Calorie Counter by fatsecret Reviews

by Lipidolite

When starting out with CalorieCounter, it’ll prompt you your goals (weight gain or loss & how much you’d like to gain or lose) & physical attributes (height, current weight, activity levels, etc.). Being extremely underweight like I am, I was excited to see a health app offer weight gain as an option. However, EVERYTHING on CalorieCounter stays set to weight loss despite what you put in as your goal. It’ll send you notifications like “You only need 400 calories to power yourself through!” as if you’re trying to barely survive. The actual calorie counter has a daily meter for how much you’ve consumed of your daily goal. It fills up green, then when it’s full it turns red. Consuming enough or extra calories is a GOOD thing when you’re trying to gain weight, but this meter depicts the opposite. It even goes as far as to mess with your public profile & state that you’re there for weight loss despite the goal weight clearly being a higher number than the starting weight. I don’t see the purpose of offering “weight gain” as an option when the entire app’s layout is permanently fixed on a weight loss routine. It’s extremely discouraging & fatphobic.

by Spookysabrina

It’s a pretty good app in all, I would like an option not to add ALL nutritional info, just calories (as seen on my fitness pal) because it provides a faster and easier option for many users, but the biggest block for me is that name... I previously used my fitness pal and had no problems keeping it on my home screen for everyone to see and I needed it there because I used it often and wanted quick and easy access to it, but having an app with “fat” in the name on my home screen is embarrassing in all honesty. It was my biggest issue when I was looking into CalorieCounter and I don’t know if I’ll keep it at this point. I wish the developers would see common sense and rename CalorieCounter to a more positive, normal name that focuses on more than just fat. I mean, think about what that does to the user. Each time they open CalorieCounter they feel like they’re reaching toward a goal, but never reaching it. In other words, it makes me feel like I’m fat when I know I’m not. It discourages me and is off-putting, but more than anything it’s just frustrating that someone would make such a great app and name it something so humiliating.

by GNewYork

CalorieCounter has things like general common vegetables: kale, tomatoes, zucchini, etc where your calorie and carb count is definitely a lot different than that of other apps. This makes it difficult to track the carbs and protein in our meal. It would be great for general items like that if you added the ability to change the size of the general tomato by ounce and adjust calories proportionally.. Instead, we are tied to a medium tomato with XYZ calories... It would be best to take the general calorie averages of all brands of tomatoes and then add them in that way..

There is no place to put Sugar Alcohols, therefor your Net Carb counts are often wrong. This does not bode well for users who are on the Keto Diet or Atkins Diet who are watching their carb counts. It would be great if you can add this line item in the nutrition section or give us the ability to revise carb and calorie counts for known foods.

I cannot add new exercises and commit them to CalorieCounter Memory.. I do Fitwall Classes, which are a growing trend in the west. Their classes burn 500 calories for a 40 minute class. I have to unfortunately add this class in as a custom exercise every day and it is time consuming.

by Maria Koppel

I have been using CalorieCounter for two weeks now, primarily the diet diary function. I appreciate the wide variety of options when I search for a particular food. However, CalorieCounter freezes while I'm searching and adding foods during almost every meal entry. Any items that I have "saved" are lost. I have to fully close CalorieCounter , re-open, and re-enter lost items for that meal. It's frustrating. Also, I took off a star of the horrible, tacky name "FatSecret". What kind of name is that? Is CalorieCounter calling users fat? Is CalorieCounter a secret cure to fatness? It sounds unprofessional.
Finally, there are issues with the customized daily caloric intake. In settings, I altered the standard 2000 calorie preset. But, the diary homepage does not register the change unless I go into settings and then navigate back to the diary. To be clear, the customized caloric intake shows on the settings page, but the diary does not get the message unless I navigate to settings and back. I have to do that every. single. time. I'm using the free version, but it's a low blow to make the free version buggy just so I'm tempted to pay for the subscription.

by Angeliaanderson

I love using fatsecret. The diary and logs and support from other users is excellent and so helpful in my weightless journey. Love the fact that you can set your own macros and calories or have it calculated for you. Tracking is mostly easy and the library of foods is extensive. That being said I noticed sometimes, not all the time, they are a little off. For example my protein I use has 3 grams sugar and when I scan the barcode CalorieCounter says 0 sugar. So for people who are needing to be exact on their counts you need to just double check that they have it correctly in the system. Also, when you get notifications that someone has responded to your diary log you have to go through some steps to get to the exact message. I wish the notification center would take you directly to the message for easy reply or viewing. Only other complaint is that you have to use the online version to change your profile picture and get access to certain features but that isn't a deal breaker for me. CalorieCounter does everything you need it to. Other than that I love CalorieCounter and will continue using it.

by Reviewer40404

I haven’t used a lot of other food tracking apps, but I’ve really enjoyed how easy it is to use FatSecret (e.g. they list your most recently and more frequently eaten foods so you can quickly add them to your food diary). They are also responsive via email, which is really nice. Three things I really want to see: (1) a tally of all the vitamins and minerals we’ve had for the day, (2) the ability to drop a whole list of food into a recipe (like some other websites) instead of having to add ingredients one by one, and (3) the ability to add ingredients to a recipe without having to create a recipe (e.g. without always having to add steps, a description, etc. since I often make the same recipe, but tweak it & also since many of us prepare our meals instead of buying pre-packaged meals)

by SituSharon

I gained weight as I aged, went through menopause, had health issues and medication that causes weight gain. It was a loosing battle. After hearing so many people tell me I don’t eat enough and that is because I am NEVER Hungary I started using CalorieCounter to see exactly how much I was eating. Well my healthy choices I have always made totaled less then 600 calories a day! So now I am sure to eat three meals and two snacks I am able to get to a little less then 1000 calories per day most days. I am eating more protein and less carbs. Even being GF my carbs were too high. So I make better fruit and veggie chooses as well. That said I have lost 17 lbs in less then 2 months. Exactly 7 weeks. It is coming off slow and steady and I am so much happier. I can start to look in a mirror and look at my reflection without disgust. Love CalorieCounter.

by Pcasciola

Whether you are looking to monitor calorie intake, or carb/fat/protein, this is a great app. I’ve used it several times over the past 5-6 years, this time to track carbs. Also charts weight over time so you can track your progress. You can enter you foods by using the phone camera to scan the barcode, and most things I scan are in their database.

One minor annoyance is that recently eaten foods only shows foods for the given category (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks) so if I have a protein bar for breakfast one day and then as a snack the next, it doesn’t appear in recently eaten foods so you have to find it and scan it again. Also, I seem to have lost data since the last time I used it a little over a year ago. Not that big a deal, but I would have liked to see it to compare.

Overall it’s a nice little app and I will continue to use it.

by Tumblr4dayyyyyyyys

I enjoy the layout & design of CalorieCounter . I love that it doesn’t bother me too much or shame me when I don’t track calories or log a workout(?) That was an issue I found with myfitnesspal. The online forums also seem a bit more active and encouraging on CalorieCounter. CalorieCounter design is simple & to the point. Nutritional facts are seemingly on point. Not a hard app to figure out at all & they have a broad range of food options and choices. I’ve only found it hard to find nutritional info for obscure Asian snacks. In that case, I try to track for something comparable and factor in calories from the packaging to match my food diary. I love the weigh-in function and the data charts available. You are also not inundated by ads and not at risk of accidentally pressing on an ad and opening a new webpage so that’s a big win for me! Great app, I would highly recommend to anyone who just wants to keep an easy and accurate food diary. Whatever your fitness or weight loss goals, this is a great app in general to aid those goals.

by No Fat Boy Here

Finally got tired of tight fitting clothes and having a closet full of stuff I had fatted out of so downloaded FatSecret and started tracking everything I put into my mouth. I wanted to lose 40 lbs in 4 months, and I am on track having lost 30lbs in 3 months.

Having a visual of your calorie intake every meal is enlightening. My goal is not to eat more than 1300 calories each day and exercise 1500 per day. The combination of calories needed to live off of each day which for me was 3000 calories and the reduction of intake and additional output gave me a calorie deficit of 12,000 to 15,000 per week which equates to 3-5 lbs of weigh loss per week. I have not averaged that but it’s a long term process. By the way this isn’t a diet. I eat whatever I want. I just stop when I hit the 1300 calorie threshold. So thumbs up to FatSecret

by TexZen Cyndi

CalorieCounter is quite intuitive.. very easy to use. The longer you use it, the better it gets on a quick curve. It is continually being improved, but the changes and new features blend easily and make sense. The basic non-pay version is a solid option, not watered down, free from intrusive pop ups, but also- the features on the upgraded pay version are thoughtful and good quality nutrition ideas with community no mater your diet or style of eating. I like to cook and be creative in the kitchen and don’t use the recipes much or meal plans.. but I’ve checked them out.. and they look really good.. so a good value getting that service / info included in CalorieCounter .

by Hrrascal1

It makes it easy to keep track of weight and food. I can easily share the meals across to my husband who is trying to loose weight too, but I did have to search hard for that ability. This new version makes it easier to keep unusual exercises/activities so they don’t have to be entered from scratch each time. Kudos for that. It’s also easier to move back to yesterday and add what you had for dinner if you didn’t the night before. The sharing of info with HEALTH on the apple platforms is helpful since there is no blood pressure monitoring in your app. Thanks for the hard work on CalorieCounter , I used to prefer the desktop (and that should be updated) but with the new version the only reason I use the desktop is to share meals with hubby.

by KHannagan

I started 2 wks ago on Keto/Atkins & I have loss 4 lbs so I’m progressing at a steady pace so hopefully I won’t have a major issue with extra skin...urg!!! I’ve NEVER been this heavy...I was drinking 1,000’s of calories per day of whole milk (averaging 1/2-whole gallon of milk per day) & McDonald’s ice coffee (1-2 large per day). I was drinking SO much milk that it started effecting my iron absorption levels & I had to have two iron infusions...that’s just CrAzY...not to mention each infusion ran $485!!!

My whole life I have struggled with my weight BUT in the last 5-6 yrs, I’ve let my eating become emotional so I’ve gained 120 lbs on a 5’ frame since 2010...I am literally double my healthy weight...😞

I don’t even remember where I saw the FatSecret app (maybe Facebook or just searching Keto online) but it’s perfect for tracking my weight loss regimen...in the past I would use a spreadsheet...so this is GREAT!!!

Also, customer service is on top of my inquires, I asked for something to be changed & they educated me on the fact that what I wanted was already available & how/where to locate the info in CalorieCounter .

So keep up the great job you guys are doing!!!

In advance, thank you!
Kelly K Hannagan-Valore

by Petah_t

I’ve tested 4-5 different apps to track my food and nutrient intake, including ones that cost money. FatSecret is the only one without annoying ads and is all business.

For two of the apps I paid for, including an in-app upgrade for the specific diet I’m following in one, I was still pestered with upgrade prompts and distractions. Other apps that didn’t charge were but app adapted spreadsheets with not much to show for. Not so with FatSecret.

The feature I enjoy the most is the huge crowd sourced database of common foods from grocery stores and restaurants, and the ability to add your own food that you can share with the community or keep private. The FatSecret app is just not an app, it’s a web service and I use it both from a PC/Mac, an iPad, and an iPhone.

The PC if if want to write diary entries or add food that requires a bit of typing, the iPad app (different than the iPhone app) that can scan food items and automatically add them, and the phone it’s convenient to use keeping track of what you eat on the go.

It took me a bit to get used to the interface, and certain functions could be better organized and streamlined, but at a cost of zero dollars those are insignificant minor complaints in the big scheme of things.

by Comparisonguy

The layout is, for the most part, better than for MyFitnessPal. Some key things I’ve noticed is that the green layout and the way the calorie numbers are presented make me less upset when I’ve gone slightly over my calorie goals. My fitness pal makes me want to jump off the roof whenever I see that red negative bar at the top right haha. This is HUGE, because it makes tracking feel much less stressful and the overall vibe is much better this way.

The weight graphs show you a better overall view of your progress. I put in weekly weight averages and it shows me a line graph showing the transition from beginning weight to goal weight.

Another key thing is that much more options in the food diary have gram-calorie conversions than myfitnesspal, which is important if you like to weigh food on a scale like me.

Couple issues I don’t like is that they don’t allow for exact ratios, but instead organize it by quarters (so like 1 serving of chicken vs. 1.25 vs. 1.5). The nutrients section is pretty basic: just macros and sodium/potassium basically. MyFitnessPal gives you that and some vitamins as well as some minerals. A couple of times there are glitches where yesterday’s meals get put in today but it’s not super common. Not really dealbreakers in my opinion.

by Doyouseethatdog

I’m a Muay Thai fighter/coach, and marathon/ultra marathon runner, and I downloaded CalorieCounter because I was switching to a high fat, low carb diet to train for my next ultra marathon, and I just need to be a little more efficient at using fat for fuel. CalorieCounter has been extremely helpful in tracking my caloric intake as well as allowing me to keep track of my macro nutrient intake. There are a ton of foods already in CalorieCounter , and if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, it allows you to enter the nutritional information for the food and save it. You can also enter any exercise and how many hours you sleep any given night to show how many calories you’re burning in a day, and what your caloric intake should be depending on your goals (losing, maintaining, or gaining weight). I highly recommend CalorieCounter.

by Bottom Line Up Front

Still the best. Discovered that online has even more information. Tried many other apps – keep coming back to this one.

It would save a lot of time if some recipe apps, such as Mealime, could input directly into FatSecret. All of the categories in the Apple health app for nutrition is overload and and not needed. FatSecret is better, more convenient, more professional.

It would also help if material in the calorie charts were updated when necessary. Example: General foods international coffees are now Maxwell House International coffees. The branding, serving size, and nutritional information has changed, but all of the former listings are in it.

Apparently, different brands will share a barcode. The brand, item name, and nutritional information can vary. If you can’t find it, you have to spend time adding to it.

Inputting recipes: When Adding a recipe, users often have to input the ingredients in serving sizes. This makes it a bit difficult to print out or follow again. Users need to make food with, for example, 2 cups of an ingredient, rather than 8 1/4 cup servings of the ingredient.

I like the meals in the meal plans. However, there should be more repetition, easier recipes, and easier to change plans.

Thanks FatSecret for all you do.

by GolferElora

Every few years when I cycle through a diet, I log my food to keep track of the calories because I find that’s easiest. I’ve used so many different apps to do this, but happened across this one because I didn’t want to pay a subscription fee but I still wanted a lot of features available to me without annoying ads.
CalorieCounter is so easy to use and navigate and find what you want. It has a huge selection of foods, very easy to add new foods, and I really like the ease of the layout. The scale page is great too.
The ability to link with Apple Health and all other fitness trackers is also a bonus.
So far nothing that I don’t like. Tracking water and some other features are under the “paid” portion of CalorieCounter , but I find the free version has more than what I need.
Great app.

by Wkrasl

Having type 2 diabetes, I used to use the “Diabetes In Check” app, which included specific features for diabetics. Even then, when entering some new food item I always went to the Fat Secret web site to look up nutrition information.

When that prior app finally broke down due to lack of support my obvious next choice was this Fat Secret app — which should have been my first choice years ago — especially since I had long ago stopped using the prior app’s diabetes-specific features.

I do wish this Fat Secret app did a better job with the Search function, specifically by prioritizing search hits from recently eaten foods, most eaten foods, and saved meals rather than only going back to its huge selection in the cloud. But that’s nit-picking, and maybe I should just save every meal instead of ones I enjoy almost weekly, so I’m not taking away any stars for that.

by Kris1015zzzxz

This is the best weight loss app ever. I have used a few others but they do not compare. You can customize what you want to track, whether carbs, protein, fat etc. It also gives you the full nutritional breakdown of your meals, including salt and cholesterol percentages which is awesome. The recipes are fantastic and you can even participate in community conversations with fellow app users for those that want support. Adding food/recognizing label codes are super easy to do. My 5 stars are more like 4.5 stars. I took off half a star because a few times the barcode reader can be a bit off when scanning items. exp...The label may say 10 carbs or calories etc, but what is registered may be a higher or lower number. So at the end of the day your total count may be off by a few digits. Not sure if it is the fault of CalorieCounter or the barcode. Either way, it is a mild nuisance that doesn't occur often enough to be problematic. With that being said, CalorieCounter is awesome and I 100% recommend it.

by All Nicknames Were Taken!

I used the fat secret website years ago to lose weight but CalorieCounter is much better now than the website I remember. I used weight watchers prior to switching back to fat secret. I like the nutritional information fat secret provides and their database is reasonably complete with every type of food. I wasn’t a fan of artificial points and always looked up the calorie content of the foods I ate on weight watchers.

CalorieCounter is just what I need to keep on track and I don’t feel judged or bad if I have a high calorie day. I just make up the calories over a week to get centered again. I use CalorieCounter on everything I eat even when I know I will go over my daily target and don’t feel bad telling it how it is. Thanks for contributing to my dietary success!

by LadybugCPA

FatSecret has not only enabled me to track my calories, fat, carbs, weight, etc., it has given me deep insight as to which foods are more nutritional than others. I am 73 and wanted to slowly lose 40 lbs. I log every bite I eat (no matter how small) + weight + exercise into CalorieCounter every day. My RDI is set for 1,400 calories per day, and CalorieCounter has enabled me to identify yummy foods that are high protein, low fat, low carbs, low sugar. With the adjustments I've made, I somehow manage to thrive on an avg of 1,200 cal or less/day, enjoy my fav foods, and I have yet to crave anything or be hungry.

There are a few tweaks needed, but overall I would give CalorieCounter 10 stars if I could. The weight is falling off me, and I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal after only a few weeks. ❤️🎉