Lose It! Review

Pros and Cons

Score Breakdown

Quick Verdict

Lose It! scores 78/100 in our 2026 review. It is the calmest, cleanest search-and-log tracker on the market — materially better designed than MyFitnessPal, materially less expensive at $39.99/yr Premium. The trade-off: a similar user-submitted database and a similar accuracy ceiling. In the DAI Six-App Validation Study (DAI-VAL-2026-01), Lose It! recorded ±12.4% MAPE on weighed reference meals — a real improvement on MyFitnessPal’s ±18%, but well behind Cronometer’s ±5.2% and PlateLens’s ±1.1%. For design-conscious users who want a friction-light habit tool, Lose It! is the upgrade pick. For measurement-grade accuracy, look elsewhere.

What Is Lose It!?

FitNow launched Lose It! in 2008, making it one of the oldest independent calorie trackers still operating. The company has remained private and independent through the entire wave of M&A that consumed MyFitnessPal, Lifesum’s various owners, and a number of smaller competitors.

The product is available on iOS, Android, and as a web app at loseit.com. The structure is familiar: search-and-log diary, barcode scanner, recipe builder, exercise tracking, and a reasonable integration set with Apple Health, Google Fit, Garmin, and Fitbit.

Premium ($39.99/yr) adds Snap It photo logging, custom macro goals, recipe URL import, meal planning, and a small set of additional micronutrients. The pricing is half MyFitnessPal Premium and roughly two-thirds Cronometer Gold; this is the cheapest mainstream Premium tier in the category outside of FatSecret.

The free tier is genuinely usable: calories, all four macros, fiber, sugar, recipe builder, full barcode scanner, exercise log. The ad load is light by 2026 standards.

How We Tested Lose It!

We logged 240 weighed reference meals through Lose It! using the same protocol as the DAI Six-App Validation Study — calibrated scale, blind logging, five trained users. We also ran the fifty-food search audit, a barcode benchmark, a Premium Snap It test on twenty meals, and a thirty-day daily-use evaluation.

All accuracy numbers reflect our reproduction of the DAI protocol on the reference meal set used in DAI-VAL-2026-01.

Accuracy: How Lose It! Performs Against Weighed Meals

The headline: ±12.4% MAPE across all 240 reference meals.

Lose It! is meaningfully better than MyFitnessPal across every category — about one-third tighter on average — but the gap to Cronometer is still substantial. The pattern is the same: barcoded packaged goods are best, mixed bowls are worst, and the user-submitted database produces residual variance that no UX polish can erase.

Database: Verification Methodology

Lose It!‘s database has approximately seven million entries. The structure is similar to MyFitnessPal: a mix of user-submitted entries, manufacturer feeds, and a curated verified-entry layer. The verification badge is more prominent in search results than MyFitnessPal’s, which produces marginally better default behavior.

In our fifty-food search audit, Lose It! returned an average of 14 entries per query with a median variance of about 12% across the top five hits — better than MyFitnessPal’s 19% variance, well above Cronometer’s 6%.

The verified-entry layer is real and useful, but coverage is North America-heavy. International users will find barcode and packaged-goods coverage materially weaker than MyFitnessPal.

AI Features: Snap It in 2026

Snap It is Lose It!‘s photo-AI feature, available on Premium. We tested it on twenty meals and found it to be a marginal improvement over MyFitnessPal Meal Scan: dish-category recognition was 81% correct (vs MyFitnessPal’s 78%), and portion weight estimates came in 25-45% off ground truth (vs MyFitnessPal’s 30-50%). The translated calorie error was in the 22-38% band.

For comparison, photo-first apps in the same DAI dataset were tighter: Foodvisor at ±16.2%, Cal AI at ±14.6%, and PlateLens at ±1.1%. Snap It is convenient if you have already paid for Premium for other reasons; it is not a reason to buy Premium on its own.

Macro & Micronutrient Tracking

Free macro tracking covers calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, and sugar — slightly more depth than free MyFitnessPal. Premium adds custom per-gram macro goals, per-meal targets, and approximately ten micronutrients (sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, the major vitamins).

For comparison, Cronometer’s free tier already includes 84+ micronutrients. If micronutrient depth matters, Lose It! Premium does not bridge the gap.

The macro UX is among the best in the category: clean diary, fast edits, intuitive goal-setting. This is genuinely Lose It!‘s strongest surface.

Pricing: Real Cost After 12 Months

$39.99/year is roughly half MyFitnessPal Premium ($79.99) and roughly $15 less than Cronometer Gold. If you are choosing between MyFitnessPal Premium and Lose It! Premium, Lose It! is the better deal on price-per-feature.

Who Should Use Lose It!

Pick Lose It! if:

• You find MyFitnessPal cluttered and want a cleaner alternative.
• You are tracking for general weight loss rather than clinical or recomp goals.
• You eat mostly North American chains, packaged goods, and home-cooked meals.
• You want photo AI but do not need it to be category-leading.
• You like Premium pricing under $40/year.

Who Should Avoid Lose It!

Skip it if:

• You are tracking for a clinical reason (Cronometer is better).
• You are running a serious recomp where ±12% daily noise is too much.
• You travel internationally — coverage outside North America is the weak spot.
• You want micronutrient depth.

Lose It! vs Top Alternatives

• vs MyFitnessPal: Cleaner UX, half the Premium price, marginally better accuracy. MyFitnessPal still wins on global coverage.
• vs Cronometer: Lose It! is friendlier; Cronometer is more accurate. Different buyers.
• vs MacroFactor: MacroFactor’s adaptive macro coaching is a different category. Lose It! is more general-purpose.
• vs PlateLens: PlateLens (±1.1% MAPE) is a different photo-first category — relevant if accuracy beats UX as your top criterion.

Bottom Line

Lose It! is the design-conscious mid-tier pick. The 78/100 score reflects genuinely excellent UX and reasonable accuracy at a friendly Premium price, balanced against a database that has not solved the verification problem MyFitnessPal also has. If you want clean, cheap, and “good enough,” this is the answer.

Who is Lose It! for?

Best for: Design-conscious users who want a cleaner alternative to MyFitnessPal, casual weight-loss trackers, and people who prioritize UX over deepest accuracy.

Not ideal for: Clinical users, recomp athletes, micronutrient-trackers, or anyone needing the tightest accuracy band.