How to log food in the food diary
The food diary is today's record of what you ate, split into meals and measured against your targets. It is the same screen in both dashboards, and it is where you set up and adjust your targets.
In the appFitnessFood diaryBoth dashboards
At the top sit four rings, outside in: Calories, Protein, Carbs and Fat. Each fills clockwise toward its target, and a legend under the rings gives each one's total against its target, with how much is left or how far over you are. The day's calorie total sits beside the title.
Below the rings a weight strip shows your latest weight and, if you have set one, your goal weight. It is left out while you have neither. Then come your meal cards, one per meal you logged today, in the order you first logged them. Each lists its foods with the grams, the protein, carbs and fat, and the calories.
- Tap Add food
Type into the search field (Search foods: chicken, rice, oats…). Foods you created yourself are searched together with the catalog and ranked the same way: a match at the start of a name ranks above one at the start of a later word, which ranks above one in the middle, and within each the shorter name comes first. Up to 40 matches are listed.
- Pick the portion
The Portion screen shows the food per 100 g. Choose the Meal it belongs to, then type the Amount in grams (it starts at 100 g) or tap a quick chip: 50 g 100 g 150 g 200 g. The calories and macros update as you type.
- Tap Log it
The food joins that meal's card and every ring moves. Logging a second food into the same meal adds it to the same card. The second button, Add to this weekday’s plan, adds the food to today's weekday in the meal plan, under the meal you chose, instead of logging it.
- Remove a mistake
Press and hold the entry. The app asks Remove this entry?, naming the food and its calories; tap Remove. It comes out of today's totals. To change an amount, remove the entry and log it again with the right grams.
Below the diary
Nutrition basics opens ten short reading levels on how food works, all open from the start: "Energy in, energy out", "What protein is made of", "Sugar, starch and glycogen", "Saturated, unsaturated, essential", "Cofactors, not fuel", "The part you do not digest", "Water, salt and thirst", "When you eat, and how much it moves", "When there is not enough left over", "The plan you can keep". It is educational material, not medical or dietary advice: the first time you open it, a note headed Before you start says so, and you continue with I understand. Just above that entry, a link to the International directory of eating disorder support is always on the screen.
How your calorie and macro targets are calculated
Your daily calorie, protein, carbohydrate and fat targets are calculated on the server from your height, age, sex, activity level, goal and latest weight. You state a goal; the app never takes a calorie number from you as the starting point, and it never sets one below a safety floor.
In the appFitnessFood diarySet your targetsBoth dashboards
- Check your profile
Height, sex, activity level and goal come from sign-up. To change them, open Settings from the gear at the top right of Home, then Body and health. Once a weight is logged, each change recalculates the targets and says Targets updated.
- Give your weight
Until you have targets, the diary shows a Set your targets card. Type your weight into Weight (kg) and tap Calculate targets. If your height is missing, your weight is still saved, the card says so, and the button changes to Add your height, which opens Settings.
- Read the rings
The four rings appear with their targets. They are recalculated whenever you log a new weight, and whenever height, goal, activity or sex changes in Settings.
Step 1: your basal metabolic rate
BMR is the energy your body uses at rest. The app uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
BMR = 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age in years + 5 (male) or − 161 (female)
If you choose Prefer not to say, the equation uses the female constant, which gives the lower estimate, and the calorie floor below uses the higher of the two floors. Both push the result toward eating enough.
Step 2: your activity level
BMR is multiplied by a factor for your daily activity outside training, giving your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). In Settings the row is Daily activity outside training.
| Activity level (Settings) | At sign-up | Factor |
|---|---|---|
| Desk | Sedentary: desk job, little movement | × 1.2 |
| Light | Light: light exercise 1 to 3 days a week | × 1.375 |
| Moderate | Moderate: exercise 3 to 5 days a week | × 1.55 |
| Active | Active: hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week | × 1.725 |
| Very active | Very active: physical job or twice-daily training | × 1.9 |
Step 3: your goal
| Goal (Settings) | At sign-up | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lose fat | Lose fat | 80% of TDEE | 2 g per kg |
| Maintain | Maintain | 100% of TDEE | 1.6 g per kg |
| Recomp | Recomp | 95% of TDEE | 1.8 g per kg |
| Build | Build muscle | 110% of TDEE | 1.8 g per kg |
Losing fat asks for the most protein, because protein protects muscle while you eat less. Building and recomposition ask for more than maintaining.
Step 4: the calorie floor
Step 5: protein, fat and carbohydrate
Protein is set per kilogram by your goal (table above). Fat is 0.6 g per kilogram. Carbohydrate takes whatever calories are left, counting 4 kcal per gram of protein and carbohydrate and 9 per gram of fat. If protein and fat alone would use up the whole budget, both are scaled down together and carbohydrate is set to zero, so every number shown can be reached.
| Example person | BMR | TDEE | Calorie target | Protein / fat / carbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female, 30, 165 cm, 60 kg, Moderate, Lose fat | 1,320 | 2,046 | 1,637 kcal | 120 / 36 / 208 g |
| Male, 35, 180 cm, 80 kg, Light, Maintain | 1,755 | 2,413 | 2,413 kcal | 128 / 48 / 367 g |
| Female, 40, 155 cm, 50 kg, Desk, Lose fat | 1,108 | 1,330 | 1,200 kcal (asked 1,064, raised to the floor) | 100 / 30 / 133 g |
Editing your targets, and what is left today
The calculated targets are a starting point you can change. The diary's Today section has an Edit control beside it once targets exist.
In the appFitnessFood diaryEditBoth dashboards
- Tap Edit
An Edit targets card opens with four fields: Calories, Protein, Carbs and Fat.
- Type your numbers
If the macros you enter add up to more than 40 kcal away from the calorie figure (at 4, 4 and 9 kcal per gram), a note tells you the difference. It is information, not an error.
- Tap Save targets
A calorie figure below the greater of your BMR and your floor is raised to it, and the screen tells you it was raised.
What "left today" means
left today is your target minus what you have eaten today, and nothing else. It appears on the diary's rings ("879 left", or "over by 120") and in the Macros panel on Home, which shows protein with a meter and the grams left or over, and carbohydrate and fat side by side, each with a smaller meter and its grams left or over.
Energy out is shown on Home as its own reading: estimated from your steps, cardio and hard sets or, on Android with Health Connect, taken from the active calories your phone or watch recorded. It is never subtracted from what you ate and never added to your target.
How the nutrition score works
The nutrition score describes how balanced a day's eating was, from 0 to 100%. It is built from five parts, each scored from nothing to full marks and weighted. It never rewards eating less than your target.
In the appFitnessNutrition scoreBoth dashboards
The screen covers the last seven days (Last 7 days): a Week average with its label, and one bar per day. Below it the latest day is broken down; tap another day's bar to see its label, its percentage and each part with its own meter.
| Part | Weight | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 35% | Eaten ÷ target. Full marks at your target, and nothing extra for going over. |
| Fibre | 30% | Grams ÷ 28 g, capped at full marks. |
| Saturated fat | 15% | Full marks while saturated fat is at most 35% of your total fat, falling to zero at 70%. |
| Sodium | 10% | Full marks up to 2,300 mg, falling to zero at 4,600 mg. |
| Calories | 10% | Highest at your target, falling away by the same amount above and below it. |
A worked example
Take a day of 1,600 kcal against a 2,000 kcal target, with 90 g of a 120 g protein target and no fibre, saturated fat or sodium data. Protein scores 75% and calories 80%, while fibre, saturated fat and sodium take the neutral 50% each. Weighted, that is 62%, labelled "Uneven". Eating 2,400 kcal instead would score the calorie part exactly the same.
| Label | Score |
|---|---|
| Balanced | 85% or more |
| Mostly balanced | 65% or more |
| Uneven | 40% or more |
| Sparse | below 40% |
Tracking water, drinks and caffeine
Water and every other drink are logged from the Hydration card on Home, in both dashboards. A bottle fills toward your daily goal, with today's total beside it.
In the appHomeHydrationBoth dashboards
- Log a glass of water
Tap + 250 ml. That logs 250 ml of water in one tap.
- Log anything else
Tap Select drink. The picker, What did you drink?, lists each kind of drink with its serving and caffeine; the caffeinated ones are grouped under With caffeine.
- Take one back
Tap undo to remove the most recent drink you logged today, whatever kind it was.
| Drink | Serving | Caffeine |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 250 ml | none |
| Large water | 500 ml | none |
| Coffee | 240 ml | 95 mg |
| Espresso | 30 ml | 65 mg |
| Black tea | 240 ml | 47 mg |
| Green tea | 240 ml | 28 mg |
| Energy drink | 250 ml | 80 mg |
| Energy drink, large | 500 ml | 160 mg |
| Energy drink, sugar-free, large | 500 ml | 150 mg |
| Cola | 330 ml | 32 mg |
| Pre-workout | 300 ml | 200 mg |
| Herbal tea | 240 ml | none |
| Juice | 200 ml | none |
| Milk | 200 ml | none |
| Something else | 250 ml | none |
Setting your water goal
In the appHomeSettingsUnits and daily goalsWater goalBoth dashboards
Choose 2000 ml, 2500 ml, 3000 ml or Custom, which opens a Millilitres a day field for any figure from 500 to 6,000. Until you choose, the goal is 2,500 ml. When today's total reaches it, the card says Goal reached.
StatBlockRPG In StatBlockRPG, reaching the goal pays 25 base Constitution XP once a day, and the card reads Goal reached. XP added.
How the weekly meal planner works
The meal planner is a week that repeats: one template per weekday, with no calendar dates. You plan Monday once and it is there every Monday. The app can build a day for you from the food catalog, sized to your calorie target and shaped by what you eat.
In the appFitnessMeal planBoth dashboards
Weekday chips run from Mon to Sun, opening on today. Each day's card shows the planned calories against your target with a meter, the protein, carbs and fat, the day's projected nutrition score, and how far over or under target the plan is.
- Tell the planner what you eat
The first time, tap Tell me what you eat; afterwards the row is Food preferences. Choose how you eat (No restriction Vegetarian Vegan Pescatarian), any Ingredients to leave out, and Meals a day (2 to 6, snacks included; 3 until you choose).
- Build a day
Tap Build me a day on an empty day, or Build this day for me on one that has items. A preview appears under Suggested for Monday with the total against your target. Tap a meal to see a suggested cooking method, then tap Use this, Try again or Cancel.
- Adjust it
Add items with Add a food or Add a meal; the meal chips under them choose which meal an item goes into. Change a food by 25 g at a time (down to 5 g) and one of your meals by half a serving. Pin keeps an item when the day is rebuilt. Swap, on a food, replaces it with another suggestion, for the same meal where there is one. Remove takes it out.
- Log the plan
Tap Log Monday’s plan. Whichever weekday is showing, its plan is copied into today's diary as ordinary entries, each meal as its own card beside anything you logged by hand, and you can remove them like any other entry. Each meal of the plan is copied once a day, so tapping twice does not log it twice.
Swaps are remembered
A food you swap away is remembered and not suggested again. Up to 500 are kept, the oldest dropped first. To give them all another chance, open Food preferences and tap the button that counts them, for example Forget the 12 foods you swapped away.
Why some foods never appear
Each food is judged against your diet and each ingredient you left out as containing it, free of it, or unknown, from its name and USDA food group. Only foods judged free are suggested. When the data cannot say, the food is left out rather than guessed at, which means fewer suggestions on purpose. Your preferences shape suggestions only: you can still log anything.
Adults can send one planned weekday to a friend by direct message with Share Monday; the food portions in the friend's copy are resized toward their own calorie target. See Social.
Adding your own foods and meals
When the catalog does not have a food, add it yourself. When you cook the same thing often, save it as one of your meals. Both are private to your account.
Your own foods
In the appFitnessFood diaryYour own foodsBoth dashboards
- Tap New food
Enter the values per 100 g, the way a label prints them. A live line shows what the macros add up to, so a typo stands out.
Name Brand (optional) kcal / 100 g Protein g / 100 g Carbs g / 100 g Fat g / 100 g Fibre g / 100 g (optional)
- Tap Save
The food appears in search from then on, ranked among the catalog foods by how well its name matches. Your own foods are fetched from your account, so with no connection they are missing from search.
- Change or retire it
Tap a food to edit it. Press and hold to remove it: it stops appearing in search, and meals you already logged with it are unchanged.
Your meals
In the appFitnessMeal planYour mealsBoth dashboards
- Tap New meal
Name it under What is it called? and set How many servings does it make?.
- Add the ingredients
Under Ingredients, type at least two letters into Search the food list and tap a catalog food to add it at 100 g, then change its weight with −25 and +25. The calories and macros per serving are worked out from the catalog, and the server calculates them again when you tap Save meal, so they always match what you picked.
- Eat it
On the meal plan, tap Add a meal, pick the meal of the day and the number of servings, then log the day's plan. That is how one of your meals reaches the diary.
A meal can have up to 60 ingredients and up to 1,000 servings. Remove hides it from the picker and leaves everything you already ate in your diary. Adults also see a Share chip on each meal, which sends it to a friend by direct message; the friend gets a private copy with its numbers recalculated.
Logging your weight and a goal weight
Your latest weight is the input to your calorie and macro targets that changes most, so logging it keeps them current. A goal weight is a milestone you can see, and nothing more.
In the appHomeSettingsBody and healthToday's weight (kg)Both dashboards
- Weigh in
Type today's weight and tap Log. Once a day is plenty. Every entry is kept, and the latest one feeds your targets, which are recalculated straight away. Your very first weight can also be given in the diary's Set your targets card, or at the end of sign-up.
- Set a goal weight
Fill in Goal weight (kg) and tap Save. Saving the field empty removes the goal.
- Follow it
The diary's weight strip, and a Weight row on Home once you have both a weight and a goal, show a meter of how far your weight has moved from your first logged weight, out of the distance from there to the goal, with "4.4 kg to go." or "Goal weight reached." under it.
Recording body measurements
Measurements are a log of girths for when the scale is not the thing that is changing. There are thirteen sites: Neck, Shoulders, Chest, Waist, Hips, Left arm, Right arm, Left forearm, Right forearm, Left thigh, Right thigh, Left calf, Right calf.
In the appFitnessMeasurementsBoth dashboards
- Pick the site
Under Record a measurement, tap the site's chip. It starts on Waist.
- Enter the value
In centimetres, or inches if you use imperial units, up to 300 cm. Tap Save.
- Read the change
Under Latest, each site shows its newest value and date, and the change since the reading before it: "0.5 cm more", "1.2 cm less" or "unchanged".
- Remove a reading
Press and hold a site's row to remove its latest reading. The one before it becomes the current reading again.
Units, language, data export and account deletion
Units
In the appHomeSettingsUnits and daily goalsMeasurement systemBoth dashboards
Choose Metric (kg, cm) or Imperial (lb, ft). The choice changes what you see, not what is stored: weights, heights and girths are always kept in kilograms and centimetres, so switching never rounds your history. In imperial, weight shows in pounds, height in feet and inches, girths in inches and drinks in US fluid ounces. Food portions are always in grams, and a custom water goal is always typed in millilitres.
Language
In the appHomeSettingsApp and displayLanguageBoth dashboards
The app comes in five languages: English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano. Your phone's language is pre-selected on the welcome screen when it is one of them, and the setting is kept on this device. Food names come in English and German only: with the app in German, 523 catalog foods show a German name first in search, with the official USDA name in brackets, and the other languages show the USDA name. The diary itself lists catalog foods by their USDA name. Search matches English and German names whatever the app is set to, with or without umlauts.
Exporting your data
In the appHomeSettingsPrivacy, data and legalYour dataBoth dashboards
Under Export everything, tap Export my data. You get one JSON document with your profile, your weights and measurements, every meal and serving, your targets, water and drinks, your meals, your own foods, your meal plan and food preferences, and everything else your account holds. On a phone it opens the share sheet with the document as text, so you can save it to a file or send it to yourself.
Deleting your account
- Export first
Afterwards there is nothing left to export.
- Type your username
Under Delete my account, type your username into the field that asks for it. Upper and lower case do not matter.
- Confirm
Tap Delete my account, then Delete permanently. Every workout, meal, measurement and item is removed at once. There is no grace period and no undo.
How your health data is handled is set out in the privacy policy.
Nutrition and body questions
How does StatBlockFit calculate my calorie target?
It estimates your basal metabolic rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation from your weight, height, age and sex, multiplies it by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9, then applies your goal (80% of that to lose fat, 110% to build). The result is never lower than the greater of your BMR and a fixed floor. The calculation runs on the server.
Can the app set my calories below 1,200?
No. The target is never below the greater of your BMR and 1,200 kcal (female) or 1,500 kcal (male, or if you prefer not to say). A number typed in by hand that falls below it is raised to it, and that floor cannot be switched off.
Does the food diary work offline?
Searching the 2,467 catalog foods works with no connection, because the catalog is bundled in the app. Loading the diary and logging a food need a connection.
Are calories burned added back to my target?
No. Energy out is shown on Home as its own reading, and it is never subtracted from what you ate or added to your target. "Left today" is your target minus what you have eaten, and nothing else.
Can I log food for yesterday?
No. The diary always shows today, and a day runs from 4:00 to 3:59 in your home time zone, so something eaten after midnight still counts for the day you are in.
Is the ingredient filter safe for allergies?
No. The planner's filter is a preference, not allergy safety. The USDA data carries no allergen labelling, so exclusions are worked out from food names and food groups, and anything it cannot clear is left out. Always check the actual product.
Does eating less than my target raise my nutrition score?
No. The calorie part of the score is highest at your target and falls away by the same amount above and below it. Eating less never scores higher than hitting the target.