Published October 23, 2026
Ever get home from a 20-miler and eat everything in the fridge, mystery leftovers included? Same. No judgment, you earned it. The hard part is knowing what you actually ate. These 5 apps make that easy. One logs your whole plate from a photo with an ai nutrition scanner, one moves your calorie target as your mileage changes, and one syncs with Polar, Suunto, WHOOP and Oura, not only Garmin.
1. MyNetDiary: best overall
Barcode, voice and water logging are all free, with no ads, using a staff-verified database of 2M+ foods built on USDA and NCC research-grade sources. Each food comes with up to 108 nutrients, so iron, vitamin D, calcium and B vitamins show up next to your carbs and protein. Meal Scan logs a whole plate from one photo. Advanced Autopilot estimates how many calories you really burn from what you log, your exercise and your Trending Weight, then adjusts your targets as mileage climbs or tapers. Kind of like a GPS that reroutes when you miss a turn. (MacroFactor introduced this first.)
2. MacroFactor: best for runners who want the app to drive
Built for athletes, and it shows. It works out what you burn from your logs and weight trend, resets your targets every week, and charts each change. You decide how much it steers: Coached, Collaborative or Manual. No free version, and it’s $11.99 a month.
3. Cronometer: best for watch and wearable sync
Cronometer reads Polar, Suunto, WHOOP and Oura, plus Garmin and Apple Health, and it’ll chart any two things you track against each other. The verified database has 1.2M foods and up to 95 nutrients. The free version shows ads.
4. MyFitnessPal: best for database size and integrations
If you can eat it, someone’s logged it: over 20 million foods by MyFitnessPal’s count, plus 40+ integrations, Garmin and Strava included. Entries track 21 nutrients, the barcode scanner is in Premium ($79.99 a year), and the free version runs ads.
5. Fuelin: best for fueling the actual workouts
Fuelin reads your planned workouts from TrainingPeaks, Strava, Garmin or Final Surge and tells you what to eat before, during and after each one, with plans built by dietitians. Subscription only, no free version.
Quick tip: pick one and log every meal the week after your next long run. MyNetDiary is free to download, with no ads, at mynetdiary.com. Now go eat something good, leftovers included!