A MyFitnessPal alternative for endurance athletes

A good MyFitnessPal alternative for endurance athletes sets daily calorie, carbohydrate and protein targets from the training you have done and planned, connects to your training devices, and shows carbohydrate in grams rather than only as calories. Cronometer, MacroFactor, Hexis, Fuelin, MAVR and reload each approach this differently. MyFitnessPal can also be adapted for training with some manual setup, so the right switch depends on how much of that setup you want to do yourself.

What does MyFitnessPal do well?

MyFitnessPal is a general calorie and macro tracker with a very large food database. Its App Store listing cites more than 20.5 million foods, including restaurant dishes [1]. Free accounts include nutrition, weight and exercise tracking [2]. Premium adds barcode scanning, meal scanning, voice logging, custom macro goals, and the option to “set unique macro goals for each day of the week” [2].

It also connects widely. Its Premium page says more than 35 apps and fitness devices connect, naming Garmin, Apple Watch, Fitbit and others [2], and its App Store listing says 40+ [1]. TrainingPeaks users can sync meals from MyFitnessPal to their TrainingPeaks calendar, where the nutrition card is read-only, and can send calorie expenditure from logged TrainingPeaks activities back to MyFitnessPal if they enable that option [3].

For many athletes that is enough. The reasons to look elsewhere are specific to endurance training.

Why do endurance athletes look for a MyFitnessPal alternative?

Carbohydrate needs change a lot from day to day

The joint position stand of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine [5], as summarized by Vitale and Getzin [4], scales daily carbohydrate to training load:

For a 70 kg rider, that is about 350 to 490 g on a 1 hour day and 560 to 840 g on a 4 to 5 hour day. That is our arithmetic on the published ranges, shown as an illustration rather than a prescription. Protein guidance is steadier, at about 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg per day [4]. See what to eat on a rest day vs a long ride day.

How MyFitnessPal accounts for training

MyFitnessPal starts from a daily calorie goal. When a partner fitness tracker is connected, it adds a calorie adjustment based on the difference between the partner’s projected calories burned and MyFitnessPal’s own estimate. By default that adjustment does not go below zero, and users can allow negative adjustments in settings [6]. Weekday macro goals in Premium [2] let you approximate a fixed weekly pattern, such as a long ride every Saturday.

That setup works well when your schedule is regular. If your long day moves, or you want targets to rise before a big session rather than after it, you will be changing goals by hand. An endurance-focused alternative does that from your training calendar.

Burned calories are estimates either way

Any adjustment based on a wearable inherits the wearable’s error. In a lab study of seven wrist-worn devices, none estimated energy expenditure with an error below 20 percent [7]. This applies to every app that imports energy burned, including the alternatives below. Our guide on whether to eat back exercise calories covers how to handle that uncertainty.

What should a MyFitnessPal alternative for athletes include?

• Targets from training. Daily calorie and macro targets that change with completed and planned sessions.

• Ranges, not single numbers. Published guidance comes as ranges [4], so targets shown as ranges are more honest.

• Carbohydrate in grams. Useful for planning daily intake and session fueling. For in-session guidance, research suggests about 30 to 60 g per hour for longer efforts and up to about 90 g per hour for events beyond 2.5 hours [8]. See carbs per hour on the bike.

• Integrations you already use. Your watch, bike computer or training platform should connect without manual exports.

• Fast, editable logging. Barcode scanning plus photo or text logging, with portions you can correct before saving.

Which MyFitnessPal alternatives suit endurance athletes?

All details below come from each company’s own website or App Store listing, checked on 29 Oct 2026.

Cronometer

Cronometer suits athletes who want detailed nutrient data. Its website says it tracks up to 95 nutrients and compounds, and barcode scanning is free [10]. Gold adds photo and voice logging and other tools [9].

MacroFactor

MacroFactor describes a dynamic algorithm that adapts to changes in your metabolism, with weekly check-ins that adjust your macro plan [11]. It offers barcode scanning and AI label scanning, and a separate MacroFactor Workouts app [11][17].

Hexis

Hexis builds “personalised, periodised fuel plans” from training data. Its Carb Coding system marks meals as high, moderate or low carbohydrate according to the work just done and the work coming [12]. It also offers a Coach Hub for coaches [12].

Fuelin

Fuelin gives daily calorie, carbohydrate, protein and fat targets from planned and completed workouts, and says its recommendations are built by sports dietitians [13]. It includes AI food logging [13].

MAVR

MAVR is aimed at runners and triathletes. It recalculates targets daily from your training calendar, shows a glycogen projection, and supports barcode, text, voice and photo logging [15][16].

What about Saturday?

Saturday is a session fueling planner. Its App Store listing describes planning what to eat and drink during a session and does not describe daily food logging [18]. It can write its fuel plan to TrainingPeaks as a comment on the matching workout [19]. Some athletes keep MyFitnessPal as their food log and add a session planner like Saturday for long rides and races.

How do you test an alternative before switching?

Log a normal training week that includes at least one long session and one rest day. Compare the targets the app sets on each. Check that your device sync brings in both completed sessions and planned ones, and that you can see how the day’s targets were built. If the app uses AI logging, check a few portions against packaging or a scale before trusting the estimates.

How reload handles this

reload is a calorie and macro tracker built for cyclists, runners and triathletes. It reads the training you have done and the training you have planned, and sets daily calorie, protein, carbohydrate and fat targets, so a long ride day and a rest day get different targets. Protein, carbs and fat each get a target range, and the app shows how each day’s targets were built. Energy burned is split into resting and active. Integrations live now are Garmin, Wahoo, WHOOP and Apple Health. Logging uses search and barcode scanning. reload Max turns a photo or a short description into calories, protein, carbs and fat, and shows every portion so you can adjust it before saving. reload is available on iPhone and was developed with endurance athletes over 11 months of beta testing. See plans and pricing.

How reload handles this

Targets set by your training, not by hand

1

Connect

Link Garmin, Wahoo, WHOOP or Apple Health so reload reads completed and planned training.

2

See targets move

A long ride day and a rest day get different calorie and macro ranges.

3

Log food

Search or scan a barcode. reload Max logs from a photo or description.

See plans→

How reload handles this

Targets set by your training, not by hand

1

Connect

Link Garmin, Wahoo, WHOOP or Apple Health so reload reads completed and planned training.

2

See targets move

A long ride day and a rest day get different calorie and macro ranges.

3

Log food

Search or scan a barcode. reload Max logs from a photo or description.

See plans→

How reload handles this

Targets set by your training, not by hand

1

Connect

Link Garmin, Wahoo, WHOOP or Apple Health so reload reads completed and planned training.

2

See targets move

A long ride day and a rest day get different calorie and macro ranges.

3

Log food

Search or scan a barcode. reload Max logs from a photo or description.

See plans→

FAQ

Can I keep using MyFitnessPal with TrainingPeaks?

Yes. Meals logged in MyFitnessPal can appear on your TrainingPeaks calendar, and TrainingPeaks activities can send calorie expenditure to MyFitnessPal if you enable that option [3]. Historical entries do not sync [3].

Is MyFitnessPal free?

It has a free tier that includes nutrition, weight and exercise tracking. Barcode scanning, meal scanning, voice logging and custom macro goals are part of Premium [2].

Do training-aware apps know exactly how many calories I burned?

No. Energy burned from wearables is an estimate, and lab testing has found sizeable errors in wrist-worn devices [7]. Treat targets as ranges and adjust based on how you train and recover.

Which alternative is best for weight loss during training?

Several apps, including reload, can build a deficit into daily targets. Read how to lose weight during a training block, and talk to a doctor or registered dietitian if you have a medical condition or a history of disordered eating.