Pretty good app honestly. Logging meals is fast and the macro breakdown is easy to read. Photo scan gets confused on some Indian dishes though, fix that and it's 5 stars for sure.
Bulking Meal Plan App That Sets Your Surplus โ
A bulk rarely falls apart in the gym. It falls apart on two numbers: how big the surplus is, and how much protein sits under it. Most people pick a round calorie figure they read somewhere, eat until full, and find out three months later that half the gain was fat. A bulking meal plan app earns its place if it fixes both numbers and then checks them against what you actually ate.
Your calorie surplus for muscle gain, and the protein floor under it ๐ฌ โ
On the surplus, Iraki and colleagues reviewed off season nutrition for natural bodybuilders in the journal Sports in 2019 and landed on 10 to 20 percent above maintenance, aiming for 0.25 to 0.5 percent of bodyweight gained per week. Their read of the trained lifter data was that 200 to 300 calories beats 500.
On protein, the same review recommends 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram per day, spread over three to six meals at 0.40 to 0.55 grams each. Morton and colleagues, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, pooled 49 trials covering 1,863 people and found gains in fat free mass flattened out past about 1.62 grams per kilogram per day. The floor belongs across the day, not in one shake.
What a bulking meal plan app does that a recipe list cannot ๐งพ โ
A surplus you can see against what you ate
Pick Muscle Gain and NutriScan sets calories and macros from your age, gender, height, weight and activity level. The Home screen shows eaten, remaining and target daily, with protein, carbs and fat as separate bars. A paper plan says what to eat. This says whether you ate it.
A per meal protein target and a grocery list for bulking
Daily protein is split across breakfast, mid morning, lunch, afternoon, dinner and bed time, and the Grocery List tab sizes a weekly or monthly shop to it.
A bulking calories counter for off plan meals
Photograph the plate, tag the cooking method and oil level, correct the portion. Free gets 5 scans a week, Premium unlimited.
A weekly audit of both numbers
The Progress tab shows your weekly protein target hit rate, your top protein sources, and a monthly view comparing weight change, calories and hit rate. That is how you find out the bulk stalled because protein sat at 66 percent of target. Weight and steps sync in from Apple Health or Google Fit.
Setting the plan, step by step ๐ ๏ธ โ
Pick the muscle gain goal and set the two numbers
Choose Muscle Gain during setup and NutriScan works out calories and macros from your age, gender, height, weight and activity level. Open Modify Macros under Profile to change them. Protein, carbs and fat move on sliders in grams or percent and calories recalculate on the 4-4-9 rule as you drag, so you can hold protein steady and put the surplus into carbs.
Build the 28 day plan and pull the grocery list
The Diet Plan form asks for your eating schedule, cuisine preferences from eight options, food preference and anything you cannot eat, then returns 28 days with a daily target and two meal options in every slot. Each meal opens into a quick recipe, a portion size and a nutrition breakdown. The Grocery List tab turns it into a weekly or monthly list you can copy out.
Photograph the meals you actually ate and fix the portion
Bulks drift on the meals that were never in the plan. Photograph the plate, pick the food type and cooking method, set the oil level, and it comes back as separate items with calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber and micronutrients. Tap plus or minus or type the exact weight, so a 700 calorie bowl is not filed as a 400 calorie one.
Lean bulk vs dirty bulk, honestly โ๏ธ โ
A dirty bulk works. Eat far above maintenance, train hard, and you gain muscle faster in absolute terms than someone eating 250 over. The cost is the ratio. In the elite athlete comparison Iraki cites, the larger surplus bought 0.5 kg more lean mass and 0.9 kg more fat, and that fat comes off later in a cut that also risks the muscle.
Which suits you is mostly experience. A beginner or a genuinely underweight person converts more of a big surplus. Someone three years in is close enough to their ceiling that the extra mostly lands as fat. NutriScan sets the target wherever you put it, so pick honestly and let it run the full 28 days.
NutriScan, Gaintrain and Eat This Much side by side ๐ โ
| Gaintrain | Eat This Much | NutriScan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generates a bulking meal plan | Yes, built for bulk and cut cycles | Yes, any calorie and macro target | Yes, 28 days with two options per slot |
| Grocery list | Yes | Yes, with Instacart and AmazonFresh | Yes, weekly or monthly, copy out |
| Logs a meal from a plate photo | No, barcode scanner and database | No, search and enter | Yes, then you correct the portion |
| Cooking method and oil as inputs | No | No | 11 methods and four oil levels |
| Weekly protein hit rate | Not stated | Not stated | Yes, on the Progress tab |
| Price | 5.99 dollars a month | Free tier, paid Premium | Free tier, Premium about 59 dollars a year |
Both plan well. Neither reads the plate in front of you, and a bulk is decided by the meals nobody planned. Gaintrain builds from USDA data and a barcode scanner. Eat This Much, named best meal planning app of 2025 by CNN Underscored, generates the week ahead.
Where to start this week ๐งญ โ
Get the number before the plan. Run your stats through the macro calculator, add 10 to 20 percent, check protein against 1.6 grams per kilogram, then build the 28 days and shop once from the list. For tracking without a plan, the muscle gain tracking page covers protein logging alone, and the weight gain diet plan page is for gaining weight when muscle is not the only goal.
What people are saying
Real reviews from people tracking their meals with NutriScan.
Finally sticking to a diet plan because of this app ๐๐ป
Surprisingly fun to use? Lost 1 kg in 4 days just by logging stuff and keeping my NutriScore green. Still on the free side, will probably grab Premium soon.
You take a photo and seconds later you have your macros and micronutrients. That's basically why I stuck with it.
Been using it 2 days now and liking it so far. First week is free so not much to lose.
Did some homework before installing and yeah, the photo scan accuracy is legit. NutriScore is solid too. Keep building, this is great.
Just started but it looks promising. Big plus that you can try it for free.
Finally a calorie counter without ads or upsells every two screens. Photograph the meal, done. Free, simple, exactly what I needed.
Found it right when I needed help fixing my eating. Really glad I did.
Solid pick if you want to track calories and stay on a diet plan without overthinking it.
Lost weight using this. The diet plan kept me honest on bad days. People sleep on how much diet actually matters.
Tracks calories, macros, and even the small stuff like micronutrients. If you're trying to build muscle, this is the app to get.
150k+ downloads and a 4.6 star average across the app stores.
Set the surplus, then check it ๐ฑ โ
Build one plan, shop from one list, photograph every meal for a week. Progress tells you which number you missed.
๐ What you get
Surplus and macros you control
Auto set from your goal and body stats, or moved by hand.
28 days, two options per meal
Built around your schedule, up to five cuisines and your restrictions.
Weekly or monthly grocery list
Quantities included, copied out in one tap.
Photo logging with portion correction
5 scans a week free, unlimited on Premium. The corrected number is saved.
New accounts get a 7 day free trial of Premium. When it ends you land on the free plan with everything you logged still there.
Frequently Asked Questions โ โ
How much should I eat for a lean bulk? โ
Iraki and colleagues, writing in Sports in 2019, put the off season surplus at roughly 10 to 20 percent above maintenance, with a target gain of 0.25 to 0.5 percent of bodyweight per week, and told advanced lifters to sit at the low end. On a 2,800 calorie maintenance that is 280 to 560 extra calories a day. NutriScan sets calories and macros from your goal and body stats, and Modify Macros lets you move them if your weigh ins say the number is off.
How much protein per day to gain weight? โ
The same 2019 Sports review recommends 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram per day, split across three to six meals at 0.40 to 0.55 grams each. Morton and colleagues, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, pooled 49 trials with 1,863 people and found gains in fat free mass stopped improving past about 1.62 grams per kilogram per day. For an 80 kilogram lifter that is 130 to 175 grams a day, or 35 to 45 grams in each of four meals.
Is 3000 calories enough to bulk? โ
It depends on what you burn. 3,000 calories is a surplus at 2,600 maintenance and a deficit at 3,200, and the figure people quote for themselves is usually a guess. NutriScan estimates maintenance from age, gender, height, weight and activity level, then shows eaten against target on the Home screen daily. If the scale does not move over two weeks of hitting that target, raise it.
Can it work for skinny guys with a high metabolism? โ
That is where logging matters most, because people who struggle to gain almost always eat less than they think. The 28 day plan gives two options in each meal slot, including mid morning and afternoon, so calories arrive in six smaller sittings instead of three. Photograph what you eat, correct any portion the scan gets wrong, and the weekly Progress tab shows your protein hit rate and how many days you cleared the calorie line.
Is there a free clean bulk meal plan? โ
The 28 day diet plan and the grocery list are Premium, about 59 dollars a year. New accounts get a 7 day free trial, long enough to build a plan, shop from one list and see whether the meals suit you. The free plan keeps 5 photo scans a week, unlimited manual and voice logging, calories and macros with fiber and micronutrients on every meal, a NutriScore and unlimited history. There are two plans, Free and Premium.
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