Trika vs MyFitnessPal for macro targets and diet preferences

MyFitnessPal gives you control over the targets: you set your own calorie and macro goals, by percentage on the free tier and by gram on Premium, and log against them from a database with millions of foods and a barcode scanner. Trika: Workout & Meal Planner, the fitness app from SEIS Tecnología, sets the targets for you from your goal and that day’s training session, then writes the meals that hit them, with the food preferences you gave it in plain words.

How does Trika compare to MyFitnessPal for managing macro targets and diet preferences?

The two apps put the work in different places.

In MyFitnessPal, the targets are yours to set and the food is yours to log. The app’s job is to make logging fast and to show you the gap between the numbers and the day.

In Trika, the targets and the meals come from a plan. The app’s job is to write a day that lands on the right numbers for the session you are doing, and to change it when you ask.

Which one suits you depends on whether you want to decide the macros yourself, or want them decided from what you are training for.

How MyFitnessPal handles macros and diets

MyFitnessPal starts from a calorie goal and splits it into carbs, protein and fat. On the free tier you customize the split as percentages in 5% increments, and the Macro balance card offers Default, High protein, Low carb, Keto, Paleo or Custom. That is how a diet preference enters the app: as a macro split, not as a list of foods to leave out.

Premium adds the control most macro counters want:

• Macronutrients by gram. Set protein, carbs and fat as exact gram targets instead of percentages.
• Different goals by day. Custom calorie and macro goals for any day of the week, so a training day and a rest day can differ.
• Net carbs in place of total carbs, on iOS and Android in the US and Canada.
• Macro goals by meal and a Nutrient Dashboard with a carb-conscious view.
• Barcode Scanner, Meal Scan and voice logging for faster entry.

The database behind all of this is large: foods added by MyFitnessPal and by its users, with the barcode scanner reading a package’s nutrition from its label.

Preferences in the sense of “foods I do not eat” live in the Meal Planner, a Premium+ feature available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. It asks about your goals, diet and cuisine preferences, cooking time, allergies, restrictions and dislikes, builds a plan of 2 to 15 days with a grocery list, and logs each meal to the diary with its macros counted.

So the full picture is: targets you set on any tier, gram-level and per-day control on Premium, and meals written for you on Premium+ in six countries. The tier comparison lays it out.

How Trika handles macros and diets

Trika starts from a goal, typed or said in plain language: “lose weight and keep muscle”, “ready for HYROX in 16 weeks”. A short chat collects your training days, session length, equipment, injuries, allergies, what you eat and what you avoid, and how much you cook. From that Trika builds a multi-week training program with daily calorie and macro targets for your goal.

The targets are not a split you choose. They come from the plan, and they change with the day: each day’s meals are built from that day’s session, so a long run, a strength day and a rest day get different protein, carb and fat numbers. The meals are written to land on those numbers, with recipes and swaps that respect your allergies, exclusions and cooking skill.

Diet preferences go in as words, not presets. Keto is “no bread, rice, pasta or sugar”; vegan is “no animal products”. The recipes follow. When you want a number changed, you tell the coach: “raise my protein to 160 g”, “fewer carbs on rest days”. The coach knows your plan, edits it, and shows the change before you accept it. For a walk-through, read meal plans for keto, vegan, gluten-free and macro targets in Trika.

You log what you eat by photo or in a sentence, and Trika returns calories and macros against the day’s targets. There is no barcode scanner, no branded food database, no net carbs and no micronutrient tracking.

Side by side

Pick MyFitnessPal if

• You want to set the macros yourself, in grams, and change them whenever you like.
• You eat a lot of packaged food and want the barcode scanner and the database to do the logging.
• You count net carbs and are in the US or Canada.
• You care about fibre, iron, vitamins or other nutrients beyond the big three.
• A coach or another app already writes your training, and you need the food side counted.

Pick Trika if

• You want the protein, carb and fat targets derived from what you are training for, not chosen from a slider.
• You want the targets to move with the week on their own, higher on a long run day and lower on rest days, without setting each day by hand.
• You want the meals written, not just counted, and the recipes to respect what you avoid.
• You would rather tell a coach “more protein” than edit a goals screen.
• You train with the plan on an Apple Watch or a supported Garmin watch and want the food to follow the same plan.

Some people use both: MyFitnessPal for the long food record and the packaged foods, Trika for the training block and the day-by-day targets. If you do, keep in mind that Trika shows one day at a time against its targets and does not send meals to MyFitnessPal.

One way to decide: if your first instinct is “I know my macros, I need to hit them”, MyFitnessPal is built for that. If it is “I know my goal, tell me what to eat”, that is the job Trika was built to do.