Best Food Tracking App For Bodybuilding

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Most nutrition apps are built for casual dieters, not bodybuilders chasing serious muscle or precise macros. If you’ve felt let down by generic weight-loss tools, you’re not alone.

Fortunately, there are options. Our team at FeastGood has tested over 20 nutrition apps, and we’ve compiled a list of the best ones specifically designed to help with bodybuilding goals (plus one to avoid).

In A Hurry? Here’s Our Top Pick

MacroFactor stands above every other app for bodybuilding nutrition. Its built-in coaching dynamically adjusts your calories and macros as your body changes, something other apps promise, but rarely deliver this accurately. It’s the smartest, most intuitive way to make sure your targets always match your goals, preferences, and pace of progress.

That said, MacroFactor doesn’t have a free version; there’s a seven-day free trial (use code FEASTGOOD to add an extra week on your trial).

At A Glance

Key Criteria: How To Choose An App For Bodybuilding

This is a list of things to look for in a nutrition app for bodybuilding:

Having Accurate Calorie and Macronutrient Targets

The two main objectives in bodybuilding are to build as much muscle as possible and get as lean as possible. 

Both goals require tight calorie and macronutrient monitoring. So, it’s important to pick an app that helps you track calories closely and see your macro intake down to the gram.

Providing Personalized Adjustments to Nutritional Targets

Since calorie and macronutrient requirements change as you build muscle or lose fat, it’s important to pick an app that can ideally provide updated recommendations based on progression. 

Of course, this might not matter if you’re a seasoned bodybuilder who knows when and how to adjust nutritional targets, but it can be incredibly helpful and insightful for those with less experience.

Accurate And Verified Food Database

A reliable food database makes it easy to log meals accurately. 

The more complete and verified the entries, the better the app can calculate your calories and macros, helping you stay on target and make real progress toward your goals.

An Option to Store Recipes

Your bodybuilding diet doesn’t have to be bland, so you likely have at least a handful of go-to recipes you like to prepare a few times a month. 

Having the option to store these recipes with nutritional information in an app can be a huge time-saver.

Ability to Track Important Bodybuilding Metrics

The days of logging your weight, body fat percentage, and circumference measurements in a notebook are gone. Being able to log your data in an app and easily compare values over time is another fantastic feature that saves you time and helps keep you on track.

Bonus points for any app that allows you to upload, store, and compare progress photos.

RANKED: Top Apps For Bodybuilding

• MacroFactor – Best Overall
• Cronometer – Best For Data Nerds
• MyFitnessPal – Best For Those Who Eat Out Often
• Carbon Diet Coach – Second Best For a Guided Experience
• RP Diet – Best For Strict/Serious Bodybuilders

1. MacroFactor – Best Overall

MacroFactor is the most functional and intuitive macro-tracking app, built for both fat loss and muscle growth. It’s like having a bodybuilding coach in your pocket.

After a quick onboarding survey, the app gives you starting calorie and macro targets. From there, it gets smarter: as you log body weight and body fat, MacroFactor analyzes trends and updates your targets with precision.

You can choose from three coaching modes:

• Coached – the app handles all updates for you

• Collaborative – it suggests changes, but you decide whether to accept

• Manual – you control all adjustments

You can also set your dieting style, rate of progress, protein intake, and customize your dashboard to track nutrients that matter most.

Bonus: You can log weight, body fat, and circumference measurements, and even upload progress photos to track visual changes over time.

Read our complete MacroFactor review here.

Highlights

• The app can update your nutritional targets based on your progress.

• Rich, accurate, and verified food database.

• The app is designed to encourage consistency over perfection.

• You can log all the important bodybuilding stats, like circumference measures.

Drawbacks

• It’s not a workout logger; you need another app for that.

• There’s no free version (only a one-week trial; two if you use code FEASTGOOD).

Key Features

• Custom and dynamic calorie and macronutrient targets.

• All food entries are verified, and each comes with an in-depth breakdown, including protein quality (what amino acids are present).

• You can log meals in several ways, including through AI describe, a barcode scanner, and by selecting saved food items or recipes.

• NEW: You can now snap photos of meals to log anything you eat with a high degree of accuracy. Learn about the app’s latest feature here.

2. Cronometer – Best For Data Nerds

Bodybuilding is an art, but if you love numbers, Cronometer delivers. This app tracks fine-grain nutrition data, including 82 micronutrients, making it a dream for detail-oriented lifters.

What sets Cronometer apart is its customizable reports. These are ideal if you work with a coach, providing breakdowns of daily nutrient intake, macro trends, supplement use, food logs, and biometrics—all exportable as weekly PDFs.

Its food database is another standout. Users can add new entries, but each one is reviewed and completed with lab data where needed. For example, if someone logs oats with minimal label info, Cronometer fills in the gaps using standardized data—giving you full nutritional accuracy with less guesswork.

The main downside? Unlike MacroFactor, Cronometer won’t automatically update your calorie or macro targets as your body changes.

Read our complete Cronometer review here.

Highlights

• You can track pretty much all micronutrients

• You can log calories and macronutrients, as well as health data like blood pressure readings and blood test results

• Create custom reports with the information your coach or healthcare provider needs

Drawbacks

• No automatic calorie and macronutrient target updates; you must make adjustments yourself

• You can’t group individual foods and beverages into meals on the free version; everything appears in the same list

Key Features

• You can monitor and compare metrics like blood pressure and cholesterol levels to your intake of nutrients, such as trans fats and sodium. This can help you better understand how different nutrients impact your health and whether it makes sense to change your diet.

• You can share detailed reports with your bodybuilding coach or healthcare provider.

• Although more health-focused, Cronometer allows you to log and track your weight, body fat, and circumference measurements.

3. MyFitnessPal – Best For Those Who Eat Out Often

MyFitnessPal is the most well-known nutrition app, and while it still has value, it’s slipped to third place for two reasons: most useful features are now behind a paywall, and it struggles to evolve with user needs.

That said, it’s great for anyone who eats out often. Its massive database includes meals from countless restaurants and chains, plus the barcode scanner works globally, my colleague even used it successfully while living in South Korea.

I’ve personally used MFP for both cutting and bulking. It lets you set macro targets and log meals easily. The downside? Unlike MacroFactor, it doesn’t auto-adjust your targets. That’s fine if you’re an experienced bodybuilder, but it adds extra work.

Its biggest flaw is database accuracy. Because entries are user-submitted, you’ll often find duplicates with conflicting info which is frustrating if you rely on precise tracking.

Read our complete MyFitnessPal review for more insight.

Highlights

• You can find many food entries in the extensive library, including options from restaurant chains.

• You can set calorie targets and macronutrient percentage splits. The premium version allows you to set specific macronutrient target amounts in grams.

• You can access many meal and recipe options in the app’s library, but only with a paid plan.

Drawbacks

• Given the numerous inaccurate food entries, MyFitnessPal may not be ideal for people with limited nutritional knowledge.

• There is no option to set gram targets for macros on the free version.

• The barcode scanner and other useful features are hidden behind a paywall.

• The app doesn’t automatically update your nutritional targets based on your progress.

Key Features

• You can log up to six meals and snacks per day. The calories and macronutrients for each meal or snack are displayed, so you can easily see how much you’ve eaten and how many calories you have left.

• You can follow specific meal plans and even track intermittent fasting on the paid version.

• The barcode scanner is intuitive and displays results for many food items from various countries.

4. Carbon Diet Coach – Second Best For a Guided Experience

Carbon Diet Coach offers smart, adaptive macro tracking similar to MacroFactor. After collecting your basic info (age, weight, activity level, and goal), it sets your initial targets and updates them weekly, but only if you’ve been consistently logging.

This “adherence first” approach can help build discipline, but it might feel rigid or discouraging if you miss a few entries. MacroFactor offers more flexibility without penalizing imperfect tracking.

The food database is solid, with accurate macro info and brand-specific entries from the US, UK, and Australia. However, it lacks a recipe database, you can only save personal recipes for reuse.

Read our Carbon Diet Coach review here.

Highlights

• It has a clean interface and is very user-friendly. The simplistic design makes it easy to figure out, even if you don’t have much experience with macro-trackers.

• The food database is rich and includes plenty of relevant information to simplify food logging and macro tracking, regardless of your bodybuilding goal.

• Weekly check-ins encourage consistency. Plus, built-in coaching helps you stay on track and eat the appropriate amount for your goals.

Drawbacks

• The app doesn’t have a free version. You must pay for at least one month, even if you just want to test it and see if it’s a good fit.

• Nutritional targets don’t update unless you’re super adherent with your logging. This can be a pro for super-dedicated bodybuilders who want a simple tool that helps them stay on track.

Key Features

• The barcode scanner is intuitive and brings up nutritional information for a wide range of foods and beverages.

• There are default meal and snack options, but you can enable additional ones for a total of seven meals and snacks per day.

• You can select a goal and a preferred rate of progress, as well as choose which day of the week to make your check-in day.

• Carbon Diet Coach allows you to choose or customize your diet style. You can adjust the grams for each of the three macronutrients based on the diet type you want to follow.

5. RP Diet – Best For Strict/Serious Bodybuilders

RP Diet was built by the Renaissance Periodization team, led by Dr. Mike Israetel, a competitive bodybuilder and Ph.D. in sports science, so it’s no surprise this app is serious about structure.

Like MacroFactor and Carbon Diet Coach, it adapts to your progress. But RP takes it a step further, factoring in your full schedule: training frequency, intensity, wake/sleep times, and more. Based on that, it gives you strict targets for each meal (especially pre- and post-workout) and expects you to log whether you hit them.

That level of precision is perfect for bodybuilders who want zero guesswork. But for more casual lifters or during the off-season, the rigidity can feel overwhelming.

Still, the RP team is stacked with qualified pros- dietitians, PhDs, and elite athletes and plenty of users have seen real results. Whether that structure helps or hinders you comes down to your personality and goals.

Read our complete RP Diet app review here.

Highlights

• Know exactly how many grams of each macronutrient to aim for on each meal.

• Copy and paste meals to streamline your nutrition logging if you often eat the same thing for multiple meals (or multiple times a week).

Drawbacks

• RP Diet doesn’t track meal or total calories – only the grams of each macronutrient.

• The app doesn’t allow you to track vitamins and minerals, circumference measurements, or body fat percentage.

• The app is designed so that you need to track your macros for individual meals, rather than aiming for a daily total.

Key Features

• The app provides custom macronutrient recommendations based on your weigh-ins and compliance rate.

• You can add foods to your shopping list inside RP Diet to simplify meal prepping.

• Macro recommendations differ for your pre- and post-workout meals to optimize your gym performance and aid recovery.

An App We Tested But Didn’t Make The Cut – SnapCalorie

SnapCalorie is advertised to log your nutrition through photos. It provides calorie and macronutrient recommendations based on various factors and even has a built-in AI chatbot called Snappy. So, why didn’t it make the cut?

First, the good: I liked the initial calorie targets, which matched the goal and rate of progression I selected. You can also choose your preferred macro split—balanced, keto, high-protein, or low-carb. The balanced option (25% fat, 45% carbs, 30% protein) was well-designed.

Logging meals is flexible, too. You can:

• Take a photo and get an instant estimate

• Scan a barcode

• Describe the meal manually

• Scan a nutrition label

The “describe the meal” feature was especially useful, you list what you ate, and the app lets you tap and add each food with serving sizes.

The issue? SnapCalorie’s main selling point, photo-based logging, isn’t accurate enough. It frequently misidentifies foods or underestimates portion sizes, meaning you’ll often need to edit the results manually. That defeats the whole point of a fast, AI-powered tracker. Until the image recognition improves, it’s just not reliable enough for serious bodybuilding nutrition.

What Results Can You Expect From Using An App For Bodybuilding?

Apps are valuable tools to leverage, but they aren’t magic. The results you can expect will largely depend on your dedication, consistency, attention to detail (especially during fat loss), starting point, and genetics.

Here are a few ways in which an app can help if you’re willing to put in the work:

Track Your Calories & Macros With Precision

A good nutrition tracker will have a rich and accurate food library, allowing you to log what you eat and automatically calculate the calories and macronutrients.

Top-tier apps will also account for your progress and automatically adjust your nutritional targets as you gain or lose weight.

Support Productive Training With Proper Fueling

Whether looking to maintain muscle during fat loss or build muscle during a gaining phase, you need an adequate training stimulus. 

The only way to consistently provide one is to fuel yourself well. That way, you can recover well between workouts and have the fuel you need to push hard at the gym. 

For a dedicated bodybuilder, this means hitting your daily nutritional targets and paying attention to your pre- and post-workout meals. A good app can help you easily track both meals and see the nutritional value of each and how they affect your performance and recovery.

Plan Your Meals Like a Pro

As a bodybuilder, you probably understand the value of planning ahead and preparing multiple meals in advance. 

Sure, being able to leverage intuitive eating with elements of if it fits your macros (IIFYM) is beneficial, especially when traveling. But a good nutrition app will allow you to pre-log meals, so you know exactly what you’ll be eating each day and can plan accordingly.

Focus on Food Quality, Not Just Quantity

IIFYM is still a popular approach among bodybuilders because it works and provides decent flexibility. 

However, every serious athlete knows that it’s not just about hitting some macro targets; it’s also about eating high-quality food and getting the fiber, vitamins, and minerals your body needs to operate at peak efficiency.

Good nutrition-tracking apps will make it easy to see what you eat each day and whether your diet is varied and covers the essential micronutrient needs. 

Doing so can be particularly useful in understanding weight loss stalls, as well as during a peak week when you need to be extra mindful about your nutrient intake and timing. Electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, play a crucial role in fluid balance, and B vitamins help with carbohydrate metabolism.

So, by monitoring your intake of each of these nutrients, you put yourself in a better position to succeed.

Our Testing Methodology Explained

To create ranked app lists, a member of the FeastGood.com team spends at least a few weeks testing the app and documenting their experience: the app’s functionality, what they like, what they don’t, and other relevant details. You can see a list of all the apps we’ve tested and reviewed on this page.

After using an app and testing multiple criteria, we determine how the specific app works within a given use case or context, in this case, bodybuilding. At this stage, the team member testing the app collaborates with other experts from the team, including certified nutrition coaches, registered dietitians, and coaches. 

We realize that software changes rapidly, so we set aside time to review our rankings and determine if the app order should change, if we should add new apps to any list, or remove existing ones. 

To top it off, we listen to feedback from our clients who use these apps to gain extra insight as to what they like or dislike about them.