Some apps are free. But what’s the real cost?
As a coach, I used to recommend MyFitnessPal. It was the go-to for logging meals and macros. But over time, I noticed a trend. My clients were getting more confused, not less.
They’d ask:
“Should I eat more if I exercised today?”
“Why does the app add back calories?”
“Why do I feel worse even when I hit all my numbers?”
Eventually, I realized the problem wasn’t the user. It was the design.
MyFitnessPal was never built to guide fat loss. It tracks weight and calories, not body composition, not nervous system signals, and definitely not recovery (1). It’s a weight-loss tracker, not a metabolic strategy tool.
💡 Key Takeaway: Counting calories is not the same as guiding metabolism. A tracker that ignores recovery and hormones cannot drive lasting fat loss.
Why Free Apps Aren’t Really Free
You don’t pay upfront, but you do pay with your data and your results.
Free apps make money by collecting and selling user data to third parties (2). Your eating habits, activity levels, and personal info become part of a marketing database. That’s not coaching. That’s surveillance.
And worse, they give users just enough information to feel like they’re making progress, even when they’re stuck in the same cycle. You become a professional tracker, not a better fat burner.
Most of these apps weren’t built by coaches or metabolic experts. They were started by venture-funded tech firms chasing scale, not sustainable results. Their goal was user volume, not individual change.
💡 Key Takeaway: If the product is free, your data is the product. Information without adaptation will not move the needle.
What Premium Actually Buys You (Not Much)
People upgrade to “Premium” hoping for real fat-loss tools.
What they actually get:
- Ad removal
- Custom goals
- A few color-coded charts
- A larger database of questionable food entries
What they still miss:
- Recovery support based on HRV or stress (3)
- Adjustments when hormones, inflammation, or injury shift biology
- Guidance that considers lean mass and true energy output
- Coach access for plateaus, fatigue, or gut issues
- Clear instructions on what to change when progress stalls
Premium apps still assume weight loss equals fat loss. That is why users plateau.
💡 Key Takeaway: Paying for more features does not buy metabolic insight. Premium plans still treat biology like simple math.
The Confusion Around Exercise Calories
Clients often ask:
“If I burn 500 calories lifting, and the app adds those back, should I eat them?”
Most trackers automatically raise your intake when you log exercise. That may work for weight maintenance, but for fat loss it often backfires. You end up eating back the calories you just worked hard to expend, without factoring in stress load, muscle preservation, or recovery needs.
PlateauBreaker™ never assumes you should replace every calorie burned. We guide intake based on fat-loss phase, recovery status, and lean-mass targets.
💡 Key Takeaway: Eating back exercise calories can stall progress. Recovery and body composition matter more than the number on a tread-mill screen.
What Real Fat-Loss Tracking Looks Like
The PlateauBreaker™ DietFix™ Tracker focuses on:
- Nutrition that adapts to recovery and output
- Daily structure that protects lean mass, digestion, and nervous-system balance
- Education about food, training, and rest so metabolism stays responsive
- Adjustments rooted in biology, not guesswork
- Direct coach and community support
You do not just log food. You log outcomes. When progress slows, the system shows exactly what to tweak, not merely “eat less.”
💡 Key Takeaway: A useful tracker adapts with you, protecting muscle and hormones while guiding steady fat loss.
✏︎ The Bottom Line
Logging meals is easy. Keeping muscle, balancing hormones, and dropping body fat is harder. MyFitnessPal and similar apps were never designed for that task.
They track behavior. PlateauBreaker™ tracks biology.
👉 Start your PlateauBreaker™ trial for free. No upsells, just clarity.
Want a clear, effective path to sustainable fat loss?
Sign up for the PlateauBreaker™ Plan and start your fat-loss journey today.
Bibliography
- Laing, Brian Yoshio et al. “Effectiveness of a smartphone application for weight loss compared with usual care in overweight primary care patients: a randomized, controlled trial.” Annals of internal medicine vol. 161,10 Suppl (2014): S5-12. doi:10.7326/M13-3005. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25402403/
- Huckvale, Kit et al. “Assessment of the Data Sharing and Privacy Practices of Smartphone Apps for Depression and Smoking Cessation.” JAMA network open vol. 2,4 e192542. 5 Apr. 2019, doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.2542. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31002321/
- Dong, Jin-Guo. “The role of heart rate variability in sports physiology.” Experimental and therapeutic medicinevol. 11,5 (2016): 1531-1536. doi:10.3892/etm.2016.3104. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4840584/
