Meals & Food Logging Guide

This guide covers all the ways to log food and track nutrition in AtomFitness. Whether you prefer scanning, searching, or manual entry, there's a method that fits your workflow.

📖 Related: See the Goal Tracking Guide for setting up nutrition targets and weekly check-ins.

---

Quick Add Menu

The Quick Add Menu is your central hub for logging food. Access it by tapping the + button anywhere in the app.

What You'll See

• Time indicator — Shows which hour you're logging to (e.g., "Adding to 12 PM")
• Quick action buttons — Your configured shortcuts for common actions
• Predicted meals — Smart suggestions based on your eating patterns (if available)
• Recent meals — Quick access to foods you've logged before

Configuring Quick Actions

1. Tap the gear icon in the Quick Add Menu
2. Enable/disable actions you want to see
3. Reorder actions by dragging
4. Available actions include:
   • Water
   • Manual Entry
   • Barcode Scanner (Premium)
   • Nutrition Label Scanner (Premium)
   • AI Food Scanner (Premium)
   • Food Search
   • Recipes
   • Recent Library
   • Log Foods (opens Food Logger)
   • Workout
   • Weigh In
   • Progress Photo

Time-Based Logging

When the Quick Add Menu opens, it automatically sets the target time to the current hour. You can also:

• Tap a specific hour on the Meals tab timeline to log to that time
• The menu shows "Adding to [time]" to confirm where your food will be logged

---

Food Search

Search our comprehensive food database powered by FatSecret with over 500,000 foods.

How to Search

1. Open the Food Logger (tap "Log Foods" in Quick Add or navigate via Meals tab)
2. Type your search query (minimum 2 characters)
3. Results appear automatically as you type (with debouncing)
4. Tap a food to preview, or use the + button to quick-add

Search Tips

• Be specific — "Chobani Greek Yogurt" works better than just "yogurt"
• Include brands — Brand names help find exact products
• Use common names — "Chicken breast" instead of "poultry"

Viewing Food Details

Tap any search result to see:

• Full nutrition breakdown (calories, protein, carbs, fat, etc.)
• Serving size options
• Adjustable serving multiplier
• Micronutrients (vitamins, minerals)

Adjusting Servings

1. Tap a food to open the preview
2. Use the serving multiplier to adjust quantity
3. See nutrition values update in real-time
4. Tap Add to Cart to add the adjusted amount

---

Barcode Scanner

Premium Feature

Scan product barcodes to instantly log packaged foods with accurate nutrition data.

How to Scan

1. Tap Barcode in the Quick Add Menu (or Food Logger)
2. Point your camera at the barcode
3. Hold steady — the scanner automatically detects barcodes
4. Product info appears instantly when found

Supported Barcodes

• UPC-A (12 digits)
• EAN-13 (13 digits)
• UPC-E (8 digits)

What Happens After Scanning

1. Product found — Preview appears with full nutrition info
2. Product not found — Option to search manually or enter manually
3. Multiple results — Select the correct product from options

Tips for Barcode Scanning

• Ensure good lighting
• Hold phone steady, 6-8 inches from barcode
• Make sure barcode is flat and undamaged
• Works best with clear, printed barcodes

---

Nutrition Label Scanner

Premium Feature

Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to scan nutrition labels directly from packaging.

How to Scan

1. Tap Nutrition in the Quick Add Menu (or Food Logger)
2. Frame the nutrition facts label in your camera
3. Tap the capture button to scan
4. Review and edit the extracted values

Best Practices

• Flat surface — Lay the package flat if possible
• Good lighting — Avoid shadows on the label
• Full label — Include the entire nutrition facts panel
• Steady hold — Keep camera still while capturing

What Gets Extracted

• Serving size
• Calories
• Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat
• Cholesterol
• Sodium
• Total Carbs, Fiber, Sugars
• Protein
• Vitamins and minerals (when present)

Editing Scanned Values

After scanning, you can:

1. Tap any field to correct misread values
2. Add a custom name for the food
3. Adjust serving size if needed
4. Save to your library for future use

---

AI Food Photo Scanner

Premium Feature

Take a photo of your meal and let AI analyze it to estimate nutrition.

How to Use

1. Tap AI Scan in the Quick Add Menu (or Food Logger)
2. Take a photo of your food (or select from library)
3. Wait for AI analysis (usually 2-5 seconds)
4. Review detected foods and their estimated nutrition

What AI Can Detect

• Individual food items on your plate
• Estimated portion sizes
• Approximate nutrition values
• Multiple items in one photo

Understanding Results

The AI returns:

• Food name — What it identified (e.g., "Grilled Chicken Breast")
• Estimated quantity — Portion size (e.g., "1 medium breast, ~6 oz")
• Confidence level — How certain the AI is
• Matched food — Optional database match for more accurate nutrition

Adjusting AI Results

After analysis:

1. Review each detected food item
2. Toggle items on/off if incorrectly detected
3. Edit portion sizes if estimates seem off
4. Tap Log Selected to add to your diary

When to Use AI Scanning

• Restaurant meals without nutrition info
• Home-cooked meals
• Mixed dishes and plates
• Quick logging when precision isn't critical

Limitations

• Estimates may vary by ±20%
• Works best with clearly visible foods
• May struggle with mixed/hidden ingredients
• Use for convenience, not precision

---

Recent Meals Library

Access foods you've logged before for quick re-logging.

Opening Your Library

1. Tap Recent in the Quick Add Menu
2. Or navigate to the Food Logger and tap the Library tab

Library Features

• Sort options — Recent, Most Added, Alphabetical, Calories
• Search — Filter your library by name
• Quick add — Tap the + to instantly add
• Edit — Tap to view details and adjust servings

Library Content

Your library includes:

• Custom foods — Foods you've entered manually
• Scanned foods — Products you've scanned
• Database foods — Items you've added from search
• Recipes — Your saved recipes

Use Count Tracking

The library tracks how often you log each food, helping you:

• See your most common foods at the top (when sorted by frequency)
• Identify eating patterns
• Quick-log staple foods

---

Recipe Builder

Create recipes by combining ingredients, then log them with accurate combined nutrition.

Creating a New Recipe

1. Navigate to Recipes in the Meals tab
2. Tap Create Recipe or the + button
3. Give your recipe a name
4. Add ingredients using any method:
   • Search — Find ingredients in the database
   • Barcode — Scan packaged ingredients
   • Recent — Add from your food library
   • Recipes — Add another recipe as an ingredient

Import from URL

Premium Feature

Import recipes directly from your favorite cooking websites with automatic ingredient matching.

1. Tap Import from URL in the recipe builder
2. Paste any recipe URL from popular cooking sites
3. The app automatically extracts:
   • Recipe name and description
   • Cooking instructions
   • Prep and cook times
   • Servings
   • Ingredients with nutrition data
4. Review matched ingredients — the app matches each ingredient to our food database
5. Select alternatives if the suggested match isn't quite right
6. Save the complete recipe with accurate per-serving nutrition

Tip: The ingredient matching uses AI to find the best database matches. Ingredients with high confidence are automatically accepted, while lower-confidence matches can be reviewed and adjusted.

Adding Ingredients

For each ingredient:

1. Search or scan to find the food
2. Adjust the serving size (e.g., "2 cups" or "150g")
3. See the ingredient's nutrition contribution
4. Tap Add to include in recipe

Recipe Nutrition

The recipe builder automatically calculates:

• Total nutrition — Sum of all ingredients
• Per-serving nutrition — If you specify serving count
• Breakdown — See each ingredient's contribution

Setting Serving Size

1. Enter the number of servings your recipe makes
2. Per-serving nutrition is automatically calculated
3. When logging, adjust servings based on how much you ate

Saving & Using Recipes

1. Tap Save Recipe when done
2. Recipe appears in your Recipes list
3. Log recipe like any other food
4. Edit anytime to update ingredients

Editing Existing Recipes

1. Open the recipe from your Recipes list
2. Tap Edit
3. Add, remove, or adjust ingredients
4. Save changes — past logs aren't affected

Creating Recipe from Logged Meals

Have a meal already logged that you want to save as a recipe?

1. In the Meals tab, find the meal
2. Long press and select Create Recipe
3. All items become ingredients
4. Name and save your recipe

---

Manual Entry

Enter nutrition information manually for foods not in the database.

When to Use Manual Entry

• Foods from local restaurants
• Homemade items without recipes
• Foods with nutrition info you've calculated
• Quick estimates when precision isn't needed

How to Enter Manually

1. Tap Manual in the Quick Add Menu
2. Or open Food Logger and tap Manual Entry
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Food name (required)
   • Calories (required)
   • Protein (g)
   • Carbs (g)
   • Fat (g)
   • Additional macros (optional)

Available Fields

Saving to Library

Manual entries are automatically saved to your library, so you can:

• Re-log them quickly later
• Edit them if nutrition info changes
• Use them as recipe ingredients

---

Copy & Paste Meals

Easily duplicate meals between days.

Copying a Single Meal

1. Long press on any logged meal
2. Select Copy
3. Meal is saved to clipboard

Copying a Whole Day

1. In the Meals tab, tap the menu (•••)
2. Select Copy All Meals
3. All meals from that day are copied

Pasting Meals

1. Navigate to the target day
2. Tap the + button to open Quick Add
3. If meals are in clipboard, you'll see a Paste option
4. Tap to paste at the current time (or preserve original times)

Clipboard Features

• 7-day retention — Clipboard contents expire after a week
• Edit before pasting — Remove individual items from clipboard
• Whole-day paste — Preserves original meal times
• Single-meal paste — Logs to selected time

Common Use Cases

• Repeating meals — Same breakfast every day
• Meal prep tracking — Log Monday, paste to rest of week
• Similar days — Copy weekday meals

---

Meal Pattern Predictions

AtomFitness learns from your eating habits and suggests foods you typically eat at certain times.

How It Works

The app tracks:

• What you eat — Food items and recipes
• When you eat — Time of day for each meal
• How often — Frequency of each food
• Which days — Weekday vs. weekend patterns

Time Slots

Predictions are organized by time of day:

Seeing Predictions

1. Open the Quick Add Menu
2. If you have enough logged data, you'll see a "[Time] Favorites" section
3. These are your predicted meals for that time slot
4. Tap any prediction to instantly add it

Building Better Predictions

To get accurate predictions:

• Log consistently — At least 10 meals in the past 7 days
• Log at accurate times — Use the correct hour
• Log regularly — Pattern detection needs 3+ days of data
• Be patient — Predictions improve over time

Pattern Score

Each prediction has a hidden "pattern score" based on:

• How often you eat this food (frequency)
• How recently you've eaten it (recency)
• Whether it's a weekday or weekend
• Consistency of timing

Only high-scoring foods appear as predictions.

---

Water Tracking

Track your water intake alongside your meals.

Quick Water Logging

1. Tap Water in the Quick Add Menu
2. Select your glass size
3. Tap to log instantly

Default Glass Sizes

• 8 oz (240 ml)
• 12 oz (355 ml)
• 16 oz (475 ml)
• Custom amount

Water Goals

Set a daily water goal in Settings:

1. Go to More → Settings → Nutrition
2. Set your Daily Water Goal
3. Track progress on the dashboard

Viewing Water Intake

• Dashboard widget — Shows daily progress
• Meals tab — Water appears in timeline
• Weekly summary — See average intake

---

Tips & Best Practices

For Accurate Tracking

1. Log in real-time — Don't wait until end of day
2. Weigh your food — Kitchen scales improve accuracy
3. Use barcode scanning — Most accurate for packaged foods
4. Create recipes — For meals you make often

For Efficient Tracking

1. Use predictions — One tap to log familiar foods
2. Copy meals — Duplicate similar days
3. Build your library — Commonly-eaten foods are faster to log
4. Use the cart — Add multiple items before logging

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using the Food Logger Cart

The Food Logger has a cart system for logging multiple items at once:

1. Search and add multiple items to cart
2. Review all items before logging
3. Adjust servings as needed
4. Log everything with one tap

When AI Scanning Makes Sense

• Quick estimates at restaurants
• When you can see all components
• Meals without precise recipes
• Times when convenience > precision

When Manual Entry Makes Sense

• Local restaurant meals
• Unique homemade dishes
• Foods with known nutrition
• Quick calorie estimates

---

Troubleshooting

Barcode Not Scanning

• Clean the barcode
• Improve lighting
• Try different distances
• Check if barcode is damaged

Label Scanner Misreading Values

• Flatten the packaging
• Avoid glare and shadows
• Ensure full label is visible
• Manually correct any errors

Food Not Found in Search

• Try alternate names
• Search by brand
• Use manual entry
• Scan barcode instead

Predictions Not Appearing

• Log at least 10 meals in 7 days
• Log at accurate times
• Wait 24 hours for patterns to update
• Eat the same foods on multiple days

---

Getting Help

Need assistance with meal logging?

• In-App Help: Tap (?) icons for contextual help
• Contact Support: More → Help & Support
• Community: Join our community for tips and recipe ideas

---

Log consistently, eat well, and reach your nutrition goals!