I’ve Added the FoodNoms App to my Morning Routine

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled, “A Morning Routine that Works – An App-Based Approach.” In that post, I described how I use apps on my iPad as a way to follow my morning routine by moving from app to app.

Adding the FoodNoms App Reminds me to Record my Eating

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to add a new app, FoodNoms. I’ve found that the best way to control my weight or to lose weight is to log everything I eat. For the last few months, my weight has been creeping upward. It was time to lose some weight and then to maintain it.

By adding the FoodNoms app to my morning routine, it reminds me each day to log my food. When I see the app during my routine, I log in the morning coffee that I’m drinking. This gets me started practicing logging in my food for the day. I’d likely forget about it if I didn’t have this reminder every morning.

Why I Chose the FoodNoms App

I experimented with several food logging apps before settling on FoodNoms. It has a beautiful, simple, colorful design that seems perfect for iOS. Its structure, simplicity, and beauty remind me of the task manager that I use, Things. To log foods or drinks, I simply tap on a big orange button with a “+” symbol.

The food Noms app runs on iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and any silicon Mac. It syncs in the background between all of my devices with iCloud. The app has five different widgets that you can choose from to put on your iPhone or iPad.

One of the reasons I selected FoodNoms was because it contains a lot of user options. In addition to picking my calorie goal for the day, I can select the other information I want to set daily goals for and track such as carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, fat, and other factors.

Multiple Options for Entering Foods

It’s fairly easy to log in foods and drinks, and the app provides several different options for doing so. If I press the + button, the app shows me smart suggestions based on the time of day, and foods I have recently entered into the app.

Or, I can search for foods in the database composed of user contributions, or my favorites. If I’ve logged in food before, it will likely be at the top of the list.

If it’s food that I haven’t entered before, and it’s not available in the database, there are various ways for me to enter it. First, there’s an automatic way to do so. I can press the “scan barcode” button and hold the device camera up to the barcode on the packaging. If the barcode supports this process, it will automatically record the name of the food, the branding, serving sizes, and all the nutritional information.

I can also enter foods manually. The different manual entry options are; quick entry, create food, create recipe, and create meal. The “create meal” option allows me to gather common food combinations into one entry, such as one serving of breakfast cereal and a serving of milk, or my morning coffee with French vanilla creamer and milk. There’s also a button for me to scan and record the nutrition labels.

Using FoodNoms to Control my Eating

I find it easy as I log foods throughout the day to scan the graphical bar chart depictions of what I’ve eaten. The graphic shows me clearly how many calories I’ve eaten and how many are left for the day. This makes it simple for me to determine how many calories I can still eat and not go over my daily budget.

If I know I’m going to be eating a higher-calorie meal later in the day, I will reduce my calories in the early part of the day. On the other hand, if I get toward the end of the day, and I have many calories still allotted, I can have a more substantial snack in the evening and still come in under budget.

Since adding the FoodNoms app to my morning routine lineup of apps a week ago, I haven’t missed one day entering my food. And, I’ve already lost a couple of pounds!