NutritionTerms is a plain-language glossary for the everyday practice of tracking what you eat — barcode scanning, photo logging, portion estimation, macro splits, adherence, and the small friction points that make or break a streak. Written for real humans who want to understand what their app is doing.https://nutritionterms.org/en-ushttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-diary/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-diary/A day-by-day written or digital record of everything you eat and drink, used for awareness, coaching, or medical follow-up.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-log/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-log/A structured day-by-day record of what you eat, usually with portion size and time — the working document behind any calorie or macro tracking system.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/calorie-counter-app/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/calorie-counter-app/A mobile app that combines a food database, barcode scanner, portion entry, and daily calorie and macro totals so you can track what you eat without paper math.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-database/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/food-database/The underlying library of food items — with calories, macros, and portions — that a tracking app searches when you log a meal.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/verified-entry/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/verified-entry/A food database entry whose nutrition values have been checked against a manufacturer label, USDA data, or an internal editorial review.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/user-submitted-entry/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/user-submitted-entry/A food database entry added by another app user — fast and broad coverage, but with widely variable accuracy unless the app has verified it.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/barcode-scanning/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/barcode-scanning/Using your phone camera to read a product's UPC barcode and pull its nutrition info directly from the app's database.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/upc-lookup/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/upc-lookup/The backend process of translating a scanned barcode number into a matching nutrition entry by querying a UPC-to-food database.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/photo-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/photo-logging/Logging a meal by taking a picture of it and letting the app identify the food and estimate portions, instead of typing or scanning.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/ai-food-recognition/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/ai-food-recognition/Using machine learning to automatically identify what foods appear in a photo so they can be logged without manual search.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/computer-vision-portion-estimation/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/computer-vision-portion-estimation/Using computer vision to estimate how much food is on a plate — typically in grams or volume — from one or more photos.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/plate-segmentation/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/plate-segmentation/The computer vision step that draws a boundary around each distinct food on the plate, separating the chicken from the rice from the broccoli.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/serving-size/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/serving-size/The standardized reference amount listed on a nutrition label, used as the basis for the calorie and nutrient values on that label.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/portion-size/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/portion-size/The actual amount of food you put on your plate and eat, which is usually different from the label's standardized serving size.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/volume-estimation/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/volume-estimation/Measuring how much of a food you have in terms of space it occupies (cups, tablespoons, ounces) rather than its weight in grams.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/weight-based-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/weight-based-logging/Recording food portions by weight in grams (or ounces) rather than by volume or "servings," typically using a kitchen scale.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/kitchen-scale-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/kitchen-scale-logging/Using a digital kitchen scale to weigh food portions directly into your tracking app, for much higher accuracy than visual estimation.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tare-weight/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tare-weight/The weight of the empty container, which a kitchen scale subtracts (via the tare or "zero" button) so you only measure the food itself.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/zero-function/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/zero-function/The button on a digital kitchen scale that resets the display to zero — usually the same as "tare," though some scales distinguish the two.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/gram-based-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/gram-based-logging/Entering food portions in grams, the metric unit most nutrition databases and scientific sources use, rather than U.S. volume units.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/recipe-builder/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/recipe-builder/The feature in a tracking app that lets you enter a multi-ingredient recipe once, save it, and log any portion of it in future meals.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/meal-builder/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/meal-builder/A tool for composing a meal from multiple logged foods (not raw ingredients) and saving that combination for fast future logging.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/custom-food-entry/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/custom-food-entry/A food entry you create yourself — typically from a nutrition label — when the database doesn't have a reliable match for something you eat often.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/manual-entry/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/manual-entry/Typing a food into your tracking app by name, searching the database, and selecting an entry — as opposed to barcode scanning or photo logging.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/quick-add/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/quick-add/A shortcut for logging a rough calorie (and sometimes macro) amount without picking a specific food — useful for unknown or uncountable meals.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/copy-meal/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/copy-meal/A feature that duplicates a previous meal's entries into today's log, so you don't have to re-search every food when you eat the same thing.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/meal-template/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/meal-template/A saved, named preset of foods you eat together often, logged in one tap instead of re-searching each component every time.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/restaurant-menu-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/restaurant-menu-logging/Logging a restaurant meal using the chain's published nutrition info, an in-app database entry, or a best-guess estimate.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/chain-restaurant-database/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/chain-restaurant-database/The collection of chain restaurant menu items with FDA-required nutrition info that calorie apps pull from for eating-out logging.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/takeout-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/takeout-logging/Logging food delivered or picked up from a restaurant, typically relying on chain data, rough visual estimation, or photo logging.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/macro-split/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/macro-split/The way your daily calorie target is divided across protein, carbohydrates, and fat — commonly expressed as percentages or grams.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTmacronutrient-scienceNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/macro-ratio/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/macro-ratio/The proportion of calories coming from protein, carbs, and fat, often expressed as a percentage-based split (e.g., 30/40/30).Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTmacronutrient-scienceNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/flexible-dieting-iifym/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/flexible-dieting-iifym/An approach where any food can fit into your daily calorie and macro targets, regardless of its source — emphasizing math over food moralism.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTmacronutrient-scienceNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/logging-friction/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/logging-friction/The time, cognitive effort, and annoyance cost of logging a meal — the hidden variable that most predicts whether someone sticks with tracking.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/logging-adherence/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/logging-adherence/The percentage of days (or meals) you actually log, which is the single strongest predictor of whether tracking drives the outcome you want.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/7-day-adherence-rate/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/7-day-adherence-rate/The percentage of the last 7 days on which you logged your food — a short-window adherence metric for catching drift early.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tracking-burnout/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tracking-burnout/The gradual emotional and cognitive exhaustion that builds up from long-term calorie tracking, usually showing up as reduced adherence, irritation, or a desire to quit entirely.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/streak-tracking/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/streak-tracking/A counter of consecutive days you've logged food — a common motivational feature that helps some people and harms others.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tracking-gap/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/tracking-gap/A stretch of days or weeks where you didn't log — an inevitable part of long-term tracking that matters less than how you handle it.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarezhttps://nutritionterms.org/glossary/retroactive-logging/https://nutritionterms.org/glossary/retroactive-logging/Logging your meals at the end of the day (or after the fact) instead of as you eat them — convenient, but less accurate than real-time logging.Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTdietary-assessmentNina Alvarez