Counting macros have become a part of the life of every individual whose fitness goal is to lose weight, gain weight or lead a healthy and happy lifestyle. Well, you all must be using some tracking devices or apps to count your calories. But are you sure that you are counting your macros correctly or you are intaking in the right amount? Are you sure that those apps are suitable to use and work effectively? Some of the apps are paid, and there is no guarantee that they will work for you and help you to maintain weight.
In this article, I am going to share the best free tracking macro apps that will help you determine and monitor your calorie intake by understanding your body requirement and your fitness goal. I have researched and reviewed these apps, and I am ready to educate you about the effective free apps to track your calories. You can use these apps on both your Android and iPhone. Friends, now stop wasting your time browsing websites and scrolling app stores and play stores. Read this informative article and know the features, pros, cons, and all you want to discover about the best free app to track macros for 2022.
Is Tracking Macros Beneficial?
Yes, tracking macros can be beneficial. It ensures that your body gets a certain amount of each macronutrient every day so that your fitness goal does not get affected, and you will be able to focus on your weight loss or weight gain journey effectively. The intake ratio and quantity of macronutrients i.e., carbs, fat, and protein, depending on your personal caloric needs and fitness plan.
Some common benefits of tracking macronutrients are:
- It provides proper nutrition to the body and hence prevents nutrient deficiencies.
- Tracking macros help you know your body performance and the requirement to attain your fitness goal.
- In terms of weight management, metabolism plays a significant role in the fitness journey. Protein raises 15-30%, carbs raise 5-10%, and fat raise 0-3% of metabolic rate. By tracking macros, you can know your body’s needs for carbs, protein, or fats.
- Tracking macros increase flexibility means you do not have to cut your favorite meal or breakfast. You just have to take care of the amount you are intaking according to your macronutrient profile.
- Each macro has its specific role. Protein helps to maintain a healthy weight by building lean muscle. Carbs help build muscle mass, and fat helps in muscle movement and the building of cell membranes. By tracking macros, you can efficiently build and repair your muscle efficiently.
- Whether you’re on a trip, date, or enjoying a Christmas eve at your friend’s home, you can stay accountable at all times with the help of these tracking apps.
- It helps you to lose weight or gain weight effectively
- Tracking macros is a great process that leads to a simple and healthy life without compromising favorite and delicious meals.
- It is a fantastic platform if one wants to learn about nutrition and nutrition facts.
What Is The Macro Level That Every Individual Should Have?
The macro-level of every individual varies from person to person concerning their height, weight, activity level, flexibility, and exercises. Most commonly, carbs should be between 45-60% of total calories in a food, intake of fats should be between 20-35% of total calories, and intake of proteins should be between 10-35% of total calories in a food. These requirements must be consumed by your body every day. The percentage of these recommendations may or may not fit your specific needs as every individual has their own fitness goal. Therefore the macronutrient ratios are different for each one depending on their dietary preferences.
For example, if a woman is following a Keto diet, she would need to intake more fat, more protein, and fewer carbs, Whereas one who is an athlete may require large amounts of carb-rich food.
If you want to know how many calories your body needs for your desired fitness goals, track your calorie intake daily. This will help you understand your body, and you will come to know what is best for you.
How Do Macro Tracking Apps Work?
Macro tracking apps give you options to input your food data every day, set target calories whether you want to lose weight or gain weight, adjust serving portions, and track your intake of macronutrients. Some tracking applications have features to enter weight, height, timeline, and activity level to calculate and suggest to you how much percentage of macros your body requires. They also provide you with healthy and tasty macro bowls, macro breakfast, and macro dinner recipes to add variety to your weight loss or weight gain journey.
Best Macro Tracking Free Apps
1. Nutritionix
Nutritionix is a wonderful app for those who mostly intake purchased cooked food. This app has a large variety of food options without compromising fitness goals. Nutritionix updates its menu frequently so that you can taste varieties of food according to your calorie level. This app also allows you to upload your recipes and add favorites for your future access. One can easily use this app to monitor the calories and macronutrients left after every meal. You get a complete chart of the macros consumed by your body in a day. All in all, it is a great app for beginners.
Pros
- Easy and convenient to use
- It also gives you the option to customize your meals according to your choices.
- You can track water intake daily
- It has food options from 800+ restaurants
- Free to use
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- Available on both google play and the play store
Cons
- It only works with FitBit
- One can find difficulty in editing previous meal
- It uses FDA rounding guidelines.
- One needs to update the app version to export data
- There are some app glitches.
2. Cronometer
The chronometer tracking app is one of those apps that monitor 82 micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, potassium, sodium, etc. This app gives all the information and reports you need to cut or eat to quickly meet your fitness aim.
Pros
- The app gets updated frequently with improved features
- A great app to learn about nutrition
- One can easily track diet adjustments
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- Available on both google play and the play store
Cons
- It does not track sodium intake
- It has a small food database and has limited options.
- You may find a cluttered interface in the application
3. MyPlate
MyPlate app has many healthy recipe ideas that one can create a balanced macro diet sheet for eight weeks. These recipes can be used for a large variety of diets, whether it's a keto or paleo, or any other. If you are one of those looking for support and tips from other fitness freaks, you can easily get in touch with them.
Pros
- This app is easy to use to track calories and macros
- It doesn’t require any upgradation to use the tracker
- This app connects to Google Fit
- For safety, the lowest calorie goal in this app is 1200kcal
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOS users
- Available on both google play and the play store
Cons
- It does not have any favorite section or go-to-meal section
- There is no option to customize food as per the calorie requirement.
- Sometimes it requires some manual recipe entries to work
4. Macros
Macros is a good calorie counter-free app. One can easily calculate their daily calorie and macro needs without much worry. You can find thousands of macronutrient food options for your fitness. Macros app gives you the option to create and edit your food diary daily. You can also make your macronutrient recipe and track the calories of that food. Also, it determines and monitors your calorie intake every day.
Pros
- This app is user-friendly
- One can easily customize as per their convenience
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
Cons
- You may find advertisements.
5. MacrosFirst
MacrosFirst is a powerful app for tracking macros effectively. It is easy to use and allows you to customize your meal as per the diet requirements. To achieve meal goals, the MacroFirst app calculates the macros of the food you are going to intake every day. This brilliant app has a massive food database stored in it. One can save their favorite meals and can organize them in their folder to access from wherever they want.
Pros
- It has a feature to customize daily meal logs
- It has user-friendly features
- It also has a barcode scanner
- It works online as well as offline
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- One can create and customize food recipes and share them with others.
Cons
- The app requires a premium to track water intake
- It contains advertisements.
6. CarbManager
CarbManager is an excellent option for beginners who want to calculate their calories, work on their meal plans, and succeed in their fitness plans. The app is specially designed for those who are pursuing a ketogenic diet. This food tracking app has features to connect with friends who are also using this app. There are challenges to being motivated in the fitness journey, and also you can learn more about the keto diet. You can also find an extensive library of food to make your diet enjoyable.
Pros
- Food calories and macros can be easily tracked
- It has low carb recipes
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- Weight, body measurements, and other health-related markers can be monitored through this app.
- It has Image recognition AI to log into your meal
- To keep hydrated, it has a water tracker
- It also has a food/meal diary to track nutrition fact
Cons
- You cannot upload progress photos
- Export of food logs cannot be done in the free version of this app
- It focuses on the keto diet
- It needs a premium to access extra features
7. Lifesum
Lifesum app is the most popular free macro tracking. This app helps to understand the type of food one needs to intake to lead a healthy lifestyle. One can easily use this app and learn about the meals and breakfast that can be eaten to achieve fitness goals. It is also known as a bank of recipes for each diet. This macro tracking app offers a unique diet, and one can track food in advance and input their meals and food photos daily.
Pros
- It contains a variety of diet options
- It has an extensive food/meal database
- Barcode feature can be used
- It has a clean interface
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- It has a water tracker
- It can be easily customized
- It has a live score test to improve food habits.
Cons
- There is no community or personal coaching for fitness
- It doesn’t synchronize with fitness apps
- It requires a premium for extra features.
8. FatSecret
This app is best known for counting calories and meal tracking. It has a feature to monitor the calories you have burned and consumed every day. It even tracks your workouts and exercises. It also helps to remind you of your mealtime not to skip your food. With this app, one can easily be in touch with professionals and get advice about fitness. The app also contains an extensive food database without compromising on nutritional value.
Pros
- It has a customizable food journal to plan your daily meals and breakfast
- One can connect with the fitness-oriented community
- It can track nutrition by capturing the image
- Barcode feature can be used
- It has photo albums to save meal pictures
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
Cons
- It requires a premium to use the feature for tracking water intake
9. Simple Macros
Simple Macros is a diet tracking app. This app has a diet plan containing all the information on micronutrients, macronutrients, and the calorific value of the food materials. This app can help you achieve your desired physique by tracking macros.
Pros
- The app is easy to use and customize
- It has a modern user interface
- Fitness progress can be effectively monitored
- Best for pre-plan meals
- Barcode feature can be used
- It monitors macros and body measurements.
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
Cons
- It requires a premium to use the feature for tracking water intake
- It contains advertisements
10. MyMacros+
MyMacros+ is one of the best free macro tracking apps for beginners. You can connect with people who are motivated toward their fitness goals. You can take help with them and get inspired to be on the right track of your fitness journey. There is also an easy-to-use calendar in this app.
Pros
- It gives varieties of food options containing nutritional value
- It has an easily readable interface
- Give detailed information on macros and nutrition facts
- Macro coach upgrade and adjust your macros target weekly according to your fitness plan
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
Cons
- It is not user-friendly
- It mainly requires manual food recipes entries
- iPhone users can set goals
- It does not have features to plan meals
- It requires a premium to access extra features
11. LoseIt!
This macro tracking app is specifically made for those who want to lose weight. LoseIt gives you innumerable healthy and delicious recipes that promote weight loss. It monitors sleep and body measurement. It also has a feature of meal-planning, a library of workouts, and exercise challenges for those who find themselves demotivated or someone who needs motivation in life to focus on a fitness journey. Water intake can also be tracked through this app. All in all, it is a fantastic app for losing weight and learning about healthy food choices.
Pros
- For quick data entries, one can use the barcode feature
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- It contains a healthy food database for users
- One can import and export reports through email from this app
- The food options contain restaurant items
- Many fitness apps can be synced through this app
- This app has a workout guide to stay active and fit.
- The app has impressive graphic and icon designs.
Cons
- It is time-consuming to use
- Some features need payment
- It contains advertisements
- It does not track mineral consumption
- It can be confusing to track calorie burn
12. MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is the best macro tracking app for beginner-level and advanced-level users. One can customize their macro tracking as per their fitness goals like weight loss, weight gain, or weight management. It is an integration of features of different fitness applications. This app displays the calories consumed by you, calories burned during exercise and workouts, and the macros percentage fact present in a food. If you like to connect with different people for additional support and accountability, this app is best. You can also add, import, and change recipes at your convenience.
Pros
- This app is easy to use to track calories and macros
- It makes data easy to interpret
- It offers a variety of food options
- It also tracks exercises and different workouts
- Available on both google play and the play store
- Can be accessed by both Android and iOs users
- Beginners and advanced level users can use it
Cons
- This app contains advertisements
- Sometimes, it does not cut calories after exercises and workouts
- It is hard to sync with third-party apps
- There are no recipe suggestions in the free version of this application
- The food added by different peoples is inaccurate to consume
Conclusion
Macros tracking apps are great applications that increase awareness among people on macronutrient food and its effect on fitness and health goals. One can easily use these tracking tools for following high-protein or ketogenic diets. Sometimes, you may find that you are consuming unhealthy food materials while tracking calories. This is because it allows all the food that fits into the caloric range. So, be strict with your diet. Eat fresh produce, healthy fats, complex carbs, and protein sources as per your fitness and a balanced diet chart to accomplice your fitness goal.
Reference
https://www.prevention.com/food-nutrition/g35649564/best-macro-tracking-apps/
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/a31699213/macro-tracking-apps/
https://www.verywellfit.com/best-macro-tracking-apps-5096757
https://workoutable.com/best-free-macro-tracking-apps/
https://www.myhealthyapple.com/8-best-free-macro-tracking-apps-of-2022/
https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/g27103652/best-apps-counting-macros/
https://perfectketo.com/best-weight-loss-apps/
https://healthyeater.com/macro-diet-apps