. I considered it a science experiment and a challenge. I too had been eating very healthy before, so discounted food for months and months as a health problem. I'd even tried giving up wheat and dairy for 3 months and didn't see results. Getting rid of asthma was my main focus (and it worked!) but I won't deny I'm pretty happy with the weight loss too!

I'm pretty sure they know now. ;)

Eat less junk. No app needed!

I think you can log onto the website and change the goals for specific nutrients, you just can't do it on your phone.

Not available in the Netherlands either. :-(

Costs money, but the UP wristband (which you use with an app) relaunched last week - very cool tool for food monitoring, plus tracks things like sleep and activity level....

Anything that helps me be more mindful of what, how much and when I'm eating is incredibly helpful. This is a great app!

This app helped me lose 30 pounds. I was never one for portion control until I started using Lose it!

I'm pretty happy with my weight, but I started using this after first reading this article as a way to at least be conscious of how much I'm taking in. I like that I can upload recipes that I use often and it will analyze the nutrition for me. I didn't set out to lose any weight, but I actually have lost a couple pounds in the last week just from being more aware of what I'm eating. As easy as the app makes it for you, logging every single thing that I put in my mouth gets a bit daunting, so I think I'll take the weekends off :) Oh... and Thanksgiving.