7 ways Nutracheck makes tracking food & exercise simple

One of our members' favourite features - the barcode scanner. Just hold over a barcode and the app will instantly find the product in our huge database of over 430,000 UK foods. When calorie tracking, it's important to be as accurate as possible, so scanning the barcode to track the exact product is really helpful.

Our brains process images faster than words, so we show you photos of food to make it faster to spot what you ate. Plus, it ensures you're being accurate. No other app shows photos like this and the alternative of scrolling through a long list of written descriptions (sometimes with duplicated entries) can be frustrating and time-consuming. Nutracheck shows you a photo for immediate confirmation you've found the right food.

When you are trying to create a calorie deficit, the other side of the equation is burning calories through exercise. Just link your activity tracker to the Nutracheck app to ensure all the exercise is added to your diary automatically.

To link your activity tracker:

Open the app > tap 'More’ in the bottom menu bar >'Link activity trackers & apps’ > Choose your activity tracker and follow the steps to connect.

Of course healthy weight loss is about more than just eating fewer calories - you need to ensure your calories are coming from nutrient-rich foods. The app tracks protein, carbs, sugar, fibre, fat, saturated fat and salt to help you manage this. If you want to focus on a specific nutrient you can choose one of the nutrient goals set by our nutritionists - Lower Carb, Higher Protein, Less Sugar, Lower Fat or keep the standard setting, Well Balanced.

To select a nutrient goal:

Open the app > tap blue menu button in your diary >'Nutrient Goals'.

If you find it easier to have 2 days restricting your calorie intake, and 5 days more relaxed, the app has a 5:2 setting. Choose from 500 or 800 calories on your fasting days. Then eat to your maintenance calorie allowance for the rest of the week. Over the week you will have created a calorie deficit.

To follow the 5:2 diet:

Open the app > tap blue menu button in your diary >'Nutrient Goals' > '5:2 Diet'.

Calorie tracking is great as it flexes around life events - such as socialising and meals out. Another feature our members love is Easier Days. You can set a more generous calorie allowance for nights out or weekends, and still hit your calorie deficit target over the week.

To give yourself easier days:

Open the app > tap blue menu button in your diary >'Diary Preferences' > 'Easier Days'.

How do you like to eat - do you like three square meals or are you a grazer? And what do you call it - breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or breakfast, dinner and tea? You can make your diary your own by customising the name of meal occasions and adding extra ones if necessary. For example, some people like to track drinks separately, so they add a 'Drinks' occasion. Making your diary personal helps you log what you eat more accurately.

To rename your meal occasions or add more:

Open the app > tap the blue menu button > 'Diary Preferences' > 'Edit Meal Occasions'. Add extra occasions. Or rename the existing ones.