yFitnessPal vs. CRON-O-Meter (and why I prefer CRON-O-Meter)

jaisonmiguek

This is certainly not exhaustive and just my experience.

I started my KETO journey using MFP and LOVED it.

I love the social aspect of it, having friends give me likes, etc.
I love the Progress chart. so fun!
I love the counting my calories, seeing how much I have left, etc.
THE FOOD DATABASE! There is SO much there that I rarely have to input any foods unless I'm making a recipe.
I love that it syncs with MapMyWalk+
But I'm too cheap to buy the membership so I don't like having to subtract fiber from carbs every day to get my net carbs. Truly not a deal breaker however.

What about CRON-O-Meter? Well, at first glance it doesn't seem all that great except that:

it automatically tracks net carbs
Only one click to see macro percentages
The drawbacks: * No social networking * Limited food database (very limited compared to MFP) * Not a free app. (I think it was $4)

Here's why I prefer CRON-O-Meter: I trust it more (and the net carb tracking. but really the issue is trust.)

I used MFP daily for six months. Every week I would be SO excited to enter my new lower weight in the "Progress" part of the menu. It would automatically post it socially and all my friends could see how much I lost that week.

Then I heard about CRON-O-Meter and tried it out. But when I put in my weight and height and macros it gave me a calorie count that was 500 calories less than MFP!!! It didn't make sense. I was sure I was doing something wrong.

NOPE.

I don't understand why, when I would upload my new weight via "Progress" on MFP it didn't sync it through. So for 6 months I was always eating 1980 calories every day. I could have lost MORE weight! I was overeating every week. So frustrating!

In order for MFP to change my caloric needs, I had to change my stats through settings>profile>goals. I did that and BAM, I got the same numbers as the CRON-O-Meter.

It just doesn't make sense. Maybe it's a bug. Maybe it's just me. What I did experience is that CRON-O-Meter adjusts my caloric needs whenver I update my current weight. MFP didn't.

Like I said, it's probably a bug. And hopefully it's fixed now. But I really like seeing the app calculating my net carbs...and I don't have to worry about there being some other bug that will keep me from losing weight as quick and healthily as I can.

bracconiere

CRON-O-Meter will let you see your avg calorie intake over time also, so you don't have to try and the same calories EVERYDAY...my calories vary fram 3700 ina day to 2100, but i just watch the weekly, monthly avg and make sure it's maintaince...

And congratulations on the weight loss, may you hit and maintain the weight you want to get to!

remember ~3,500 calories a pound so if you divide the number of days between scale change and the change you kinda get an idea of your metabolic rate and how much your restricting for your own body type...

Hilary

@jaisonmiguek , So pleased to hear you're enjoying Cronometer!

A couple of Comments regarding the Drawbacks you have found with Cronometer (I think you will be pleased )

• Have you seen our Facebook Community and Instagram page? Check them out here:
  https://www.facebook.com/pg/cronometer/community/?ref=page_internal
  https://www.instagram.com/cronometer_official/?hl=en

• Have a look at this blog post to learn more about why our database may seem to be less comprehensive than our competitors: https://cronometer.com/blog/6-tips-getting-nutrition-data/ We value accuracy and completeness and will only accept user submitted foods once they have been curated by our team here at cronometer. If you do find a mistake with one of our foods, once you report an issue, we will resolve this issue or point you in the right direction usually within the day (If not sooner!)

• We offer a free version of our app! The paid version allows you to use our service without viewing advertisements. (If you have a Gold subscription you will never see advertisements!) You can learn more about the gold subscription here: http://cronometer.com/#gold

Cronometer is to be seen as a tool to track consumption and all targets we have set by default are not for everyone. If you have different needs you are welcome to make the changes based on your healthcare professional's recommendation or personal preference.
Make sure you check your activity level settings and Macronutrient target settings in your profile as well! Learn more about customizing your profile here: https://cronometer.com/help/profile/