Diet Planning App: Plan Calories, Macros, Nutrients, and Meals

Sergey Oreshko - Co-founder and CEO of MyNetDiary

Plan by target date, weekly rate, or your own calorie budget, with four methods to estimate your energy needs. MyNetDiary supports balanced, low-carb, keto, high-protein, Mediterranean, and vegetarian eating, with calorie and macro cycling plus 600+ dietitian-created recipes and meal plans on Premium.

MyNetDiary is a diet planning app that turns a weight goal into a daily calorie budget, macro targets, and nutrient targets you control, on highly accurate nutrition tracking from a staff-verified food database. Used as a diet planner app, it covers the numbers and the meals. Free planning includes the calorie budget, macros, and the nutrients you choose to follow. Premium gives you access to nine diet plans, more than 600 recipes, Premium Menus, a 7-day Meal Planner, and Advanced Autopilot.

How does MyNetDiary plan your daily calorie budget?

MyNetDiary starts with your estimated maintenance calories, then subtracts calories for weight loss or adds calories for weight gain based on the daily deficit or surplus needed to reach your target weight by your target date. You can set your plan by target date, weekly rate, or your own Daily Food Calorie Budget for weight loss, maintenance, or weight gain.

• By target date. Pick the day you want to reach your goal and MyNetDiary works out the weekly rate and the calories that get you there. Best when a real deadline exists, such as a wedding, a race, or a checkup.
• By weekly rate. Choose how fast to lose or gain and the app moves the date. Using the traditional planning approximation of about 3,500 calories per pound (0.45 kg) of body weight, 1 lb per week works out to roughly 500 fewer calories a day. Real results vary as energy needs change. MyNetDiary calculates weight-loss rates up to 2 lb (0.9 kg) per week, and the dietitian team suggests about 1 lb per week, slower near goal (see the realistic weight-loss goal guide). Best when there is no fixed deadline.
• By your own budget. Enter any number directly as your Daily Food Calorie Budget and MyNetDiary adjusts the rate and target date accordingly. Best when a doctor or dietitian has prescribed a specific calorie budget.

The calorie planning guide gives a worked example. Anna sets a goal of 1 lb per week with her activity level to Sedentary, and MyNetDiary calculates a Daily Food Calorie Budget of 1,450 calories. After a 362-calorie breakfast she has 1,088 left. She then logs a 30-minute walk at 221 calories, and because "Add Exercise to Calorie Budget" is on with the exercise share at 100 percent, her Calorie Budget for the day rises to 1,671.

This example shows the two numbers on the dashboard. The Daily Food Calorie Budget is the intake from your plan. The day's Calorie Budget adds logged exercise when the toggle is on: at 50 percent or not at all in the free app, at any share from 0 to 100 percent in Premium. Premium also adds a weekly Exercise Plan for estimating planned workouts and Step Bonus, which credits steps above your activity level. If you log exercise, set your activity level to Sedentary so the same movement is not counted twice. The exercise calories article covers when to eat them back.

The budget also changes as your weight, target date, rate, and activity levels change. It drops when weight comes off slower than planned, when you pull the target date closer, choose a faster rate, or pick a lower activity level, and it rises in the opposite cases, so weigh in at least weekly. Basic Autopilot (Premium) does the recalculation for you, and the Daily Analysis on the dashboard shows the day's deficit and the weight change it implies.

How do you plan macros: percentages, fixed grams, or cycling?

MyNetDiary's default macro split is 45% carbs, 20% protein, and 35% fat, within the recommended Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges guidelines. Custom percentages and fixed gram targets are free; Premium adds macro cycling and exercise macros.

Free macro planning

• Percentages. Choose how much of your daily calories should come from carbs, protein, and fat. You can set each macro from 5% to 95%. MyNetDiary warns you if a goal falls outside the recommended AMDR range, but you can still save it. Your macro goals adjust automatically when your calorie budget changes.
• Fixed grams. Set a specific gram target, for example 120 g of carbohydrate, and it stays constant when your calorie budget changes. If you fix two macros, and the third adjusts to fill the remaining calories. Find it under My Weight Goal & Plan > Macros > Set Custom Macros > Switch to Grams. The macro tracker guide shows each screen.

Premium macro planning

• Diet presets. Choosing a diet plan such as Keto, Low-Carb, Low-Fat, or High-Protein sets the distribution for you under Diet Tools > My Diet.
• Exercise macros. Decide how calories added from exercise are split, for example more carbohydrate on training days, under Exercise Plan.
• Macro cycling. Give each day of the week its own protein, carb, and fat targets under Cycling, which is how carb-cycling plans are set up.

Fixed gram targets stay the same even when your calorie budget changes.

How does nutrient planning work with up to 108 nutrients?

Beyond calories and macros, MyNetDiary lets you choose which nutrients to follow and set a target for each one at no cost, from fiber, sodium, and added sugars to vitamin D, iron, potassium, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, and individual amino acids.

The values behind those targets come from a staff-verified database of over 2 million foods built on USDA and NCC research-grade sources. That is what lets detailed tracking of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients rest on verified nutritional data you can plan against.

• Defaults from the DRI. When a nutrient has a Recommended Dietary Allowance, MyNetDiary uses it as the default goal. Otherwise, it uses the Adequate Intake. Sodium defaults to 2,300 mg.
• Custom targets, free. In Nutrient Targets, tap any nutrient to read about it, keep the recommended value, or enter the number your clinician gave you. The dashboard and food log show what remains.
• Nutrient completeness. Nutrient completeness shows how much nutrition information is available for each food entry. The more nutrients an entry contains, the more accurately you can track your progress toward your goals. Generic whole foods usually have more complete nutrient information, while packaged foods mainly include the values from the nutrition label, plus any additional information verified by our staff. For the most complete picture, choose generic entries for produce, meat, dairy, grains, and legumes.
• Only what you need on screen. Choose which nutrients appear on your dashboard, food log, and Apple Watch. Reports include all of them.

MyNetDiary is used by dietitians and coaches through Professional Connect, which lets a practitioner set custom nutrient targets for a client and review the diary in real time at no cost to the practitioner.

Nutrient Targets: choose the nutrients, keep the recommended value, or set your own.

The nine diet plans included in Premium

Premium includes nine diet plans: Premium Calorie Counting (a balanced plan), Low-Carb, Keto, High-Protein, Low-Fat, Mediterranean, Vegetarian, Vegan, and DASH.

Choosing a plan adjusts your macro targets and app settings to match that eating style, suggests matching recipes, and gives you access to optional dietitian tips and an educational library.

The nine diet plans and what each one changes in the app:

Select a plan under Diet Tools > My Diet; the diet plans overview compares each plan’s advantages and considerations. Premium also includes intermittent fasting tracking, which works alongside any plan. As with any eating plan, talk to your doctor first, especially before Keto if you have type 1 diabetes, or High-Protein if you have kidney or liver disease.

My Diet: pick a plan, and the app adjusts targets, settings, recipes, and tips.

What do the 600+ recipes, Premium Menus, and Meal Planner include?

Premium includes more than 600 dietitian-created recipes, most ready in 20 minutes or less, each with a full nutrition label per serving. Premium Menus group them into calorie-controlled menus for calorie counting, low-carb, keto, high-protein, Mediterranean, and DASH eating, plus two GLP-1 menus, and the Meal Planner lays out a 7-day plan you can log with a tap.

• Premium Recipes. Filter by meal type, course, cooking style, diet type, and ingredients to include or exclude. Copy & Customize swaps ingredients or portions and recalculates the nutrition.
• Premium Menus and Premium Meals. Dietitian-designed meal and snack combinations for each menu, including the two GLP-1 menus with smaller, nutrient-dense portions.
• Meal Planner. Map a day or a week from Premium Menus or your own recipes, then add a meal or the whole day to your Food Log.
• Recipe import and shopping list. Premium imports supported recipes from the web; the shopping list is free.

Premium Plus adds AI Suggest Meals, which proposes foods or meals that fill your remaining calorie and macro targets for the day. The Premium Recipes guide and the Premium Menus and Meal Planner guide cover the details.

The Meal Planner: a 7-day plan from Premium Menus and your own recipes.

Which four methods estimate your energy needs?

Your maintenance calories are the starting point for every plan, and MyNetDiary lets you choose how to estimate them. The free plan uses the Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) from the 2023 Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy by default. Premium adds three more options: measured resting metabolic rate, Katch-McArdle based on your body fat percentage, and Mifflin-St Jeor, a formula commonly used by calorie-tracking apps.

Energy-needs methods in MyNetDiary

You can also enter custom weight maintenance calories if a clinician gave you a figure. A custom value does not adjust itself when your weight or activity level changes. Switch methods under My Weight Goal & Plan > Weight & Calories > Planning Tools > Weight Maintenance Cals > Selected Method.

Your activity level scales every method. Sedentary already covers ordinary daily living, about a mile of walking a day, so the most accurate setup for most people is Sedentary plus logging workouts. Otherwise, choose the level that describes your average day under Personal Info on the Me tab.

How does calorie cycling work?

Calorie cycling (Premium) assigns different calorie targets to different days of the week while keeping the weekly total tied to your goal. MyNetDiary shows your Average Food Calorie Budget as you set it up and will not save a cycling plan that no longer adds up to your weight goal.

Turn on "Cycle Calories & Macros" under the Cycling tab in My Weight Goal & Plan and set the high and low days; MyNetDiary redistributes the remaining days automatically so the weekly total stays aligned with the weight goal. This is useful when you know in advance that some days will carry a higher target than others: weekends, holidays, training days, or the maintenance phase. See the calorie cycling article for when it helps.

Per-day targets with the weekly total held to your goal.

How does Advanced Autopilot adapt your targets to your actual energy expenditure?

Advanced Autopilot is MyNetDiary's adaptive TDEE feature, included in Premium. This metabolism-adjustment algorithm estimates your actual energy expenditure (TDEE) from your logged food, logged exercise, and Trending Weight, then updates your Weight Maintenance Calories, Food Calorie Budget, macro targets, and projected target date at a weekly check-in you accept or decline.

The estimate settles after about three weeks of consistent logging and will not take your budget below your minimum or 80 percent of your BMR; it falls back to Basic Autopilot instead. It needs about six complete logging days a week and three weigh-ins on record. To turn it on, open My Weight Goal & Plan and tap Activate on the Advanced Autopilot card on the Overview tab. The Advanced Autopilot guide covers the algorithm, calibration, exercise treatment, and guardrails.

Advanced Autopilot lives on the My Weight Goal & Plan overview screen.

Diet planning features: free versus Premium

The core diet-planning features are free. These include three plan modes, the default energy estimate, custom macros and fixed gram targets, custom nutrient targets, exercise logging, the Barcode Scanner, and an ad-free food diary. Premium adds alternate energy methods, Basic and Advanced Autopilot, cycling, the Exercise Plan, the diet plans, recipes, menus, and the Meal Planner.

Diet planning features by tier

Premium and Premium Plus pricing

• Premium is $59.99 per year, $8.99 per month, or $179.99 for a lifetime license.
• Premium Plus costs $99.99 per year or $14.99 per month and adds AI-powered tools, including AI Coach, AI Suggest Meals, AI Restaurant Menu Scan, and AI voice logging.

Prices are in US dollars as of September 2026 and may vary by region. See the full list of Premium and Premium Plus features.

Start with the free plan and upgrade in the app whenever you want access to more features.

How do MyNetDiary's planning tools compare with other trackers?

Nutrition apps differ in how far they go beyond a basic calorie target. Some add custom macros and nutrient goals, others day-of-week targets, meal planning, or adaptive expenditure. MyNetDiary combines those planning layers in one diet planning app. The table covers that layer only; database size, logging speed, and price are in the food tracking apps roundup.

Diet planning tools: MyNetDiary versus MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and Lose It!

Sources and methodology: Competitor details come from MyNetDiary's Competitor Features Comparison and each app's public help documentation, verified as of September 2026. Features change frequently, so check each app's current feature list before making a decision.

Competitor highlights: MyFitnessPal offers a powerful meal planner in its top tier; Cronometer combines a verified food database with strong device integrations and multi-variable charting; Lose It! offers robust social features.

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