Trika vs other fitness apps for combining meal plans with workouts

MyFitnessPal, Lifesum and Cronometer are food loggers with workout logging built in, while Trika: Workout & Meal Planner, the fitness app from SEIS Tecnología, is a planner that writes both the workout and the meals. In the three loggers you bring the training and the app counts around it; in Trika each day’s meals are built from that day’s session, and changing a session updates the meals.

The short answer

The useful question to ask of any app here is: who writes the plan?

• MyFitnessPal counts the food you eat and the exercise you log. Its top tier adds a meal planner. The workouts are yours to bring.
• Lifesum counts food too, and its Premium tier adds meal plans built around a style of eating. Exercise is something you log.
• Cronometer goes into detail on what is in your food, down to vitamins and minerals. Exercise is logged by hand or synced from a device.
• Trika writes the training and the meals together, from your goal, your week and your equipment.

None of these is the wrong choice. They solve different problems. If you already follow a training plan you like, a food logger may be all you need. If you want the training and the food to come from the same plan, that is what Trika is for.

What each app is built around

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal starts from a calorie target and a food diary. You log meals and exercise through the day, and the app shows how many calories you have left. When you log exercise, your calorie goal for that day goes up. Premium adds Meal Scan for photos, the barcode scanner and voice logging. Premium+ adds a Meal Planner that builds plans of 2 to 15 days around your goals, favorite cuisines, cooking time, allergies and dislikes, with a grocery list. For training, Workout Routines let you build your own routines or pick pre-made ones, and log the weight, reps and duration of each set.

Lifesum

Lifesum is built around ways of eating. Its Premium programs and meal plans include keto, paleo, Mediterranean, high protein, vegan and intermittent fasting, and its meal plans cover 7 to 21 days of pre-planned meals with shopping lists. Two programs, Eat, Lift, Repeat and Runner’s Diet, give guidance on what to eat before and after exercise. AI Tracking logs a meal from a photo, text, voice or a barcode, and is a Premium feature. You track exercise from a list, by hand or through Apple Health, and by default burned calories are added to your daily calorie goal.

Cronometer

Cronometer is built for nutrient detail. It tracks up to 95 nutrients and compounds, and its barcode scanner is free. The Gold tier adds photo logging and a Macro Scheduler, which lets you set different macro targets for different days of the week, such as your workout days. You add exercise from a database or sync it from a device such as Garmin, and logged exercise can count toward the day’s energy target.

Trika

Trika starts from a goal, typed or said in plain language: “first marathon”, “ready for HYROX in 16 weeks”, “lose weight and keep muscle”. A short chat collects your training days, session length, equipment, injuries and food preferences. From those answers Trika builds a multi-week program split into phases, with daily calorie and macro targets.

The day’s meals are built around the day’s session, so a training day and a rest day get different targets. When you shorten, swap, move or ease a session, Trika shows the changed version side by side with the original, and you accept or reject it. Changing a session updates the meals. You log what you eat by photo or in plain text, and Trika returns calories and macros against the day’s targets. For a walk-through, read how to match your meals to your workout schedule with Trika.

Trika does not scan barcodes and has no branded food database. You describe the food in your own words or show it in a photo.

Side by side

A few sources behind the rows: MyFitnessPal lists its plan tiers and connected devices. Lifesum explains custom calorie and macro targets on Premium, its free version and its Garmin connection through Apple Health. Cronometer lists its Basic and Gold tiers and device integrations.

Who each app is right for

Pick MyFitnessPal if you want a very large food database and barcode scanning for packaged food. Its database holds millions of foods, added both by MyFitnessPal and by its users, and the barcode scanner pulls up a package’s nutrition info from its barcode. It also suits you if a coach or another app already writes your training and you only need the food side counted.

Pick Lifesum if you want recipes and a named way of eating, such as keto, Mediterranean or fasting, laid out as a meal plan with a shopping list. It suits people who want help deciding what to cook, more than help planning their training.

Pick Cronometer if you care about vitamins and minerals, not only calories and macros. Its nutrient tracking goes far past the big three, its barcode scanner is free, and its Macro Scheduler lets you set different targets for the days you train.

Pick Trika if you want the training written for you and the food to follow it. That fits you if:

• you’re working toward something specific, like a first marathon, a HYROX race or losing weight while keeping muscle;
• your week changes often and you want to shorten, swap or move a session without rebuilding your meals by hand;
• you run, lift and care about what you eat, and want running, strength, HYROX and nutrition in one app;
• you train with an Apple Watch or a supported Garmin watch and want the session on your wrist.

Trika is free to download, with a subscription for the full plan.

One more way to decide: list what you would otherwise do by hand. If it is entering packaged foods, MyFitnessPal and Cronometer save that work. If it is deciding what to cook, Lifesum does. If it is matching what you eat to how you train, day by day, that is the job Trika was built to do.