So, to be clear, I will only be researching free apps. As well as improving my physical health I am also trying to improve my financial health. For this reason, I will not be courting the idea of any paid apps. I am sure they are wonderful and have many potential added benefits, they are just not what I am seeking at this time.
CARB MANAGER
Carb Manager makes a nice first impression with its detailed website in addition to both an Android and Iphone App. I found the Google Play set up easy, the website informative, and the FAQ section very helpful.
I found that the meal planning, goal setting and integration I am seeking is available but unfortunately it is $39.99 (per year) maybe not a lot of money, but more than I am willing tp spend with no guarantee of whether or not I will like. There is no free trial available (that I could find) for the premium version either.
KETOGENIC DIET
This is advertised as a free app. I downloaded it to my phone and found the home page clean and user friendly. I was very disappointed to find that when I clicked on planner it took me to another website and I was asked to answer a bunch of questions and then sold a weekly plan (as with Carb Manager this did not include any preview or free trial). When I went back in to the app I tried clicking on Eat, Exercise and Balance sections each time ads popped up and I was given an article to read. This is fine and the articles are informative if you have no knowledge, but for someone looking for a daily working tool my first impression is very poor and I will not be exploring this app further.
This plan I did not get too far with the app. I downloaded the app on to my phone, it asked me a few basic questions about my health and weight and before I could get any further it asked me to select a plan.
I had the option of the free plan that only included limited access to workouts (not much help for Keto recipes) and if you want access to everything you can pay $60 for this privilege. I am starting to see a trend though in this area of no free trials or previews. I am curious as to why since in many other realms this is a fairly normal practice to offer a free trial in some form or fashion to ensure that you are happy with your purchase.
CALORIE, CARB & FAT COUNTER
As with the others I downloaded this app to my phone. I found it is a part of the Virtuagym fitness family and thus can be used alone but is really no intended to be a stand-alone app. As I went thru the preliminary questions I came to options for diet preference and hit my first concern. This came up in a search for Keto diets and yet there is no Keto option. The closest thing is a low-carb diet which puts your carbs at 25%, protein at 25% and fats at 40% (this is pretty close if you are following a Formula 40-30-30 diet) . A traditional Keto diet is closer to 5% carbs, 20% protein, and 75% carbs. They do have a Pro version were the state you have the option to customize your plan with advanced nutrition plans, customizable plans, ad-free, again there appears to be no free trial or preview to let you explore and see if you truly want to spend $49.99 for a Pro version.
That being said of the apps I have looked at so far their first impression on the free version is the best they have:
- Food Diary
- Food list: fairly extensive options to choose from
- Progress tracking
- Achievements for those wanting to receive some positive reinforcement
- A link to their Virtuagym exercise app.
Unfortunately, It still does not include recipes or Keto meal plans that I am seeking in the free version so I will be moving on, but if anyone out there is searching for a nice general free app to help them stay on track this might be a good option to explore.
Total Keto Diet
This app makes a wonderful first impression from my perspective. Their is a section just for recipes which can be filtered to your preferences such as vegan or removing allergens. You can also filter for type of recipes you are searching such as dinner or appetizer. Another plus is you can click on an icon next to each ingredient in the recipes to add it to your shopping list. The thing lacking I see is it does not allow you to filter by sugar content which for me is a fairly big deal since I need zero sugar.
In settings, it asks you the traditional questions such as height, weight and age and helps to calculate your macros. It put me at 25 grams of carbs which I was able to edit and change to 20 grams since this is what was suggested by my physician. when I did this it also changed the fat and protein ratios accordingly. This definitely a step in the right direction, but not perfect. If I put at 20 grams of carbs it does not adjust protein and fat to exactly where I need it to be, it goes of it’s own percentage ( which are pretty close at 7% for carbs) but not exact.
Water consumption has to be edited under food tracker, which confused me at first since the other items were edited under Settings. But I am happy to see the option is there as for water it put my consumption at 8 cups of water, but based of drinking half your body weight in water I wanted to be able to edit this to 14 cups.
Now the down side, the meal plan option takes you to a website where you have to purchase a meal plan. The one thing this offers that no one else has yet is a free 7 day trial!
The positives definitely the negatives on this one and it is a strong maybe. The first one I have looked at so far to even be a maybe.
I have many more to look through and will pick up where I left off, but for today this is a great start and hopefully helpful to others out there are well. Goodnight and stay safe!
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