Technology has come a long way. With the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices, tech has made many facets of life easier, quicker, and more convenient. For virtually everything you could think of, there’s probably an app out there that can do it. 

This carries over into the realm of fitness and nutrition as well. When it comes to dietary goals, food tracking apps are ubiquitous in both the Google and Apple app stores. Each tracker has its own different interface, bells and whistles, and features. Overall, though, they all serve the same fundamental purpose: accountability. The apps will auto crunch numbers for you regarding calories and macros of each food, serving sizes, and how much they will contribute to your daily targets.

These trackers are amazing tools. However, like any other measuring tool, they are only as useful as how they’re actually used. Mistakes and user error will affect the app’s accuracy, which can translate into dietary results differing from expectations. Here, we’ll go over some of the top mistakes using food tracking apps and how to minimize or avoid them.

Top Mistakes People Make Using Food Tracking Apps

1. Not Being Meticulous Enough

It’s all too common to overlook some of the smaller things you eat over the course of the day. A handful of nuts from the bowl on your counter, a couple of candies from the office, a few bites from your kids’ dinner, etc. While these seem relatively minor, they can easily snowball upwards of several hundred calories to your total intake by the end of the day.

While it may seem arduous to whip out your phone every time you eat something, it’s generally preferable to logging something after the fact. We all live busy lives, and it’s all too easy for things to slip our minds. A food tracker can only hold you accountable for what you enter into it. Remember, even if the app doesn’t count it, your body will.  

It’s also worth noting that it’s possible to go too far in the other direction. For some folks, tracking becomes a bit of an obsession. If they forget to log a single grape, carrot stick, or flavoring in their water bottle, their perceived day of tracking is ruined, or they carry a ton of additional stress and guilt. This completely defeats the purpose of the assistance a tracker is supposed to help with.

With tracking, there must be a balance between accountability and feasibility. Be as meticulous as you can but understand that not all things are made equal. Certain foods are going to make much more of an impact than others if missed. When you miss something, and trust me, you will, don’t freak out. Continue your day as normal, and learn from it.

2. Not Planning Out the Day

Most people looking to lose weight will have set targets for their daily calories and macronutrients. These numbers are intended to produce the optimal balance between fat loss and satiety. As long as your intake doesn’t exceed that calorie total, your body will pull from its fat stores to compensate for the difference. 

That’s all great on paper, but anyone who has ever tried to count calories and macros knows that is much easier said than done. As you continue to log food throughout the day, you’ll find that your daily caloric budget quite literally gets eaten up fast. It’s quite the dilemma to be just halfway through your day, only to find you only have a couple hundred calories left. At that point, you either go over your targets, or you’re going to be pretty darn hungry for the rest of the day.

Things only complicate when macros are thrown into the equation. When you’re trying to hit a protein target while staying within your caloric means, the difficulty ramps up significantly. Not only do you have to make sure you’re fed throughout the entire day, but you must also ensure your food composition is balanced as well. It’s all too common to end the day well within your calories, only to realize you still have 30+ grams of protein unmet.  

The best way to prevent this is pre-planning. It’s easiest if you start your day knowing exactly what you need to eat to hit your goals, and when. Planning out your meals the day before removes a lot of the guesswork involved with making the dietary puzzle pieces fit. Pre-log things into the food tracker, and as the day plays out, adjust things as necessary. 

It also tends to be simpler if your day-to-day eating patterns are similar. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat chicken, broccoli, and rice every day, though. See if you can find a solid three to five go-to meals that fit the bill, and cycle through them as you see fit throughout the week.   

3. Using Incorrect Food Entries

I would contend this is the most common, overlooked error when using tracking apps.

In tracking apps, you usually have two different ways of entering foods. The most common option often comes built into the app itself. The app provides a database of different food entries, as well as their calories. Simply search for what you need, and voila. That’s about as convenient as it gets and is why most users gravitate toward this approach. 

However, that convenience comes with a drawback. You see, most of these apps aren’t going to go out of their way to make a ton of entries for their users to implement. It’s a lot of work and time. Instead, what they do is hold a collective database of user made entries, taken from said users’ food logs. That’s a great way to get a huge database quickly, but the sticking point is the “user made” part. Many of the uploaded entries have errors in them, including improper serving sizes, typos, and even missing data. Thus, by using the database, you’re vulnerable to the same troubles.

Alternatively, you can enter everything manually straight from the nutrition label, creating your own miniature food database. The drawback here is obvious: It’s tedious and intimidating, especially when just starting out. After all, most folks are looking for a tracking app to decrease the amount of number fiddling that they have to worry about. However, it ensures that what’s entered is 100% correct (assuming you yourself enter it correctly).

Ultimately, this again comes down to accuracy vs. convenience. If you’re going to be using a certain food entry a lot going forward, it might be best to enter it by hand so you know it will always be correct. However, if you’re in a pinch and need to get things done with some less common food in your household, it’s feasible to turn to the database. Just make sure you double check the numbers before you pick.

Double-checking your entries and creating your own database when possible can help you avoid one of the top mistakes using food tracking apps — relying too heavily on inaccurate user-generated data.

Final Take

Food trackers can be one of the most powerful tools available for weight loss, as long as they’re used correctly. Above all, remember what they’re designed for: To train you to be mindful of what, when, and how much you eat, especially compared to your needs or goals. These mental adjustments are what ensure the weight you lose remains that way for the long term. You don’t have to track for the rest of your life, but the more work you put in initially, the more benefits you’ll reap down the line.

By avoiding these top mistakes when using food tracking apps, you’ll make the most of these powerful tools and see more consistent, long-term results from your nutrition tracking.