My free 7-day trial of LoseIt Premium is just about over, so it’s time to share with you guys what I think of it.
I have used the free version of LoseIt before, so I was curious about what a paid version would add to the experience. But let’s quickly go over what you get for free first, in case you have never used it.
LoseIt is a food and activity logging app, backed up by a website (LoseIt.com). Both the app and the website have a food diary and activity tracker, but only the website has the forums, which I have read will not be supported much longer. You can access groups and challenges from both the app and the website.
One thing I like a lot about LoseIt is that if you join a challenge, your progress in that challenge is tracked from what you enter as your workouts, weigh-ins, etc. For example, I joined a fitness challenge to reach a certain number of exercise minutes in January. When I log my workouts, those minutes will automatically be tracked for my challenge too. So if I join a weight-loss challenge, the information I enter in my weight tracker will be used to track my progress in the challenge, too. It seems so basic, but other sites, like MyFitnessPal, can’t do that.
So what extra bells and whistles come with the $39.99-a-year Premium account? One feature I liked was tracking my water intake, but I honestly wouldn’t pay extra for that. I like the more in-depth breakdown of my food diary, like the My Plate Report, a simple but effective visual to remind me to build healthy meals based on the USDA’s food groups (vegetables, fruit, grains, protein, dairy). I’ve actually eaten more fruit the past week, trying to fill in that plate.
There is an Insight feature called Patterns that is exclusive to Premium users, but even after 7 days, there is apparently not enough data yet to give me any feedback here. That was disappointing. I really wanted to see what kinds of things are revealed here.
Other Insight features I have been able to see, though, are a graph of my nutrients, plotting my carbs, proteins, and fats anywhere between the last 7 days to the last 10 years; graphs of daily calories for the same choice of time periods; and daily or weekly summaries of nutrients and calories. (I honestly couldn’t tell if this is part of Premium or the free version. Guess I’ll find out when my 7-day trial expires tomorrow).
I like LoseIt. I have used MyFitnessPal but keep coming back to LoseIt. I like the little graphics in the food diary, like a little picture of a meal bar beside the Zone Perfect breakfast bar I logged today. I love how challenges are tracked automatically for me, and the progress graph I get for each challenge.
Groups don’t seem very active, but that seems to be the norm. That is definitely not unique to LoseIt. Finding a group with people still participating can be difficult.
Finding challenges is not difficult, though. There are more challenges available to Premium users, but even people using the free version can search and join challenges.
This morning I got an email with one more reason to really like LoseIt! In January, LoseIt will kick off Pennies for Pounds: for every pound lost, LoseIt will donate one penny to No Kid Hungry, a national campaign working to end childhood hunger in America. Everyone who logs a loss on LoseIt during January will be helping kids in need. How cool is that?
I cancelled my Premium trial, but I will watch for coupon codes to buy the Premium membership later. I really want to see what the Insights tell me, after enough information is collected. And since eating healthier is a goal of mine, all the nutrient breakdowns and the My Plate Report would be helpful. With the new year coming up, I am pretty sure I will be seeing coupon codes for Premium soon.
Does anyone else use LoseIt? If so, send me an email, and I will send a link to my profile so we can buddy up!
Sweat & Sparkle 