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Lifesum Review - 13 Things You Need to Know

The Lifesum app claims to give users a more modern way to lose weight. While the app allows a user to effectively track markers such as calorie intake and calories burned, the app is new and time-tested results have not been proven.

Nonetheless, we were interested in the app, so we asked our research team to find out a little more. Read on to get the Bottom Line on Lifesum.

Lifesum can be purchased through their Official Site.

Lifesum Readers: Noom is offering our readers a risk-free trial, for a limited time. Click here for more information!
Overview

What is Lifesum?

Lifesum is a health app designed to help users keep track of their dietary and fitness habits. Plus, it allows users to integrate healthy practices. The app offers resources for both eating and exercising, and it also offers free and premium plans. It is one of many apps providing food diary technology, community integration, recipes, and diet plans.

The comprehensive app also offers a convenient way to track water intake for adequate hydration, and it links to popular fitness bands like Fitbit and Jawbone. Lifesum offers features many other apps and fitness or diet programs provide. However, there are a few factors that set Lifesum apart from the competition.

Lifesum offers individual assessments to help users gauge their health status and provide advice on how they can become healthier. These assessments can also help Lifesum users figure out which dietary plan they want to begin out of the offered options.

This app is also easy to use and fits seamlessly into many lifestyles by connecting to other apps and fitness gear.

We want to briefly look at some of the LifeSum plans before digging into details, benefits, etc. There are multiple plans to choose from ketogenic, 6:1, keto strict, keto medium, keto easy, classic, strength, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, cleaning eating, and 5:2 diet.

  • StatPearls – The keto diet has been proven successful for weight loss in many studies, but the trouble is many people can’t stick with the diet, so long-term results tend to wane, and weight regain is common.
  • Physician and Sports Medicine – As for food for strength, protein helps build and repair muscle tissue, allowing muscles to become stronger and perform better.
  • The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition – The Scandinavian diet focuses on healthy foods, such as plant-based foods, and works to facilitate weight loss.

Who Started Lifesum?

Lifesum, the self-described leading self-care service for Millennials, was established in 2013 by a team of visionaries: Tove Westlund, Martin Wahlby, Marcus Gners, and Henrik Torstensson. Headquartered in Stockholm, Germany, the quartet sought to develop more than just a weight-loss app, aspiring to craft a versatile tool that could comprehensively enhance users’ well-being. Their collective ambition materialized into Lifesum, a platform encouraging individuals worldwide to experiment and cultivate habits promoting healthier and happier lives.

From its Stockholm origins, Lifesum has evolved into a global force, assisting millions across 250 countries in enhancing their diets. Boasting 50 million registered users and support for 11 languages, the app consistently ranks among the top 10 in the Health & Fitness category on the App Store.

Noteworthy partnerships with Amazon Halo and recognition at Apple’s WWDC20 conference underscore Lifesum’s innovative approach to personalized nutrition through technology. Co-founders Torstensson and Gners, leveraging their prior collaboration at Stardoll, a prominent online fashion community, brought valuable experience to the venture.

Lifesum’s freemium business model allows users to explore a portion of the services for free, with additional premium features available through a paid membership. The app caters to diverse preferences and dietary plans, facilitating users in tracking progress and seamlessly integrating with activity trackers for a holistic approach to well-being.

Lifesum Competitors

Product
Rating
Review
Carnivor
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Body For Life
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Animal Cuts
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ActivatedYou Morning Complete
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Noom
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Other similar products: MyFitnessPal
Benefits

Lifesum Benefits

While the Lifesum app has its challenge areas, users gain several key benefits when using either the free or premium version of this app:

  • Easy to use food diary technology
  • Hydration management
  • Helpful health tips and advice
  • Community support
  • Healthy recipes

The simple mechanism of selecting favorite food items, typing in foods, or scanning foods make keeping track of caloric intake easy. The user may choose to quickly add a food item to the breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack category for fast-tracking on the go. The opportunity of tapping a glass icon to indicate the user drank a glass of water also makes hydration tracking easy.

Featured tips and advice provide education and help keep the user on track, while the Lifesum community and friends offer additional support. Finally, the user has a better chance of losing weight while following one of the diet plans and trying out various tasty and healthy recipes.

Does It Work?

Does Lifesum Work?

Lifesum works in multiple ways, but whether it helps users be successful in their dietary or fitness goals depends on individual users. Lifesum can help users easily document their food and water intake and exercise history while assisting them in keeping track of their weight and weight loss progress.

Rather than relying on old-fashioned ways of documenting dietary and fitness habits, this app helps automate the process so users can gain a long-term understanding of how they eat and their physical activity level.

In addition to these benefits, Lifesum also offers to help users lose weight, eat better, and reach their goal size. Some users not only find it practical to track calories and activity, but they also find weight loss to be easier and simpler by using the app. User reviews are a great indicator of whether Lifesum works to help people reach their health goals.

Lifesum App

Lifesum App

The Lifesum app benefits depend on whether or not you use the free or premium version.

The Lifesum app offers:

  • Food diary
  • Hydration tracker
  • Exercise diary
  • Recipes and health tips
  • Health assessments
  • Diet plans for weight loss
  • Weight tracker
  • Social community

All of these features come with Lifesum health and diet app. The main dashboard allows users to add food or exercise to their diary by clicking on the appropriate tab or icon. They can also keep track of their water consumption by merely clicking on one of the drinking glass icons.

When each icon fills with water, the user knows they have reached their hydration goal for the day. The user can also enter their weight and get feedback on their app’s progress for additional support or motivation. Upon opening the app or returning to the home tab, the dashboard displays the number of calories left in the center.

This number adjusts as users enter their food items throughout the day. The user can also see burned calories, carb, protein, fat consumption, and the date.

Swiping down takes the user to premium charts and tables that further analyze the user’s dietary intake. Premium users can also view their overall daily rating based on how well they stick to their calorie budget.

Food Diary

Lifesum Food Diary

The food diary tool allows users to enter what they ate based on individual ingredients or prepared meals.
This works by searching the database for various results with information on calories, fat content, vitamins, and more.

The app also allows the user to scan barcodes to enter food items quickly. This is perfect for quick snacks and foods ready to eat right out of the packaging.

However, having a barcode isn’t necessary, and simply typing in the name of the food item will bring up a host of options to choose from that offer correct calories and nutrition facts.

For example, searching for “white bread” will result in several different options, allowing the user to choose the closest to what they ate.

The food diary also saves favorites for fast diary entries on the go.

Diet Plans

Lifesum Diet Plans

Lifesum offers several diet plans for users to help them lose weight and get healthier.

These diet plans may be offered based on the user’s Life Score or health assessment, or the user can choose the best diet plan according to their needs and preferences. The diet plans offered include:

  • Ketogenic Easy
  • Classic
  • Food for Strength
  • Scandinavian
  • Mediterranean
  • Clean Eating
  • 5:2 Diet
  • 6:1
  • Keto Medium
  • Keto Strict

These different plans and rules offer vastly different dieting styles and methods, so we’ll cover each one individually to clarify what goes into each.

However, the user must sign up for a premium subscription to access these features as the content is unique.

Ketogenic Easy Plan

This plan places users on the popular ketogenic diet for weight loss and fat reduction, covered in detail by StatPearls.

The ketogenic diet requires dieters to eat no carbs and significantly increase their fat intake, according to the Indian Journal of Medical Research. This helps the body shift from running on glucose or sugar to running on fat.

When this happens, the body is in a ketosis state, which may require a difficult or uncomfortable transition.

However, once the body is adjusted, it should continue to run on fat and help the dieter lose a significant amount of weight, including water weight, in a shorter period.

People on this diet are encouraged to eat a lot of fats and oils and protein sources, although the protein intake must be monitored.

This can take away many familiar foods and make the dieter feel as if they’re starving, and it’s not healthy to maintain long-term.

Classic Plan

The classic diet plan focuses on calories and nutrition without eliminating the most basic foods.

On this plan, users can expect to eat plenty of carbohydrates, protein sources like meat and cheese, and fruits and vegetables. Some research, like one published in Nutrients, suggests leaning more toward the plant-based side of a classic diet for weight loss.

Dieters can continue to enjoy grains and bread. They’re encouraged to eat plenty of greens and superfoods to facilitate good health.

This plan helps users lower their caloric intake while assisting them get the nutrition they need to keep going.

Food for Strength Plan

This plan offers what appears to be strengthening foods and targets people who want to gain weight or build muscle.

The foods and recipes suggested are typically high in protein and nutrition without excluding carbs.

The recipes may be lower in carbs than typical recipes provided on the classic plan, but carbohydrates remain a staple in this diet strategy.

The high protein diet supports bodybuilders and people looking to improve their strength in several key ways, according to Nutrients.

First, protein is an essential component of healthy bones, cartilage, and muscles.

Scandinavian Plan

Items that dieters on this diet will eat include whole grains, berries, fruits and vegetables, fish, and legumes.

Root vegetables and cabbage are particularly important staples in this diet, which is in high contrast with other diet plans offered by Lifesum.

Mediterranean Plan

According to the Journal of Gerontology, this diet focuses on replicating the traditional dietary habits of people who live around the Mediterranean in countries such as France, Italy, and Greece.

According to this diet, the heart health benefits of eating have been widely noted and recognized and is one of the most attractive features for many dieters.

People following this plan can expect to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, starches like bread and pasta, controlled portions of fish and meat, and vegetables and plant oils.

Of course, this includes using olive oil and eating french bread and spaghetti. Many users find this diet attractive and more comfortable to stick to than other, more restrictive diets.

Clean Eating Plan

The Clean Eating diet plan encourages dieters to eat as healthy as possible to facilitate strength, weight loss, and ultimate body sculpting.

Following this plan, users can expect to eat hefty portions of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and healthy snacks like nuts and seeds.

Also, users will eat raw meals to maximize nutrient intake and eliminate many of the fats and oils used to cook meals.

Provided recipes offer step-by-step instructions on how to prepare these healthy and delicious meals.

However, research in the Journal of Eating Disorders claims clean eating plans are nothing more than a doorway to dysfunctional eating.

Fasting Plans

In addition to these diet plans, Lifesum offers users the opportunity to follow either the 5:2 or the 6:1 diet plan.

These plans involve fasting and may help some people lose weight and control their caloric intake, though according to Nutrients, experts are still uncertain how effective fasting can be for weight loss.

The 5:2 plan allows users to eat normally five days a week and fast two days, while the 6:1 program only requires users to fast one day per week.

Lifesum Exercise Tracking

Lifesum users also have the option to track their exercise the same way they track their caloric intake.

In addition to importing information from other apps and fitness bands, including steps, distance, and calories burned, users can input various exercises completed to see their caloric burn.

For example, users can input different exercises such as burpees, crunches, or squats. Users can also add activities such as soccer, pilates, and even cleaning.

The app may ask for the user’s weight, and the number of reps performed depending on the exercise to track an accurate number of calories burned.

Lifesum Social Community

The social community feature helps friends connect across the app for support and encouragement and help users feel like they’re part of a broader health community.

The app allows users to update profile images, share updates, like posts from friends, share recipes and pictures, etc. Users can also add as many friends as they like and browse their feed like most standard social media platforms.

While browsing their feed, users may see updates from friends such as dieting tips, weight loss progress, or fitness routines. They may also see links to articles and resources related to diet and fitness.

Recipes

Lifesum Recipes

Lifesum offers a variety of daily healthy recipes for free users, complete with ingredients, nutrition details, and instructions.

Recipes offered by Lifesum present well-rounded nutrition, including plenty of vitamins, minerals, and protein.

Dishes may also include nutritious and popular foods like avocados, beets, and berries. These are either breakfast, dinner, lunch, or dessert recipes.

The app may also occasionally offer snack recipes. Paying users unlock far more than one recipe per day.

However, they have access to multiple recipes on any given day they can try out or save for later.

Cost

Lifesum Cost

Lifesum provides a free version with some limitations, or users can opt for a Premium membership by subscription, unlocking additional features. While the free version offers only one diet option, a Premium subscription allows users to switch among 12 different diets, such as Classic, High Protein, Keto Easy, Scandinavian, Clean Eating, and Mediterranean. The free account has restrictions on saving favorite foods and exercises, and it doesn’t track detailed stats like macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and protein).

For those considering a longer commitment, Lifesum offers increasing discounts as the subscription period extends. Unfortunately, there’s no trial period for a single-month subscription to test the app’s fit for individual needs. Users interested in exploring premium features must sign up for one of the available subscription plans, with the payment for the entire subscription period billed upfront as a single payment.

Subscription options include $14.99/month for a monthly plan, $10/month for a three-month plan billed at $29.99 quarterly, and $8.33/month for a one-year plan billed at $99.99 annually. It’s crucial to note that if a user does not cancel their subscription and is dissatisfied with the premium features, it automatically renews at the end of the twelve months, leading to another billing cycle.

Reviews

Lifesum Reviews

Lifesum user reviews range as widely as the users and cover a diverse list of aspects, including features, interface, and tools. While many Lifesum users are satisfied with what the app has to offer, others, not so much.

Users mentioned not being able to find options catering to various diets such as paleo or vegan diets.

However, some users agreed they liked the app’s interface, functionality, and the potential to have an app help with weight loss.

Contact Information

Lifesum Contact Information

  • International Address: Lifesum AB Valhallavägen 117H, 115 31 Stockholm, Sweden
  • USA address: Los Angeles 2128 Narcissus Ct Venice, CA 90291
  • Email: contact@lifesum.com
  • Contact form: https://lifesum.helpshift.com/hc/en/3-lifesum/contact-us/?p=web
Side Effects

Lifesum Side Effects

Because Lifesum isn’t a drug or food product, it doesn’t have any harmful side effects.

The app does offer plenty of dietary and health-oriented advice, however, and users should always be cautious about trying anything new, especially if it feels extreme.

This may include practices like fasting, eliminating all carbs, or doing intense exercise.

Even when a diet plan looks good, it’s best to check with a doctor or dietitian before starting any new diet plan or making any unusual eating habits.

In general, users should always take caution when:

  • Cutting calories
  • Reducing carbohydrate intake
  • Starting a trendy diet plan
  • Fasting
  • Performing new exercises
  • Making major lifestyle changes

The user’s caloric intake and dietary habits may be very different from what the Lifesum app suggests.

Each calorie goal number is calculated by taking the user’s BMI and goal weight.

But, every user should be cautious when cutting calories and making the necessary dietary changes for their health.

Lifesum in the News

Lifesum has closed some partnership deals that make the product more readily available and easier to use. You can sync with Google Assistant to be get reminders and set goals. The company also partnered with Strong by Zumba health club.

What Users Are Saying

What Users Are Saying

“Great app! It helped me lose weight and better understand what clean eating means.”

“Salt value unreliable – I just learned that whereas values are “locked” for foods you have previously logged, when another user changes one or more nutrient values, this is not the case for salt. This of course means in effect, that the salt value is useless, which is a deal breaker to people with cholesterol issues such as myself and probably many others. They will look into it “as soon as possible“, but until then please beware.”

“The app is really good. It does exactly what you want, you can scan products easily and track what you eat. I used it heavily for around 3-4 months to see what my diet was like, where the calories came from etc. It was super helpful. After this I had enough information so I kind of stopped using it.

Forgot to cancel my subscription and was charged for another year, messaged the customer support and they gave me a full refund within 1 day. It couldn’t have gone better.

Will definitely use this again once I feel the need to track my food.”

Bottom Line

The Bottom Line on Lifesum

Lifesum is a good app to use for anyone who is interested in logging their food and exercise intake, monitoring their progress over time, and joining a supportive community of other healthy eaters. While its features are comparable to many available on the market, it does offer some unique recipes and diet plans that can help make the weight loss journey much easier. However, there are a few concerns regarding this app including:

  • Long subscription plans
  • Glitches and bugs
  • Inadequate food database

New users should take caution when starting new diet plans, and even though the Life Score assessments are thorough, it’s always best to get the approval of a physician or dietitian before embarking on a totally new diet.

For users who simply want convenience, new recipes, and social support, this app is as good as most diet and fitness apps available across the app stores.

However, this is one part of weight loss. There’s also the tracking and weight-loss resources that help you reach your goal and keep the weight off.

Among the best product we’ve seen this year is one called Noom. The app provides weight-loss support that’s different from any other app on the market. You get personalized meal plans, human coaching, expert tools and resources and food and exercising tracking – with so much more. The system is clinically proven to help you lose weight and keep it off.

Plus, the team behind Noom offer Dietspotlight readers a free trial offer, which is a good thing.

Learn More About Noom »
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Lifesum

Q:
What is Lifesum?
A:

Lifesum is a health app designed to help users keep track of their dietary and fitness habits. It offers resources for both eating and exercising, and it also offers free and premium plans.

Q:
Who founded Lifesum?
A:

Lifesum was co-founded by Tove Westlund, Martin Wahlby, Marcus Gners and Henrik Torstensson in 2013.

Q:
Does Lifesum work?
A:

Lifesum can help users easily document their food and water intake and exercise history while assisting them in keeping track of their weight and weight loss progress. Whether it helps users be successful in their dietary or fitness goals depends on individual users.

Q:
What are the benefits of using Lifesum?
A:

The benefits of using Lifesum include easy to use food diary technology, hydration management, helpful health tips and advice, community support, and healthy recipes.

Q:
How much does Lifesum cost?
A:

Lifesum is a free app that allows you to track your health and fitness level and allows you to share it with others. However, the premium subscription does charge you a fee of $8.33 for a 12-month subscription. The more months you commit for, the less you pay.

Q:
Where can I buy Lifesum?
A:

Lifesum can be purchased using their Official Site.

Q:
Is the Lifesum app free?
A:

Yes, the Lifesum app is free. There is also a premium version of the app that costs $4.17 per month.

Q:
Does Lifesum calculate net carbs?
A:

Lifesum calculates net carbs by subtracting total fiber from total carbohydrates. The result is called net carb.

Q:
Is the Lifesum App good?
A:

The Lifesum app is a decent wellness product with a visual interface that’s pleasing to the eye and easy to use.

Q:
How do I cancel my Lifesum subscription?
A:

To cancel your Lifesum subscription, go to the settings part of the app or the subscription page of your phone’s app store.

Q:
What do the smiley faces mean on Lifesum?
A:

Lifesum shares a reaction face for each food or meal you log. The faces range from grinning and smiling to frowning.

Q:
Can you add friends on Lifesum?
A:

There is a section on the app called “Lifesum Friends” where you can invite friends, family, or trainers to keep you motivated on your goals.

Q:
Is Lifesum compatible with Fitbit?
A:

Lifesum is compatible with Fitbit, Android Health, Apple Health, Jawbone, Runkeeper, and more.

Q:
What do Lifesum ratings mean?
A:

Lifesum ratings are given to your meals to help you learn about healthy eating habits, instead of just counting calories.

Q:
Does Lifesum have intermittent fasting?
A:

Yes, Lifesum does offer an intermittent fasting feature. This feature allows users to customize a fasting plan to suit their needs, with options such as setting a target calorie intake for certain days or weeks. With this feature, users can also track their progress and receive reminders to stay on track. Additionally, Lifesum offers meal plans specifically designed for intermittent fasting and a variety of other features that can help keep users motivated and on track with their eating habits.

Q:
What features does the Lifesum app offer?
A:

The Lifesum app offers a food diary, hydration tracker, exercise diary, recipes and health tips, health assessments, diet plans for weight loss, weight tracker, and social community.

Q:
How does the food diary work in Lifesum?
A:

The food diary in Lifesum allows users to quickly add a food item to the breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack category for fast-tracking on the go. The user can also type in or scan food items, making it easy to keep track of caloric intake.

4 Lifesum Reviews

  • W DeVries

    How much? How much? How much?
    People want to know how much is this going to cost me. Be transparent and show the cost upfront. You can save your readers valuable time by posting the costs. Thank you. Respectfully, W DeVries

    Reply
    • Summer Banks FNS, SPT

      As of May 2022, the price is $2.08 a month. Hope this helps!

      Reply
  • Cancelling subscription
    Donna Lareau

    How may I cancel my subscription and stop my charges? Sorry to post this here, but I cannot figure out where/how to cancel my charges. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      Login to account. Go to menu, account, manage subscription, cancel subscription

      Reply
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