The 9 best weight loss apps of 2024, according to a dietitian

Pros: Comprehensive diet plan backed by nutrition experts, assesses a user's entire health profile, offers a food log and calorie tracker

Cons: Expensive

Noom is unique in that it not only pairs you with a health and nutrition expert to craft a plan for you, but it also considers several factors like age, height, weight, activity level, target goals, medical history, and personal goals.

The program Noom creates for you suggests which foods to eat, how much physical activity to do, and other healthy habit reinforcement. The goal is to give you the tools you need to adjust your current lifestyle gradually, making small changes that can be sustained over time. This approach leads to better health and fitness all around, which makes it a more balanced option for those looking to lose weight healthily and sustainably.

The Noom app includes features you'd expect, like a food log, calorie tracker, and activity monitor. It also provides incentives for you to be more active but more mindful, taking into account caloric intake, fitness levels, and a variety of variables.

Although my testing of the Noom app was a mostly positive experience, not all users feel the same. According to a report by Business Insider's Gabby Landsverk, "Noom's promise of personalized weight-loss support [is] confusing and disappointing." Landsverk pointed to how the app doesn't screen people for eating disorders and an anxious and burned-out roster of coaches as some of the main reasons why.

But many people still feel as though Noom provides a great way to teach them better eating and exercise habits. Although it can be a little pricey, it does offer a wide range of tools and programs to help people make larger life changes.

Pros: An excellent app for anyone on a budget, offers food and exercise tracking and a variety of meal-planning options

Cons: The advanced tracking options are behind a paywall

While the app does have some premium features, MyNetDiary's free services are very good, too, and great for anyone on a budget.

Those features include food and exercise tracking, meal planning options, graphical charts to map your progress, daily analysis of eating habits, and even access to a large and active online community. And not only are these services free but they don't require the user to create an account. That means your data stays completely anonymous.

Paying for the premium version of MyNetDiary unlocks several other useful upgrades, as well. They include compatibility with the best Fitbit devices, health tracking for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic, and personalized diet advice from a nutritionist. Those are handy to have if you need them but aren't necessary to see beneficial functionality from this app.

Pros: Familiar diet plans, offers a barcode scanner for use at the store, has more than 8,000 recommended recipes, allows members to attend workshops and coaching sessions

Cons: The app can be glitchy at times and can have trouble logging food

WeightWatchers WW app is designed to supplement its proven dietary plan by putting the resources members need right at their fingertips. That includes a massive database of rated foods using the WeightWatchers point system, putting less emphasis on calories and more on total awareness of exactly what foods you're eating.

The app includes far more features than just a food-tracking database, too. It offers more than 9,000 healthy recipes, a barcode for scanning foods at the grocery store, and the ability to get advice from a diet coach at any time. Members can also connect to offer advice and encouragement, while also earning a variety of tangible rewards — such as water bottles and wireless earbuds — just for leading a healthy lifestyle.

WeightWatchers members get access to the WW app as part of their benefits, or you can purchase a digital-only membership. This provides access to all of the app's features but doesn't allow digital-only users to attend workshops and coaching sessions.

Pros: Offers a wide variety of cardio and strength workouts, has a database of over 11 million different foods, features a barcode scanner for use at the store, its recipe importer gives you info on custom at-home meals, free features

Cons: $80 annual membership is required for the full suite of features

While many diet and weight loss apps focus on just eating healthy, you should also ramp up your exercise routine for the best results. That's where MyFitnessPal comes in, acting as a diet and exercise coach.

MyFitnessPal comes with a database of more than 11 million foods, as well as a barcode scanner for adding entries to your food log. It includes a recipe importer for evaluating home-cooked meals, which is especially helpful when trying to get an accurate picture of your current eating habits.

Beyond those features, the app includes more than 300 cardio and strength workouts for a more well-rounded approach to your health and fitness. It even integrates with Apple's HealthKit and the MapMyRun, Garmin, and Fitbit apps to accurately track steps and workout routines.

MyFitnessPal has a great online community for support, advice, and encouragement. While the premium membership is $20 a month or $80 a year, MyFitnessPal does have plenty of features for free.

Pros: Easy to use food tracking, intuitive app, can take photos of your food to estimate calories, offers a social aspect to connect with other users, plenty of free features

Cons: App can be buggy, and requires you to be highly specific about some foods

There are dozens of food tracking apps available for your smartphone but thanks to its versatility and smarts, Lose It! is our top pick. You're able to easily add what food you ate today by selecting it from the app's extensive database or by scanning the barcode on a product purchased at the store.

You can even take a photo of your meals to get an estimate of how many calories it contains. The app includes a helpful water-tracking feature that reminds you to stay hydrated throughout the day, too.

All of this functionality is included in the app for free but a $40 annual membership unlocks additional features like a Fitbit-compatible activity tracker, macronutrient goal setting, and access to a detailed and powerful meal planner.

An active community of users also provides a social aspect to using the app, which can be helpful when it comes to looking for support and feedback. The app even has weight loss games and challenges to take part in as well, which does a nice job of providing extra motivation.

Pros: An excellent informative tool to help people become more aware of their nutrition, uses an easy-to-understand grading system for a variety of foods, offers insightful tips on what to look out for when shopping

Cons: The food database isn't entirely comprehensive (but gets updated often)

Fooducate is an app designed to help you make smarter decisions about your food as it suggests healthier alternatives to your favorite grub.

Using Fooducate is extremely easy, too. Simply scan the barcode on any product at the grocery store and it provides a letter grade for the nutritional value of that item ranging from A+ to D-. Accompanying that letter grade is an explanation of why the product received the grade it did, including valuable information about the nutritional content it offers.

The app also points out important things to be aware of, including whether or not a product contains added sugars, artificial coloring or sweeteners, or other unhealthy additives. This allows consumers to make more informed decisions at the grocery store, while also assisting with finding healthier alternatives.

Fooducate has other features beyond just scanning products at the grocery store. It also serves as a health tracker, offers insightful diet tips, and provides delicious and healthy recipes. But its engaged and active community is one of its best assets, with users sharing tips and suggestions constantly. That kind of support is an incredibly helpful feature for anyone struggling to eat healthier and lead a better all-around lifestyle.

Pros: In-depth tracker for a variety of diets, offers a deep diabetes-specific tracker that monitors blood sugar and the amount of ketones and insulin for each meal

Cons: Isn't purely for diabetics, so might be overwhelming to some

For diabetics, keeping track of food intake is a vital practice. But instead of just keeping all that information in your head, or keeping meticulous notes, using an app to track everything is a much easier way to manage it all.

This is where Carb Manager comes in handy. Although it's technically an app designed for a wide range of lifestyles and diet choices (namely the keto diet), its offering for diabetics makes it an invaluable download. It offers everything from blood sugar tracking and carb counting to being able to see the amount of ketones and insulin you get from each meal.

Having this kind of information readily available is crucial, and the way Carb Manager sorts all relevant data makes it easy to quickly access when needed. The base app is free but there is a premium option for $3.33 per month that offers more recipes, integration with other products like Fitbits and Garmins, and personalized meal plans, among others.

Pros: Useful timer that can be customized to personal fasting times, easy to access stats and personal data, ability to sync health data across other apps

Cons: UI can be somewhat cluttered at times

Intermittent fasting is a popular diet technique that may seem a bit extreme to some. The entire idea of the diet is that you put your body into a fasting window each day for upwards of 16 or 18 hours, depending on your specific diet. Outside of the fast is when you eat all your meals and get your day's worth of nutrients.

Like most diets, it's incredibly important to not only stick to the parameters of intermittent fasting but to know exactly what your body is going through and what it needs — and Zero can help.

The Zero app is a great resource for understanding what and when to eat, and how to go about the fasting windows, and also provides a helpful timer to let you know how much longer you have to fast. Although anyone can just keep track via their watch or any other clock, the timer is an interactive way to keep on the diet since it also informs you of whether you're in fat-burning mode or not.

The entire app is customizable based on your preferred fasting method and it also offers expert insight and information that can help support your diet. There are also achievements and community challenges you can take part in to somewhat gamify the experience and help maintain consistency.

Zero is free to download, though does offer a $9 per month premium subscription that offers additional expert content, deeper tracking insights, and advanced sleep, weight, and heart rate statistics.

Pros: A near-endless variety of recipes, an easy-to-use barcode feature for logging food, intuitive calorie tracker, and useful expert insight

Cons: Lacks some deeper tracking capabilities

Sticking with a diet can be extremely difficult, especially for those just starting. But one of the best ways to integrate accountability is via a nutrition coach. And since it's 2024, the quickest way to nutrition coach-level guidance is through an app on your phone.

Enter the aptly named Nutrition Coach: Food Tracker app that acts like a dedicated coach right in your pocket. Nutrition Coach offers a suite of food tracking capabilities, a barcode feature that can help easily log things you've eaten, and an intuitive calorie tracker to help you keep tabs on your daily intake.

Where the coaching aspect comes into play is with its thousands of recommended recipes based on the food you like, the diet you're on, and how many calories you want to eat each day. It also offers plenty of nutrition information and insight, the ability to track your micro- and macro-nutrients, and customized meal plans.

Though it's not like having a dedicated nutritionist at your disposal, it is still a helpful app that can keep you on track while helping your diet become more of a lifestyle than something that's overly restrictive or difficult.

What are the benefits of using a diet or weight loss app?

Considering you always have your phone with you, using an app to track your food and screen your grocery store purchases is ideal. Some of the available apps even create extensive meal plans, provide diet and exercise routines, or offer consultations from dietitians and nutritionists. Others simply track what you eat to raise awareness of the calories you're taking in.

RD and nutrition and wellness expert, Samantha Cassetty, said there are benefits to both and that even basic food trackers are valuable.

"Free tools allow you to track your food intake, which is a form of self-monitoring that's been found helpful for reaching or maintaining a comfortable weight," she said. "They can also expose when you might be grazing or over-snacking, which happens when you're spending more time working at home with a stocked kitchen."

What are the best ways to utilize these apps?

While Cassetty said she finds plenty of value in the use of smartphone apps to track dietary intake, she also urges caution, saying that "unless you're getting the tools and information you need to make lasting changes, it's unlikely you'll be able to maintain any weight you've lost."

She recommended working on understanding how to balance meals so they fill you up while tasting great at the same time. She also stresses the importance of developing healthier coping strategies rather than turning to food when we're bored, stressed, anxious, depressed, or even happy.

"Rather than focus on a goal weight, I think a better way to go is to focus on small steps you can take to create healthier habits," Cassetty said. "Examples include, limiting soda, upping your veggie intake at lunch and dinner, cooking an extra meal or two, drinking more water, and aiming for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night."

Those are words of wisdom, no doubt, but Cassetty also expressed the importance of cutting ourselves some slack when things get especially stressful and difficult.

"I think it's important to be flexible and compassionate with yourself during these challenging times," she added. "You may not be able to eat as well as you'd like or maintain your healthy routines, and that's alright. As long as you're putting in some effort — versus none at all — it's a step in the right direction."