New BariatricPal Tracking App! What Features Do You Want?

[KassMiller 26]

I use baritastic app but even it seems hard to add food in the small amounts we do.

Sent from my SM-N920P using BariatricPal mobile app

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

Just now, KassMiller said:

I use baritastic app but even it seems hard to add food in the small amounts we do.

Sent from my SM-N920P using BariatricPal mobile app

Really appreciate your feedback! Can you please be a little more specific? A real world example would be fantastic.

[KassMiller 26]

Hey BariatricPal Members,
We’re developing a new BariatricPal tracking app, and we want to know what features you want in it! Can you please let us know the MUST-HAVE features? Here are a few questions to guide you.
-Are restaurant foods essential?
-What is the easiest way to enter foods? Do you want to have a dropdown menu appear as you are typing?
-Do you need to be able to enter custom foods and recipes?
-Which nutrients are necessary to be tracked?
-Should some nutrients be more prominent than others? For example, do you want the option to choose a certain nutrient (say, Protein and water), and be able to see a countdown of the number of grams of protein and ounces of Water to get to your daily goal?
-Do you want to set customized goals for calories and nutrients?
-What other goal-setting features would you want to see?
Please describe any other features you want to see. What makes a food tracking app worth it to you? What does the user interface (what you see) look like?
Can you please say what is absolutely necessary, and what might be nice, and what you would hate to see? Or…how would you like your user experience to go? Can you describe what your ideal scenario would be each time you use the app?
We want to make this the best tracking app possible, so let us know. You can be part of making the best diet and weight loss tracker yet! Thanks!

I think restaurants are necessary
Should have options as to what level post op you are. I have a week clears a week full liquids 3 weeks soft and moist then after week seven solids.
Should have suggestions for a day and reminders for water and such.

Sent from my SM-N920P using BariatricPal mobile app

[2ndSpring 350]

I'm using the fitbit app right now. Here is what they do well:

• each food is available in multiple measurements and can accept any fraction as the quantity: e.g. 1/16 cup, 1/2 ounce, 1 medium apple, 1/4 large apple
• you can enter new foods into database - entry screen follows nutrition label format
• your history can be exported to Excel (although it is limited to 31 days which is a bummer)
• you can tag favorite foods for quick access
• in addition to protein/fat/carb grams, it also tells you percent by calorie
• it tells you how you are doing towards the day's calorie goal - a Protein goal would be a nice addition
• the database is huge!

Here is what is missing:

• tracking if you took your daily Vitamin
• inputting recipes
• copying a day or a meal - because we have so many leftovers!
• I would love to see other nutrients - like my ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 and Vitamins.

[dandelion247 42]

I'd like to be able to set meal-level goals to track volume (in oz, kg, etc.) in addition to nutrition and calories, as I'll be curious to see what my stomach can and cannot hold as time progresses. It would also be great if we could customize our ideal diet as prescribed by our surgeon or dietician and then track to how well we're meeting it.

[MBird 298]

1. Scan food packages.
2. Custom Food Recipes
3. Keeps track of macros (protein, carbs, fat, calories)
4. Water intake in oz
5. Goals for water and Protein intake.

Restaurant food really ought to be up to individuals. It's hard to input that info, unless it's a chain and I avoid those like the plague unless I know I'm going to screw my diet and eating up for the day.

I love Fitbit. I used My Fitness Pal but it lacks. The Fitbit has exactly what I need for food tracking, water tracking, exercise, plus challenges between my friends and I, as well as goals I can set for myself and awards (silly little trophies I win if I achieve my goals) these things make the app fun.

[Misha42000 64]

Can it do the 30 min Water before you eat or 30 min after u eat timer?

[biginjapan 647]

Not only goals, but let's you know how much over the goal you are. Some apps just tell you that you hit your goal (yay!) but really, I'd rather not go over my calorie or fat "goals". I also would like to see a calculation of micronutrients like Vitamins - as I input food, it keeps track of how much Calcium or Vitamin C or whatever that I'm consuming. BUT - it would need to be customised by the user for our bariatric needs. As most people don't need the extra Vitamin supplementation that bariatric patients do, I'm often told on other apps (well, Spark People only, since none of the other apps I tried do this) that my nutritional intake is off the charts. Also, no limitations on weight loss/week. Most apps prevent you from putting in a goal that's more than 2 pounds a week, but of course that doesn't work for us.

[hardwork&dedication 96]

Ability to manipulate a variety of macro and micro nutrient goals. Menstrual cycle tracking (temperature, symptoms, days). Medication and Vitamin reminders and tracking. Ability to sync with personal fitness trackers. Exercise and step challenges. Ability to create group challenges. Water goal tracking. Weight tracking.

Edited June 1, 2017 by hardwork&dedication

[Meryline 546]

Not sure if it will be available for international users ( ex. Europe), but if so, please have measurements like 1 gram and 100 grams. Nothing is by portions over here, everything is by 100 grams. Same goes for liquid, ml, dl and liters.

The option of setting all values ourselves. By that I mean that we are all in different programs, so we have different guidelines that we have to follow. Some have to drink 30 min before eating, I have to drink 10-15min before eating. Some can have that many carbs, others can have more or less.

Also, when you add your own product, which I assume, coming from Europe, I'll have to do a lot in the beginning. Being able to edit if I have made a mistake and not have to add it all over again.

[tinytummy17 62]

On 5/29/2017 at 8:58 PM, deeveg said:

• it tells you how you are doing towards the day's calorie goal - a Protein goal would be a nice addition

LOVE this idea. also in addition to what deeveg said I would like to be able to connect my samsung gear fitness watch.

[fruitandveggies 456]

Agreed with everything above. I use SparkPeople for tracking because it has almost all the nutrients and I can track everything over time and export spreadsheets. The thing it won't let me do is track less than 1100 calories per day, and it doesn't track certain nutrients (sugar, Biotin come to mind).

Oh, and it is essential for me to be able to put in custom food and meals. I'm vegan and don't eat any processed food so I need to be able to put in the things I eat on the regular. Having a "favorites" section is very helpful!

The one thing I really want is better meal timers. I use Baristatic for timing, but it's not quite right. I need to eat one bite per minute, for 25-30 minutes. I can't set both at the same time in that app, and would love to be able to do that. I also would encourage heavy use of 3D touch for the Apple version of your app. With Baristatic, I wish I could 3D touch the notification and go to my next bite. Instead, I have to keep going back to the app and tapping "next bite." I do it, but it's really annoying.

Thanks for making this by the way!

Edited June 14, 2017 by fruitandveggies

[Rivka7NV 40]

A chat room would be nice.

[Nhope 146]

Don't forget to let the user delete as well as add things. My Fitness Pal allows you to add foods to your list but not delete them!!

[Bears_Chick 58]

Absolutely Necessary:

--Calorie counter (how much you've had; how much remains)

--Nutrients: Protein, Carbs, Fiber, Fat, Sugar - I also like seeing the fat breakdown (saturated, monounsaturated, trans) and basic Vitamin and mineral info.

--Exercise input with calorie burn

--Food bank - this is HUGE! Having a good database and the ability to add personal recipes; restaurants; general foods; ability to scan packages such as Protein Bars and shakes, even those not in database to create a larger shareable database.

--Progress tracking for weight loss with reports so I can look back at the last year or five years

Would be nice:

--Sharing with friends

--Ability to take pictures at milestones and compare and use for motivation

--Sync to FitBit, MapMyRun, and other fitness apps.

--Yes to this: Countdown of the number of grams of protein and ounces of Water to get to your daily goal. With reminders!

--Track body-fat percentage; BMI; measurements

--Motivational reminders and stupid little sayings to log my food, eat more protein, get my fat butt up and exercise if I haven't logged anything, slow down on the carbs, chubby; those are cute and fun, do it right... make it fun, not like a drill sergeant, probably not with the name calling, since some people might not like that. Maybe make it so we can write our own? (MyDietCoach has cute ideas here)

Maybe but not super important:

--I had an app once that I put in rewards for myself, personal competition, when I hit a goal. It was fun, but the rest of the app wasn't as good as others, so I laid it to rest in dark pit of useless apps.

What I DON'T want/dealbreakers:

--Advertisements popping up. If the app is free but only due to adds, give me the option to buy the app without ads.