are you on a weight loss journey are you trying to eat in a calorie deficit
or just learn more about tracking your macros so you can really be successful
in losing weight feeling better but also just being more aware of the micro and macronutrients
you're putting in your body you probably want to know the best free calorie counter apps to track
right on your phone everything you're eating to make sure you hit your fitness and weight
loss goals without having to pay for an app subscription in this video i'm going to break down
why a calorie counter app is not only going to help you with your weight loss goals but also with
insight into your lifestyle your micronutrients your macronutrients your meal timing and how
often you're reaching your daily goals then we're going to go over how to choose the right calorie
counter app for you and your goals your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you want to live and
then of course i'm gonna break down my top three free calorie counter apps as well as two runners
up that are didn't make the list but they're still pretty good i'll break down all the pros and the
cons why you might like it why you might not like it to help you make the best decision as to which
free calorie counter app will really help you reach your weight loss goals and make sure you
watch this video all the way to the end because out of this list i'm gonna give you the number one
free calorie counter app that i recommend to all of my clients and have seen my clients be very
very successful using okay we're gonna dive right in but if you're new here my name is michelle
roots kinesiologist personal trainer nutrition coach and fitness and fat loss motivation
specialists i've been helping people with in-person and online personal training reach their
fitness and fat loss goals for over 15 years and this channel is all about breaking down fitness
and fat loss or weight loss in the simplest form to really help you understand the basic principles
and help you reach your weight loss goals so make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit
that bell to be notified so you don't miss out on your notification when i release a new video
every single week if this video is helpful as well make sure you give it a like and of course leave
any questions in the comments below why should you be using a calorie counter app if you've watched
any of the other videos on my channel i talk about calorie deficit tracking your macros your basal
metabolic rate i also recently made a video about macronutrients and micronutrients why you want to
be tracking both and why the intake of both will actually affect your weight loss results so this
is where a calorie counter app really comes in most of them are very very easy to use but
again i'm gonna break down for you the top three and i chose them based on the simplicity of use
as well as being free most of these apps i'm gonna list have a free version and a paid version
which they call the premium version so i'm gonna show you because i titled this video best free
calorie counter apps i'm going to show you the ones that i use and i recommend to my clients
to use because the free version is just enough and all you need if you're just looking to track your
macros and your micros and your calorie intake so with that being said let's get into the top three
free calorie counter apps that i have chosen to recommend to you plus at the end i'll give you
two runners that are also pretty good but didn't make the top three first free calorie counter app
my plate i personally just really like the look of the app when you're inside and you're in the
food diary i love that all your macros and your calorie intake are right at the top and i love
that you can scroll down and give you breakfast lunch dinner snack ideas as well as the calorie
range of each of those meals and i really like how easy it is to track your water there's something
cool to me about this picture that pops up and you just swipe on the glass to add your water intake
a lot of other apps that's in the premium version so this is in the free version of my plate and
it's pretty cool to track your water intake so a couple of pros of this app it's super easy to use
it'll give you a simple breakdown of your proteins your carbs your fat your calorie intake your water
intake your exercise that you can input it's very simple to put your weight in on a regular basis
i don't recommend weighing yourself every day but once in a while get on the scale and track
your progress very easy to track your food see i will track my lunch i'll enter in say i had
eggs you can pick egg um egg white whole egg you can see that it's verified so you know that the
macros are legit i'm gonna say i had two eggs you could say i ate this it also has a barcode
scanner which makes it super easy if you're eating something like a protein bar or something that's
processed you can also create meals and create foods if it's something that you eat on a regular
basis again that makes it super easy to track and if you're someone who likes a community you
see they have a community page where you can see what everybody else is up to if you're someone who
likes being part of a community say you don't have an online coach like myself checking in on you all
the time and you want to see what everyone else is doing and help use that to motivate you you can
definitely check in on their online community and of course there is a premium version they call it
the gold version and the one thing that i don't like about this app is in the free version you
are not able to get all of your micronutrients so you can see all my vitamins and minerals um that
is part of the gold version so i'm able to see my fats my sodium my carbs my fiber my sugar protein
that's the first app that i definitely recommend to a lot of people because of its simplicity to
use but again it does have a few things that it's missing because it is still the free version okay
moving on to the second free calorie counter app i recommend is lose it this is very similar
to my plate it is very visually appealing i love right when you open the app you see your calories
and i love how it says calories under budget meaning i haven't eaten enough today and i need
to eat more it's very simple to switch it into macronutrients so i can see my pie chart there how
many grams of protein how many grams of carbs how much fat i have eaten and you can swipe right back
and it also will give you the entire week's view which is also again very cool there are so many
different ways to track you can save foods you can save meals you can enter recipes you can find
restaurant foods so for example say i went to a w all of the restaurant foods are in this app
and again this is all in the free version or you can search for whatever foods you had so again
let's enter an egg so you know it has the verified only you can toggle that on so you know it's only
foods that aren't entered by other people you know that all the micro and macronutrients are correct
so say i had one egg i add that to the list so very very easy to use i love the visual of it
and just like the home page i love how when you're on the diary log you can look just at the top here
is that your calorie budget your food you can enter your exercise and you can toggle over and
go right into your macronutrients again you can't see the protein the carbs or the fats
the net carbs and a lot of your micronutrients because you have to upgrade so that's one thing
where my plate you were able to see some of these numbers your sodium and your cholesterol and your
sugar numbers you were able to see that on my plate in the free version you're not able to
see that in this app see here you are not able to track your water you were able to track your
water in my plate for free and just like in the my plate app there is a community page
if you are looking to um be motivated by other people and you want to be part of a community
again if you don't have an online coach wink wink there is that option it is all part of
the free app as well so looking at this app again it's very very similar to my plate
i would say comparing the two my plate is a little bit more visually appealing to me
um lucid is also very easy to use it's got a huge database of food but my cons are you're not able
to see those micronutrients and those are really important so your proteins your carbs and fats
you can see you can see your calorie intake so if you're just looking to get started and learn
about what you're putting in your body this is a great choice for you best free calorie counter app
number three i'm sure you've heard of it before myfitnesspal i actually did a full tutorial video
on my fitness pal right here i'll link that in the description below if this is the app
that you choose to use to track your macros and your calories i'll show you exactly how to use
it in the simplest way okay i'm just gonna preface this one by saying i have been using myfitnesspal
for many many many moons the free version i have never paid to use my fitness pal and i actually
must say it's my favorite i'll tell you why i really like my fitness pal as you start using
it more and more it starts to remember the foods that you want so for example let's take a look at
lunch so there's a list of all the foods that i generally eat so i can simply add these foods as i
go i can look at the macro split and just add them as i go the foods are logged here i love that it
tells me my food's high in protein this food has lots of vitamin c it has hot it's high in protein
i don't know pretty neat to see again adding water it's super easy to track your water
two cups here again that wasn't free in the free version of lose it it is in the free version of
myfitnesspal and it's super easy to track your nutrition so looking at our macros this is my
view for today you can simply easily toggle back and forth on the days i can see my goal
of my macros and what i've eaten so far today and then when it comes down to nutrients see i'm able
to see some of my micros so i can see the goal and then i can see the total i can see my fiber
my sugar my fat saturated fat cholesterol sodium potassium vitamin a vitamin c calcium iron these
are actually a lot of the important micronutrients there are a few that are missing that you do want
to be a bit more aware of but it does give you a lot more than the other apps do and of course
your total calories over each meal it's very easy to set your own nutrition goals so maybe
you've watched my video on how to calculate your own calorie deficit for fat loss you can easily
change your nutrition goal how many calories you want to eat as well as your proteins your
carbs and your fat percentages to make sure you are eating on track not with whatever the app is
recommending to you another cool new thing about my fitness pal which is all in the free version
is recipes so look we've got immune support pantry staples if you're looking for pre-workout ideas
rice cakes with fruit it tells you the calorie intake you can just click on that it'll tell
you the calorie breakdown and how to use it they're very easy you can go through all of these
ideas there's so many pros with myfitnesspal it has one of the biggest databases of foods
you also can scan with their barcode all part of the free version the one thing i would say
is maybe the con is that home screen that you get on lose it or my plate when you first open
the app you can see your pie chart right away you can see your calorie intake versus on fitness pal
when you open it up you see your food diary and you have to scroll to the bottom hit nutrition
and then open it you will get everything you need in the free version of this app for sure
and extra bonus all of my online personal training clients myfitnesspal sinks right into my online
training app so i am able to set their calorie deficit goals and see exactly what they're eating
every day right inside my own training app so my clients don't have to share their diary with
me they don't have to send me screenshots i am able to see everything if you're looking for more
information about my online personal training or nutrition coaching i'll put the link in the
description below if you're looking for someone to help hold you accountable or help you learn
how to eat healthier to reach your fitness and fat loss goals happy to do that okay so those
are my top three free calorie counter apps and there's two runners up that are still really
good and i've played around with a lot but didn't make my top three list is one chronometer and two
fat secret both have very good free versions the free version of chronometer is really
easy to use and again very visually appealing when you open the app you have your pie chart at the
top i would say when it comes to adding recipes or tracking meals and doing a lot of extra stuff
this app the free version won't do that for you you're probably gonna have to upgrade to
the premium to get more of the features to get more out of the app okay and the very last one
fat secret i'm not gonna lie for some reason the name just turns me off i don't feel like that's
a very pleasing name for someone who is trying to lose weight it's going to want to click on
an app called fat secret like i don't know maybe i'm weird but i just don't like the word fat i
don't think people should call themselves fat i just think when you're on a weight loss journey
you want to think about yourself in a positive way and you don't want to be clicking on an app
called fat secret to try and lose weight and track everything you're eating am i wrong i don't know
let me know in the comments there you go guys my top three plus two so i guess my top five
best calorie counter apps where you don't need to pay for the premium version reach your fitness and
fat loss goals you are someone who wants to dive in and really make a lifestyle change it might be
worth looking into some of the premium versions of all of these apps they are going to give you a lot
more feedback into your daily food intake your fat loss and weight loss goals your exercise and an
entire lifestyle so i know i promised right at the end i would tell you the app that i most recommend
to my clients and that i use on a regular basis if you didn't already catch on to number three when i
was ranting and raving about it i'm still a fan of myfitnesspal but in the end myfitnesspal is super
easy to use and has so many great features in just the free version you do not need the premium
version of the app to get the most out of it this is just my opinion let me know in the comments
below which app do you like the best which one have you found has helped you reach your goals or
has really helped you get a better understanding of what you're eating let us know in the comments
i'm sure other people would want to read your opinion as well and let's make a little forum
down here and we'll decide together which one we think is the best thanks a lot for watching guys
i really hope this video was helpful again if you are looking to learn more about calorie deficit
macros basal metabolic rate how to exercise to build muscle and get lean not just decrease your
body weight all of the things i've got all kinds of videos already on my channel i'll link a lot of
them below that you should go watch after this one of course share this video with anyone you
think might be looking to learn how to track their calories and find the best calorie counter app for
them because of course the more people we can help feel great the better i'll see you guys next week
you