The journey to achieve and maintain a healthy weight hinges largely on consistent, mindful nutrition. However, organising daily meals, tracking calories, and managing specific dietary needs often prove to be the biggest hurdles. The best meal plan apps for weight loss simplify this complex process, turning your smartphone into an indispensable tool for nutritional success.
These applications leverage technology to automate meal generation, streamline grocery shopping, and provide the tracking necessary to stay accountable.
We have compiled a list of the best meal plan apps available today, evaluating them based on their planning capabilities, customisation options, and effectiveness in supporting long-term weight management goals.
Best Meal Plan App for Weight Loss
| App Name | Unique Selling Point | Custom Meal Planning | Tracking Features | UK Localization | Cost |
| CherryPick | Automated grocery logistics and detailed recipe generation | Yes (With Premium Subscription). | Automated Grocery List creation and pantry tracking. | Integrates directly with major UK supermarkets for grocery ordering. | Premium Subscription |
| Mealime | Quick, simple, and minimal food waste planning. | Yes (Generates plans based on diet type and allergy restrictions). | Basic calorie information is listed on recipes. | Available in the UK; recipes use widely available ingredients. | Free with Pro Subscription |
| Eat This Much | Automated adherence to precise calorie and macro targets. | Yes (Automatically builds daily menus to meet exact nutritional goals). | Food tracking, custom food logging, and macro analysis. | Available in the UK; targets are based on universal nutrition science. | Free with Premium Subscription |
| Meal Matcher UK | Hyper-local planning with supermarket price integration. | Yes (Creates personalized plans based on calorie, macro, and diet goals). | Tracks nutrition; manages food waste with smart lists. | Strong UK Focus; Integrates with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Aldi. | Premium Subscription |
| Noom | Psychology based, long term habit and behavioral change. | Yes (Provides goal oriented meal ideas and a color food system for selection). | Tracks food, water, weight, and exercise; includes lessons and coaching. | Fully localized experience including personal health coaches. | Subscription (Various Plans) |
| Lifesum | Highly visual tracking with a variety of specialized diets. | Yes (Offers numerous pre set meal plans like Keto, High Protein, and Mediterranean). | Calorie and macro tracking, barcode scanner, habit trackers (water, fruit). | Widely available in the UK; massive international food database. | Free with Premium Subscription |
| NHS Weight Loss Plan | Free, accessible, and high authority health guidance. | Yes (Provides meal planning tools and guidance for the 12 week program). | Tracks activity, weight progress, and offers calorie counting guidance. | Official UK Government program; free for all UK residents. | Free |
| My Fitness Pal | Largest food database and comprehensive global tracking. | Yes (Offers basic meal planning tools and community support). | Calorie and macro tracking, barcode scanner, fitness device syncing. | Widely used in the UK; reliable entries for UK specific foods. | Free with Premium Subscription |
1. CherryPick
When looking for the best meal plan apps for weight loss, you are likely to run into CherryPick, and for a good reason.
CherryPick is a specialised meal planning platform designed to eliminate decision fatigue and simplify the entire process from plan to plate. Unlike apps focused purely on calorie tracking, CherryPick places an emphasis on intelligent, personalised meal generation tailored for effective weight management.
Users input their specific health goals, dietary restrictions (like keto or vegan), and cuisine preferences, and the app instantly generates a recipe for your liking. This will help you optimise your own meal plans for macro and micronutrient targets without repetitive, boring meals.
The app’s integration includes automated grocery list creation, which categorises items based on store layout, saving significant time during shopping.
Not just that, but it can connect you to their online grocery store, allowing you to get ingredients delivered automatically. This makes the entire meal preparation process much smoother, allowing you to skip the boring part of grocery shopping.
It even uses AI to suggest ingredient swaps if items are out of stock or based on what you already have in your pantry.
By making the preparation phase easy and efficient, CherryPick supports long-term adherence to a calorie-controlled diet. It functions as a comprehensive, personalised diet assistant, ensuring every meal is aligned with your targets while still being enjoyable and practical for a busy schedule.
2. Mealime
Mealime is highly rated for its simplicity and speed, making it an ideal choice for busy individuals and cooking novices. The app focuses on generating straightforward, healthy meal plans that can be prepared in under 30 minutes, minimising the cooking time that often derails diet efforts.
Users select a plan type (like low carb or Mediterranean) and mark any dislikes or allergy restrictions, and Mealime instantly creates a week of balanced meals.
The core strength of this app is its intelligent grocery list generator, which only includes the exact ingredients needed, reducing both food waste and unnecessary purchasing.
While it prioritises ease of use over deep dive macro tracking, its focus on quick, clean recipes ensures consistent calorie control, which is the cornerstone of weight loss.
The simple, clean interface is perfect for those who want to transform their phone into a dedicated planning hub. This focus on easy, effective execution is why we consider it a top-tier app.
3. Eat This Much
Eat This Much lives up to its name by automating your entire meal schedule, catering specifically to users who need to hit exact caloric and macro goals every single day.
This platform is perfect for structured weight loss diets like keto or bodybuilding, where precision is key. You enter your calorie and macro targets, along with budget and schedule details, and the app builds the menu, generating recipes and allocating portions to meet those targets exactly.
The app’s automated planning saves tremendous time, eliminating the guesswork from daily nutrition. It features a powerful filter system that accommodates all diet types and can be adjusted for budget or cooking time.
For users who need a rigid structure and minimal decision-making to stay on track, this level of detailed automation provides the stability needed for successful dieting.
4. Meal Matcher UK
Meal Matcher UK is a highly tailored application specifically designed for the UK consumer seeking weight management. It effortlessly creates personalised meal plans and generates smart shopping lists that are integrated with major UK supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Aldi.
This level of localisation means the app can provide real-time product pricing and optimise your grocery list to reduce food waste and cut costs.
Users can define their calorie goals, macro targets, and dietary needs (e.g., vegetarian, high protein), and the app automatically generates plans to meet these targets. It focuses on using common, fresh ingredients available at local UK stores, ensuring recipes are both achievable and culturally relevant.
Meal Matcher UK provides a precise and efficient system for managing your diet, streamlining the planning and shopping process entirely.
5. Noom
Noom takes a unique, psychology-based approach, distinguishing itself from traditional tracking apps. Instead of just focusing on what you eat, Noom focuses on why you eat.
It encourages sustainable weight loss through daily lessons, quizzes, and one-on-one virtual coaching that addresses the underlying behavioural and emotional reasons for eating habits.
While Noom does include a calorie tracker and meal logging, its strength is its educational content, which is designed to foster a healthier, more mindful relationship with food.
It categorises foods by colour (green, yellow, red) based on calorie density, teaching users to select filling, nutrient-dense options.
This cognitive behavioural approach aims for permanent lifestyle changes rather than quick fixes, supporting a more sustainable, long-term healthy weight loss.
6. Lifesum
Lifesum is celebrated for its beautiful, user-friendly interface and its ability to blend food logging with lifestyle guidance.
The app is a strong hybrid, offering diet-specific meal plans (like keto, clean eating, or Mediterranean) while also tracking water intake, body measurements, and exercise.
It visualises progress clearly, using encouraging language and goal-oriented challenges to maintain motivation.
This app is popular among users who value variety, as it consistently introduces new recipes tailored to their chosen plan.
It simplifies the macro tracking process, making it easy for non-experts to ensure they are hitting their nutrient goals for weight loss. The clear visual feedback and mood tracking features help users connect their diet to their overall well-being and stay focused on their goals.
7. NHS Weight Loss Plan
The NHS Weight Loss Plan is a free, 12-week program available to all UK residents, making it a highly accessible and trusted resource.
Delivered through an app, the plan is designed to help users establish healthier eating habits, become more active, and set achievable weight loss goals.
The program focuses on practical advice, helping users understand calorie counting and portion control based on UK dietary guidelines.
The plan includes tools to set goals, record activity and progress, and plan meals effectively. Its high authority and cost-free nature make it an ideal starting point for anyone in the UK beginning their journey.
This is also why some people consider it to be one of the best meal plan apps for weight loss, especially when it comes to reliability.
8. MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal, owned by Under Armour, is the undisputed heavyweight champion of food logging, boasting one of the largest food databases in the world (over 18 million items).
While its core strength is tracking, it also offers basic meal planning tools and features a massive community for support and motivation. It integrates seamlessly with most fitness devices, providing a holistic view of calories in versus calories burned.
The premium version unlocks advanced features like custom macro goals, intermittent fasting timers, and deeper nutrient analysis, which can be invaluable for advanced users managing specific weight loss protocols.
Its versatility and sheer amount of data make it a reliable choice for anyone needing a flexible, comprehensive tracking tool that can adapt to any eating style and support their path to a healthier weight.
To Sum It Up
Choosing the right best meal plan app for weight loss is a highly personal decision, as effectiveness hinges entirely on adherence.
Whether you need the rigid, automated structure offered by CherryPick or the behavioural insights of Noom, finding an app that simplifies your daily routine and aligns with your lifestyle is the key to achieving sustainable results and maintaining your goal weight.
