Beginner’s Guide to Cronometer (How to Use PROPERLY)

Some links in this article are affiliate links, which means we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more.

If you’ve read any of my nutrition app reviews, you’ll know that I love Cronometer.  I was so impressed with it that I switched from MyFitnessPal after over three consecutive years of use, and I haven’t looked back.  I’m now at over 900 days (and counting!) on Cronometer.

That said, like any new app, there is a learning curve when you first start using it.  If you’ve downloaded (or are about to download) Cronometer, I’ve written this article as your go-to guide to set you up for tracking success right from the beginning.

Keep In Mind

 I’m not here to sell you on Cronometer – I’m assuming you’re here because you’ve already made up your mind about using the app.  If you’d like more information about the pros and cons of the app and how it stacks up against other apps we’ve reviewed, check out my detailed Cronometer review here.

How to Use Cronometer

1.    Intake Information

Completing the intake information in Cronometer is fairly consistent with other nutrition-tracking apps: starting with sex, age, height, and weight in Step 1. 

I did, however, think that it was cool that the “sex” selection included options for “Pregnant” or “Breastfeeding” as these individuals would have higher calorie needs.  Cronometer also has information for assisting transgender individuals with selecting the correct sex to align with their calorie needs.

The next step (Step 2) after basic biological information is activity level information, with helpful descriptions of what each activity level would mean.

There is even an option to set a custom calorie amount burned from exercise, rather than using one of the pre-defined activity options.  I wouldn’t recommend this custom amount, however, unless you have expert-level tracking experience and/or you are working 1:1 with a nutrition coach.

After setting the activity level, Step 3 is to provide your weight goal, and in Step 4 you determine the rate of weight loss (or gain) you want to get you to your goal.

I really liked that the suggested starting rate (-0.50 lbs / per week) was very reasonable and sustainable based on my starting weight and desired goal weight.  I had the option to increase or decrease this rate of loss by pressing the minus (“-”) or plus (“+”) buttons, but it gave me a warning when I got to -2 lbs / per week.  This wouldn’t be a sustainable rate of weight loss for me, given my starting weight input of 150 lbs.

Based on the information provided in Steps 1-4, it provided me with a “Weight Goal Overview” in Step 5.

It wasn’t until Step 6 (one of the final steps) that I was prompted to set-up a Cronometer account (input name, email address and password), so I think it’s really awesome that you could use Cronometer to come up with targets, and then decide to take that information to another app or coach.  They are not forcing you to sign up for their service to get this information.

Step 7 is fairly common “legal-ese” – the fine print about the Terms of Service and Privacy Settings.  After scrolling to the bottom (and ideally reading it all so that you are informed about what you are signing up for!), you can press Continue to finalize setting up your account.

The final step to set up the account was to agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and then verify the email address provided in Step 6.

To verify the email, go to your email inbox for the email address provided (you might have to check your spam folder) and click the link to validate your account.

Then you’re all set to start using your account!  Don’t be surprised if the first thing you see when you sign in is an ad to get you to sign up for the Cronometer Gold service (you can see whether I think it’s worth it in my article “I Tried Cronometer Gold, So You Don’t Have To”).

You can “X” out of this ad to use the free version of Cronometer without signing up for a paid plan. 

2.    Log Your First Food

This is what your Diary will look like when you first sign in on a mobile device. Notice that the calorie target at the top matches the calorie target from Step 5 of the intake.  Cronometer prompts you to try logging your first food, to show you the different options for doing so, and how easy it is – just click on the large orange and white plus (“+”) sign and select “Add Food” (the apple icon).

From there, you can do a text-based search by typing in the search bar at the top of the screen – Cronometer will also have a pop-up to ask you about your current level of nutrition knowledge – this governs just how much information is displayed about each food, so that beginners are not overwhelmed with detailed micronutrient information when they are just getting the hang of logging foods for the first time.

If your food has a barcode/label, you can scan the barcode (it’s free in Cronometer!) – see the circled icon of a barcode at the top right of the screen.

Once you select the entry that you want (for example, I picked the first entry for “Bananas, Raw” – you can see a white checkmark in an orange square to the left of the selected entry), it opens a more detailed screen where you can select the serving size details and see more nutrition information about the selected entry.

Here it shows that the default serving size is “large – 8” – 8 ⅞” long – 136 g).

But if my banana is smaller or larger, or I’ve actually weighed it on a food scale, I can press the serving size line to get more serving size options, including actual grams.  Then I can type in the exact number of grams (if known), or pick a different amount or size of banana from the list.

I can also choose which Diary “Group” (meal) to add it to – you can see that it is defaulting to Lunch – the other initial default options are Uncategorized, Breakfast, Dinner, or Snacks.

This leads me to my next comments about setting up “Diary Groups.”

3.    Set Up Diary Groups

The term “Diary Group” might be confusing for some users.  Basically, it just means meals.  But since you can also record your biometric information in your Daily Diary in Cronometer, you can also set aside a Diary Group just for your biometric information. 

I personally do this, and I also have a Diary Group specifically for my daily supplements.  So I like that a “Diary Group” has a broader meaning than just a meal.

As I mentioned above, the default Diary Groups when you first sign in are Uncategorized, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks (5 groups).  But there are actually a total of 8 groups available, and you can set them up in the Display settings by clicking the three dots in the bottom right of the app (“More”) and going to Display.

From the sub-menu that opens up, choose Diary Settings.  Within Diary Settings, go to Diary Groups at the bottom.  You’ll notice that I’ve also highlighted Always Explode Meals (currently toggled OFF with the grey bar on the slider – I’ll discuss what this means in an upcoming section about Meals).

To make all of the Diary Groups visible in your Daily Diary, you need to toggle the slider bar to the “On” position (orange showing).  Here I’ve got all 8 groups toggled on, and these are the actual names that I use for Diary Groups.  You can set up as many (up to 8) or as few (minimum 1) as you like, and call them whatever you want.

After updating those Display Settings for the Diary Groups, when you go back to the Daily Diary (you can press the Diary icon at the bottom of the screen – it’s the second icon from the left and looks like a little notebook), you will see the updated Diary Groups.

Notice that my calories consumed has also been updated to 120 calories for the large banana I logged as my first food.

4.    Adjust Your Targets If Needed

If you want or need to fine-tune your calorie, macronutrient, and/or micronutrient targets, you can do that from the Settings menu as well.

I went into the Targets section of the menu (press the “More” three dots icon and go to Targets), and then clicked “Macro & Energy Targets” (I left my Weight Goal at 140 lbs, as per Step 3 of the Intake process, but you could change that here, as well, in the Weight Goal section).

Cronometer starts off with macronutrient targets set by ratios (percentages) – you see that it defaulted to setting my protein as 25% of my daily total, carbs as 45%, and fat as 30%.  I prefer to set targets by fixed macronutrient values, so I clicked on the “Fixed” option circled in yellow.

Here you can see that I increased my protein to 140 grams (instead of the original target of 110 grams) – you can decide if 1 g of protein per pound of goal body weight is right for you in our article “Is 1 Gram of Protein Per Pound Enough? (What Science Says).”

I kept fat grams virtually the same, and made up the difference by reducing the number of grams of carbohydrate. 

If you decide that you also want to put in a new/different calorie target (different from the one suggested in Step 5 of the Intake process), you can do so, but it will essentially turn off the “weight goal” feature because you’re no longer following Cronometer’s recommended calculations.  This is totally fine if you’re experienced, and/or working with a nutrition coach or other health professional.

I left my energy target as suggested by Cronometer (1,758 calories) because it seemed in line with what I would expect based on the information I provided in the intake phase.

You also have the option to set specific targets for micronutrients like certain vitamins or minerals (perhaps you’re trying to increase your calcium intake, or decrease your sodium intake).  Just toggle the “Custom” slider to the “On” position, and input your desired target (threshold).

5.    Sync Devices

If you want to sync health and/or exercise or activity information (like step count) from another device, Cronometer has a ton of integrations available.

You can also connect with Apple Health (if you’re on an Apple device), and decide what information you do or don’t want imported into Cronometer from Apple Health.

6.    Create A Meal

Meals can be a great way to save time while logging when you regularly eat the same foods together.  Creating a meal rather than logging the items individually saves time.  The less time you spend logging food, the more likely you are to enjoy and continue using the app, which will lead to better results in the long run.

For example, a regular breakfast for me is oatmeal with sliced banana and a chocolate protein shake. 

Rather than record each individual ingredient in this recipe, I can go to the Foods section, and Create Meal.  I search for each individual ingredient and the usual amount, and give this “collection” of ingredients (a meal) a name – in this case, “Favourite Breakfast.”

Cronometer will then display a summary of the total calories and macros for the meal, and I can save it.  The next time I eat this meal, I can just log the meal from my Custom list, rather than searching for each of the four ingredients individually.

7.    Create A Recipe

Similar to creating a meal, you can also create a recipe in Cronometer.  I really like using this feature when the recipe makes multiple servings, and especially if there are lots of specialty ingredients like various spices that I’m not going to measure exactly. 

By contrast, I tend to use a meal for a single-serving portion of foods commonly eaten together, versus things I am combining to cook or bake as part of a “recipe.”

But, the two function in very similar ways, so I’m actually going to show you what would happen if I created my “Favourite Breakfast” meal as a recipe instead, which I called “Breakfast Recipe” (same four ingredients as my meal).

Just like the meal, I search for the individual ingredients I want.  With recipes that are cooked or baked and decrease in weight during cooking or baking due to evaporation, you also have the option to input the cooked weight.  This can help you measure out an accurate serving size after it’s been cooked.

For example, if the cooked weight of the recipe is 300 grams and the recipe makes 4 servings, you know that you need to measure out 75 grams (one quarter of 300 grams) to get one serving once it’s cooked.  If the uncooked weight was 400 grams and you didn’t adjust for the lower weight after cooking, you might weigh out a serving of 100 grams, which would actually be 33% bigger than it should be.

In this example, I’m just recording a recipe for my single-serving meal, so I’ve left the number of servings as 1.

On the next screen, you can record detailed instructions about how to prepare the recipe in the Notes section.  I love copying and pasting recipe directions for recipes I find on the internet so that I don’t have to try to find the website in the future; I’ve got everything I need to know about how to prepare the recipe stored directly in Cronometer.

You can also select a Category for your recipe (optional).  I left it blank.

Just like for a meal, the next screen for a recipe displays a summary of the total calories and macros for the recipe, and I can save it.  The next time I eat this recipe, I can just log the meal from my Custom list of recipes, rather than searching for each of the four ingredients individually.

If for some reason I decide not to eat all of what I’ve made, I can also select a “fraction” for the recipe – if I only eat half, I can log it as 0.5 full recipe when I select the number of servings.  Or, if I’m extra hungry, I can double the recipe and record it as 2 servings.

8.    Create Favourites

Another “hack” for quick logging is to store your most commonly-eaten foods, meals and recipes as Favourites.  To do this, when you go into the entry for the food, you press the Star icon for “Add to Favorites” – this appears when you press the three green dots to the right of the food/meal/recipe name.

9.    Log Your Biometrics

At a minimum, if you have a weight-related goal (weight loss or weight gain, or even weight maintenance), you’re going to want to record your weight in Cronometer on a regular basis. You do this by pressing the orange plus “+” button and “Add Biometric.”

There are a lot of biometrics in the categories Body, Cardio, Labs and Mental.  These are all available in the free version of Cronometer.  If you really need to track a specialized metric that is not already provided, Cronometer Gold allows you to create a custom biometric.  In my three years of using Cronometer, even while competing at the national level in powerlifting, I have not found a need for a custom biometric.  But, it could be required if you are managing a specialized health condition.

10. Complete Your Day

When you’ve completed all your logging for the day (all food, supplements, water intake, biometrics, exercise), you can “Complete Day” by pressing the green checkmark at the top left of the Daily Diary screen (or go to the three green dots on the top right and select “Complete Day”).

This means that no new entries can be added to the day.  This status of “Completed Day” will show up in your calendar, and you can also create reports or charts to only include Completed Days, if you want.

Key Features In Cronometer

Target Scheduler

If it’s important to get really “fancy,” Cronometer Gold also has a Macro Scheduler feature that allows you to create different “templates” of macronutrient targets for different days (e.g. rest days might be different from training days), and you can schedule these templates in advance.

For example, if you know that Sunday is always a rest day, you can use the Macro Scheduler to always set your “Rest Day” template for Sundays.

But, even without a Gold account, you CAN set up different templates and save them.  You just have to manually select the target each day.

“Exploding” Meals

If you eat the same foods but not necessarily the exact same amounts each day, there is a great feature in Cronometer called “Explode Meal.”  This means that you log it with one click by selecting the meal, but Cronometer will automatically “explode” the entry into its individual ingredients in your Daily Diary.

If I don’t explode the meal, it will show up as “Favourite Breakfast” but will not show what the individual ingredients are. 

If I want to explode the meal, I can select the entry with my finger and slide to the right to pull up a menu (three dots) that has the option to “Explode Meal.” 

Then Cronometer will replace the “Favourite Breakfast” entry with the individual ingredients.

This is really helpful if you want or need to slightly adjust the serving size of any one ingredient.

For example, my “Favourite Breakfast” meal includes a banana, but some days my banana might be 100 grams and some days it might be 125 grams – “exploding” the meal so that I can see the banana entry allows me to adjust the serving size for the banana directly in my Daily Diary without having to edit the meal.

Cronometer will ask you if you want to Always Explode Meals when you explode a meal.  I have  my settings set up to Always Explode Meals so that I can easily adjust individual ingredient amounts to match my actual intake.

“Exploding” Recipes

Similar to “exploding” meals, you can also “explode” recipes to show you the individual ingredients in the recipe in your Daily Diary.  I don’t use this feature very often because my recipes usually contain lots of spices and other elements that have all been cooked or baked together, and I’ve measured them all according to the recipe instructions.

I am way less likely to be interested in adjusting an individual component of a recipe compared to adjusting an individual ingredient in a meal.

But, this is a great feature to know about, in case you decide to use Recipes differently than I do, or there is a time when you decide to include more or less of a certain ingredient in a recipe, but you don’t want to edit the recipe and change it for the future.

Just like exploding a meal, it will “explode” the recipe to show the individual ingredients of that recipe in my Daily Diary.

Adjusting Recipes

I can also use the Adjust Recipe (it’s just above the Explode Recipe line above) feature if I want to add or remove an ingredient. 

For example, I might decide to add 1 cup of fresh blueberries to my “Breakfast Recipe.”

If I do this from my Daily Diary screen, it will only adjust the recipe for that one time.

If I want to “permanently” adjust the recipe on a go-forward basis to include 1 cup of fresh blueberries, I have to go to Foods (the apple icon), Custom Recipes, and then search for my Breakfast Recipe to edit it.

Cronometer is even smart enough to know how many times you’ve logged that recipe in your Daily Diary in the past.

Let’s say that you created a new recipe and you used it all week…but you realized that you forgot to include 1 tbsp of oil in the recipe.  All of your past entries would be too low in fat and calories because of that missing tbsp of oil.

So, when you update the recipe to include the missing tbsp of oil, Cronometer can automatically adjust your past entries of that recipe.

If, on the other hand, you weren’t previously making the recipe with 1 tbsp of oil, but you decide that it will be better to prepare it that way going forward, you can edit the recipe, and only have it apply to logging the recipe going forward (you would choose “Don’t Update” when prompted about changing past entries for the recipe).

Charts

Cronometer comes pre-loaded with some default charts accessible from the main page.  For example, there is a default weekly bar chart of calories consumed, with the bar for each day showing how many calories came from each macronutrient (protein, carbs, fat, and alcohol has its own macronutrient group).

Once you start recording your body weight, Cronometer will also automatically generate a weight graph (chart).

In Cronometer Gold, you can also create custom charts to track variables of your choosing.  For example, I know that one of the key indicators of my health and how well my nutritional intake is supporting me is my bowel habits.  I know that my bowel habits are impacted by my fiber intake (both too much and too little can be problematic).  Yup, Cronometer even tracks your poop (if you log it)!

So, I created a custom chart for fiber intake and bowel habits.   My fiber intake (in orange) dropped way down and within a day or two, so did my rating of my poop.

Custom Reports

Similar to the charts, Cronometer also has several default reports available in the free version. There is a running daily average report for Calories Consumed, Calorie Expenditure, Energy Budget, Macronutrient Targets and more.

Progress Photos (Snapshots)

Cronometer recently introduced the “Snapshots” feature where you can record regular progress photos.  Progress photos are a great way to see those “non-scale victories,” when your body composition might be changing for the better even when there is limited or no movement on the scales.

Sharing

Cronometer has a cool feature that allows even free users to share custom foods and recipes with friends and family who are also using Cronometer.

Or, if you are working with a healthcare professional who has a Cronometer Pro account, you can grant them access to see your nutritional data from the Sharing menu as well.

Other Macro Tracking Resources

• How To Track Macros: A Step-By-Step Beginner’s Guide
• How To Hit Your Macros: 12 Tips From A Nutrition Coach
• Best Calorie & Macro Tracking App: I Tested 18+ Apps
• What Happens If I Don’t Hit My Macros? Should I Worry?
• Do Macros Matter for Weight Loss? (Yes, Here’s Why)