Sweatmeal vs MyFitnessPal for athletes
MyFitnessPal is a general-purpose food diary with one of the largest food databases. Sweatmeal is built for people who train: its daily calorie and carb target moves with that day’s training load. Pick MyFitnessPal if you want the widest database and integrations. Pick Sweatmeal if you want the target itself to change with training.
Facts about MyFitnessPal are taken from its public homepage, Premium page and help centre, as of October 2026. Features change; check their site for the current list.
What is the main difference?
How the daily target is set. Both apps let you log food and see calories and macros. They differ in what number you’re logging against.
MyFitnessPal sets a calorie goal from your age, height, weight, sex, activity level and weekly weight goal. Its help centre explains that exercise isn’t counted until you log it, and logged exercise then increases that day’s goal.
Sweatmeal builds the target from the training itself, read from a connected wearable. The goal’s deficit or surplus is cycled around training load: smaller on hard days, larger on rest days, never below your resting metabolic rate. Carbs have a floor on training days, an approach Impey et al. (2018) call “fuel for the work required”.
How do they compare feature by feature?
| Sweatmeal | MyFitnessPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily calorie target | Moves with each day’s training load from your wearable | Set from profile and activity level; logged exercise adds to the day’s goal |
| Different macros by day | Automatic: carbs follow training | Premium: custom macro goals for each day of the week |
| Maintenance estimate | Adjusts from your weight trend over time | Adaptive maintenance not listed on its public feature pages |
| Protein target | Per kg of fat-adjusted weight (lean mass if you enter body fat) | Grams or percentage; grams view throughout the app is Premium |
| Race planning | Race calendar with a carb build into race week | Not listed on its public feature pages |
| Food database | Logging by a line of text or a photo (Pro) | 20.5 million foods; barcode scan, meal scan and voice log are Premium |
| Wearables and apps | Whoop, Oura, Strava, Ultrahuman, Apple Health, Health Connect | 40+ apps and devices, including Apple Health, Garmin Connect, Google Health, Health Connect, Samsung Health, Strava |
| AI coach | Names your next meal from today’s numbers (Pro) | Not listed on the pages we checked |
| Platforms | iPhone (Android coming soon) | iOS, Android, web |
| Free tier | Targets, wearable sync, trends, race calendar | Nutrition, weight and exercise tracking |
Where is MyFitnessPal stronger?
Database size, integrations and reach. MyFitnessPal lists 20.5 million foods and says it is compatible with 40+ apps and devices, including Garmin Connect, which Sweatmeal does not connect to. It runs on the web as well as iOS and Android, and says over 280 million people have joined it.
Premium adds tools many people value: barcode and meal scanning, voice logging, net carbs mode, intermittent fasting tracking and ad-free logging. Its per-weekday macro goals let you set a fixed training-day pattern, such as higher carbs on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Where is Sweatmeal stronger for athletes?
In how the target reacts to training you didn’t plan in advance. A per-weekday macro goal assumes your week repeats. Sweatmeal reads what you actually did. If Tuesday’s intervals move to Wednesday, or a recovery ride turns into four hours, that day’s target moves with it.
Three other differences matter for people who train:
- No double counting. The wearable’s burn is used once, not added on top of an activity multiplier that already assumes exercise. We explain why that matters in why your Whoop and your calorie app disagree.
- Protein follows lean mass. Protein is set per kg of fat-adjusted weight, in line with the ISSN position stand, and rises in a deep cut.
- Maintenance self-corrects. The starting estimate from Mifflin-St Jeor is refined by your weight trend, because any equation is an estimate.
Who should use which?
Use MyFitnessPal if:
- you mainly want a large, searchable food database and barcode scanning;
- you use Garmin, or another device Sweatmeal doesn’t connect to;
- you want to log on the web;
- your training week is regular and fixed per-day macro goals are enough.
Use Sweatmeal if:
- your training load changes day to day and you want the target to follow it;
- you wear Whoop, Oura or Ultrahuman, or track rides and runs in Strava;
- you’re building toward a race and want carbs planned around it;
- you’d rather be told what to eat next than work it out from a remaining-calories number.
How Sweatmeal does this
Sweatmeal is an iPhone app, with Android coming soon. It sets your calorie and macro target from that day’s training, read from Whoop, Oura, Strava, Ultrahuman, Apple Health or Health Connect, and corrects maintenance from your weight trend. Targets, wearable sync, trends and the race calendar are free; Pro adds logging from a line or a photo and the AI coach. The full calculation is on our methodology page.