The old saying “A picture’s worth a thousand words,” could have new meaning when it comes to your weight. There is now an app that figures out the amount of calories you are eating based on a picture taken by your iphone. How cool is that! While this application does have some minor bugs to work out, it can still be used to give dieters some insight into their food choices.
The app is called “Meal Snap,” and was developed by “Daily Burn.” Within moments of taking the photo, the program scans its large database of of 500,000 foods. The application then sends an alert giving the user a range of calories for that picture.
“The database can quickly help identity the food, how many calories there are, proteins, fat, carbs, vitamins, whatever you may want to know,” said DailyBurn CEO Andy Smith. “Users can then choose to share what they’ve eaten on Twitter or FourSquare, leading to social accountability.”
Smith added that calorie counting can be a very time consuming process. But the app makes it easier to track the calories in food.
“The pure act of tracking something can cause a psychological change that can help people on their health and fitness journey,” he explained. “Just the simple fact of logging it makes me more aware of what I’m eating.”
Additionally, MealSnap can serve as a food diary, allowing users to keep a visual log of the meals they have eaten. “It’s like a food journal, but easier. All you do is take the picture,” Smith said. MealSnap is available on the iTunes store for $2.99 (source).
While this idea is awesome, people have found some inaccuracy when comparing the calorie counts to the labels on the food. Another possible problem is the calorie range. Are you supposed to chose the lower number or the higher number??? In order for this program to be beneficial, it must be more accurate. However, if you want to be on the safe side, you could always use the highest number to calculate your calorie intake. This way even if it’s too high you will still be losing weight! All in all it’s a great app for people who are unaware of the foods they are eating and the impact foods are having on their health.
Adria Ali
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