How to log a meal

To log a meal in Nutrola, tap the center + button in the tab bar to open the logging menu. The three fastest ways are Scan Food (point the camera and tap the shutter), Scan Barcode for packaged products, and Describe Food to speak or type what you ate. Nutrola estimates the calories and macros, which you can edit after.

Open the logging menu

Tap the center + button in the bottom tab bar. This opens Nutrola's logging menu, which has these tiles: Scan Food, Scan Barcode, Search Food, Describe Food, Saved Foods, Log Weight, Log Exercise, and Log Water.

Scan Food (AI photo)

1. Tap Scan Food. The first time, Nutrola asks for camera permission and may show a quick scanning tutorial.
2. A live camera viewfinder opens. Frame your food and tap the white round shutter button to capture. There is no separate "Use Photo" confirmation step, the photo is captured and sent off right away.
3. Nutrola adds a processing card and returns you to the Home screen, then finishes analyzing in the background (estimating calories and macros). You can keep using the app while it works.

To use a photo you already took, tap the gallery icon next to the shutter button and pick the image Log a meal from a photo already in your gallery. AI analysis runs on Nutrola's servers and produces estimates you can adjust afterward How Nutrola's AI calorie counting works.

Scan Barcode (packaged products)

1. Tap Scan Barcode and point your camera at the product's barcode. In dim light, use the flash/torch toggle in the top-right corner.
2. If the product is found, its nutrition info is added automatically.
3. If it isn't found, you'll see a card titled "Hmm, I don't know this one!" with a "Describe it instead" button (and a "Not now" option). Barcode data comes from a large product database, so some products simply aren't listed yet, that's expected, not a problem with your phone.

For more on barcode troubleshooting Barcode won't scan.

Describe Food (voice or text)

1. Tap Describe Food.
2. The screen opens in voice mode by default, so you can speak what you ate. Tap the toggle to switch to type and write it instead.
3. Be specific about portions and ingredients (for example, "2 scrambled eggs and one slice of buttered toast") so the estimate is closer. Nutrola estimates the nutrition for you.

Other ways to log

From the same menu you can also:

• Search Food to look up an item in the food database, or pick from Saved Foods for a known, consistent entry Log from the food database, your foods, and saved foods.
• Log Water to track hydration How to track water intake.
• Log Weight to record a weigh-in How do I record a weigh-in and view my weight history in Nutrola?.
• Log Exercise to add a workout Logging exercise and calories burned.

After you log: editing and portions

A barcode product from the product database lets you set the amount and switch the unit (serving, g, oz, and ml or fl oz for liquids), and the calories and macros recalculate as you change it.

AI photo and voice meals are different: they're stored on a fixed 100g basis and have no portion or serving-size control. To correct one, tap a calorie or macro value to edit it, edit, add, or remove ingredients, or tap Fix Result and describe what was wrong (for example, "I only ate half") Correct an AI meal with 'Fix Result' (tell it what's wrong) Why can't I change the serving size of a photo-scanned meal?.

If an estimate looks off The calorie or macro estimate looks wrong. To change or remove an entry Edit or delete a logged meal. If a photo isn't recognized My photo isn't being recognized.

Still need help? In the app, open Profile/Settings → Support & Legal → Contact us to chat with our support assistant, or email us at support@nutrola.app.