
“Most 'diets' don't work because diets are a restriction of either a food group or calories,” says Jessica DeGore, RD, a Pittsburgh-based registered dietitian. So if you find yourself struggling after a few months-or having some success, then returning to old habits-don’t stress. Whether you use an app or not, studies show that most “diets” aren't sustainable long-term due to their restrictive nature, as well as the natural inclination to go in all-or-none. Dieting apps only work if they teach sustainable habitsĪpps can help teach lifestyle habits that are sustainable long-term. Apps can also be helpful when learning about portion sizes, which can be difficult to visualize and even more difficult to understand within a daily calorie budget. As you log your food, you’ll get a better understanding of general nutrition, which can help you make changes when meal planning. Using an app can be educational, no matter your goal. Both WeightWatchers and Noom encourage fitness as a part of a weight-loss journey, giving calorie credit for syncing data from fitness trackers like Fitbit and the Apple Watch or fitness apps like Apple Health, or simply logging exercise sessions into their activity tracker sections. In our Noom review, our tester found it to be useful and easy to track and categorize the food she ate. Newer diet app Noom uses a traffic light system that categorizes nutritious and low calorically dense foods as green (eat in abundance) and high calorically dense foods as red (eat in moderation). You have an allotment of points for the day, with the healthier, low-cal foods counting for fewer points (or none at all!) and higher-calorie foods worth more points. One classic diet option, WeightWatchers, uses a point system in lieu of a traditional calorie counter. Many apps have food databases and barcode scanners to make the food logging aspect less arduous and potentially more fun than just writing down what you eat on a piece of paper.

Others allow you to track your macronutrients (i.e., the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in each food) and other nutrition information to see for yourself where you might want to increase or reduce your intake. Weight-loss apps in particular focus on food choices, often encouraging certain foods, such as nutrient-dense, low-calorie options like fruits and vegetables, and discouraging others, such as high-calorie, low-nutrient sweets. Most offer food tracking so you learn more about what you eat, both in terms of quality and quantity. There are many dieting apps out there, but they work in similar ways. Diet apps can help you learn more about what you're actually eating.
