Free Diet Journal Reviews: Choosing the Best Option for You
Even though it won't cost you any money, choosing the right free diet journal should be done with care... the wrong choice will waste weeks of journal setup and data input time.
Two leading free online diet journal options are FitDay and MyFoodDiary.
FitDay has a "permanently free" option that never expires, while MyFoodDiary offers a free 7 day trial that gives you time to explore its features. Before you dive right into FitDay, take a minute to understand the differences. You may find that the reasonable monthly fee for MyFoodDiary is worth it...
- Free online diet journal comparison: FitDay vs. MyFoodDiary
- Bottom line: recap, takeaways & visitor reviews
Free Diet Journal Comparison: FitDay vs. MyFoodDiary
Following is a product comparison of each free diet journal...
| Overview | FitDay (aff) | MyFoodDiary (aff) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disclaimer: Free diet journal features, products and prices may change at any time, so check with each company for updates. | ||||
| Features/Products Overview |
diet, exercise and weight loss journal and tools and user forums |
diet, exercise and weight loss journal and tools and user forums |
||
| Non-computer-related products |
none |
none | ||
| Advertisements displayed while using online tool | yes (free version only) | no | ||
| Paid only, free only or both free and paid features |
Both free and paid features/products | 7 day free trial, then paid | ||
| Free Diet Journal Features |
FitDay (aff) | Free 7 day trial (aff) | ||
| Charts, logs and database for tracking diet, fitness and feelings | extensive and integrated | extensive for diet and fitness; feelings tracker limited to daily personal notes | ||
| Educational resources and interactive tools | no | yes - online weight, measurement and heart rate calculators, educational articles and 'Ask the Expert' database | ||
| Weight and body measurements trackers | yes | yes | ||
| Goal setting/tracking |
extensive and integrated | no | ||
| Interactive calendar for planning/tracking |
diet/fitness/ journal/mood all integrated into one calendar, but no ability to set recurring meals/activities (must input activities separately for each day) |
no | ||
| Food journals |
Easily add foods by searching
well-organized and complete food database (foods are all broken out
into individual components; no recipes available). Includes detailed nutritional information of most foods (and has ability to customize nutrition info for each) and add details to your journal for tracking. |
Easily add foods by searching
well-organized and complete food database (foods are all broken out
into individual components. While pre-made recipes are not available, there is a recipe builder tool that allows you to input the ingredients of any recipe to track its nutritional value. Includes detailed nutritional information of most foods. |
||
| Recipe suggestions and/or database |
no |
no | ||
| Meal planner |
no |
no | ||
| Activity journal |
Easily
add activities to your journal by searching well-organized and complete
activity database. Choose activity, input time spent and/or distance and tool automatically calculates calories burned. Also compares calories eaten (from food journal) with calories burned. |
Easily
add activities to your journal by searching well-organized and complete
activity database. Choose activity and input time spent tool (automatically calculates calories burned) or manually input calories burned. Entry screen also includes pie charts highlighting the number of days you've exercised over the last 7 and 30 days. |
||
| Activity/Exercise planner |
no |
no | ||
| Weight journal |
yes - input and track weight, body mass index and
change statistics and evaluate them against goal weight. |
yes - basic | ||
| Take notes/make journal entries |
yes - includes its own journal entry tab |
yes - daily journal entries allowed | ||
| Mood tracker | yes - includes a separate Mood tab with drop down boxes
for your various levels of happiness, stress, anger, energy, clarity,
hunger and health, then converts your input into an overall happiness
level. Also allows you to track how your daily mood coincides with your diet and exercise routine. |
no | ||
| Are computer tools online only, software for your
computer or both |
Free version is online only; computer software
available for a fee |
Online only | ||
| Mobile access (via smart phones) | no | yes (no additional charge) - Add foods to your food diary, add activities to your exercise log and view reports -Research foods (search their entire database before you order meals to view meals' health information, including menu items from popular restaurants) |
||
| Forums | yes | yes | ||
| Other notable features |
- Dashboard
overview page with high level stats/charts/info, including calories
eaten, weight change, overall nutrition chart by vitamin/mineral and
average daily calorie balance (calories eaten vs. calories burned) |
- Home page provides a nice "launching point" for data entry in every area. It also provides the ability to add your "Forum Favorites" where you can quickly view threads from your favorite forums. | ||
| Paid Membership Features/Products |
FitDay (aff) | MyFoodDiary Paid Membership (aff) | ||
| Fee(s) |
FitDay Premium (aff) - $5.49
per month ($64.95 per year) FitDay PC (aff) - $29.95 one time cost |
7 day free trial (aff) $9 per month after free trial ends |
||
| Additional features of paid service/products (in
addition to free services/products) |
FitDay Premium (aff): - Removes advertising from FitDay.com - Customized tracking allows you to track any statistic - Provides access to advanced reports - Synchronize online data with FitDay PC (if you choose to purchase it) FitDay PC (aff): - Allows tracking and synchronizing with online data for easier input and offline usability |
n/a | ||
| Synchronize computer saved info with online info | yes |
n/a (smart phones that can access internet view the same data that is available from your computer) | ||
| Track customized statistics | yes | yes | ||
| Advertisements displayed | no (premium service removes ads) | no | ||
Decided which free diet journal fits you best?
- Click here to sign up for FitDay (left column above), click here (aff).
- Click here to sign up for MyFoodDiary (right column above), click here (aff).
After signing up and getting to know your tool of choice, please come back and let us know what you think in the rating polls below.
Still not sure which tool is right for you? Here's a summary of how the tools compare...
Bottom Line: Free Diet Journal Summary
FitDay (aff) is a more robust diet, fitness and mood tracking and reporting tool, but the level of detail could seem a bit much depending on how involved you want to get.
After you input all of your information the tool becomes extremely easy to use, and the integrated diet/fitness/journal/mood tracking tools, calendar, statistics and graphs are second to none.
Their extensive and integrated goal-setting ability is also an important feature that MyFoodDiary does not include.
Their free version is very robust (although the required ads in the free version are placed front and center, which can be distracting), and their monthly subscription fee is a few bucks lower than MyFoodDiary's.
Click here to sign up for FitDay's free online weight loss support tool.
MyFoodDiary's tool is much more polished and easy to dive into. While it doesn't provide the level of customization that FitDay does nor does it provide the ability to track and view reports of your mood, its simplicity makes up for it.
The ability to make food and activity entries, view reports and view food health information while you're away from your computer is a huge advantage if you own a smart phone.
This feature alone could make the difference between keeping your entries current and letting your food journal tracking goals slip.
Their 7 day free trial provides ample time to explore the tool's capabilities and decide if it's right for you.
Click here to start your free trial with MyFoodDiary's online weight loss support tool.
For additional research, search for your topic...
[Last editorial review/modification of this page: 8/23/2011]
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