Note: These help pages use images from vertically oriented screens, also known as "portrait orientation." CalorieQuick also supports horizontal ("landscape") versions for all screens, and they are similar.

CalorieQuick Frequently Asked Questions

What is the status of CalorieQuick?

CalorieQuick was discontinued in December of 2010. In a final update: All three versions should continue to operate indefinitely. See CalorieQuick.com for more information.

How can I turn off access to the Shared Food Database on the CalorieQuick server?

  1. Go to the Home screen.
  2. Press the Menu button.
  3. Select the Developer Tools menu item.
  4. Press the "Disable Share Search" button.
  5. Press the Back button twice to exit CalorieQuick.

How can I see all of the help pages on my computer?

On your computer, visit http://www.caloriequick.com/help.

I'm using CalorieQuick correctly, but I'm not losing weight at rate I entered. Why?

First, everybody is different. CalorieQuick computes your goal calories based on the information you entered about yourself and current scientific understanding of human metabolism. It may be that your particular body has a lower requirement for food. You might need to manually set your goal calories lower.

Second, weight loss research has shown that almost everybody under-reports their eating and over-reports their exercise. You may be doing the same. Make sure you carefully measure your portions. Use a kitchen scale or measuring cup. Remember that food product manufacturers are allowed to label an item with less than 5 calories per serving as zero calories. That means if you consume 5 servings, that could be as much as 20 calories.

Why can't I find the foods I want when I search in the Add Foods screen?

CalorieQuick searches your own foods, the online CalorieQuick shared foods database, and the built-in USDA food database.

If you are not connected to the Internet (e.g. in Airplane Mode), the shared food database is skipped.

The CalorieQuick shared food database necessarily started out with very limited data. As users like you share more foods, it will become more and more comprehensive. See the Edit This Food dialog help page for more about sharing.

Nothing happens in the "Scan UPC Bar Code" screen

As the instructions on the screen say, you need to position your camera so that the UPC bar code fills the red box and is in focus. CalorieQuick scans the contents of the red box, looking for a valid UPC code. When it finds one, it will automatically close this screen and pass the UPC code back to the Select Foods screen.

If you have the camera positioned properly and nothing happens, try the following:
  1. Check the "Flash" check box to provide more light. If this results in glare on the label, try moving the camera so the glare is not in the center of the bar code.
  2. Slowly move the camera closer and farther from the label, allowing the camera's auto-focus feature to zero in on a sharp focus.
If the above does not work, then the camera in your phone may simply not have enough resolution or may not be able to focus close enough.

If necessary, you can close the "Scan UPC Bar Code" screen and manually type in the UPC code numbers into the search field. Remember to include the small numbers at the very beginning and end of the bar code.

My camera scans the bar code just fine, but I still get "No matching foods were found in the food databases."

There is no complete, universal UPC database. In addition to searching your own foods, CalorieQuick searches the shared food database. It may not have the UPC code you are looking for.

The CalorieQuick shared food database necessarily started out with very limited data. As users like you share more foods, it will become more and more comprehensive. See the Edit This Food dialog help page for more about sharing.

What should I do when I get an error when authorizing my Twitter account?

One thing to try is to have Twitter revoke your access and then reauthorize.
  1. On your computer, browse to your Twitter page.
  2. Click "Settings".
  3. Click "Connections".
  4. Click "Revoke Access".
  5. On your phone, run CalorieQuick and authorize your Twitter account in the Sharing Set Up screen.

What should I do when I get an error when authorizing my Facebook account?

You can have Facebook revoke your access and then reauthorize.
  1. On your computer, browse to your Facebook page.
  2. Click "Account".
  3. Click "Application Settings".
  4. Select "Authorized" from the "Show" dropdown.
  5. Click "Edit Settings" for CalorieQuick
  6. Click "Additional Permissions"
  7. Uncheck "Publish content to my Wall"
  8. Click "Okay"
  9. On your phone, run CalorieQuick and authorize your Facebook account in the Sharing Set Up screen.

What happened to the FatSecret™ support?

Versions of CalorieQuick version prior to 1.2 supported the online FatSecret database for food search and nutrition data. Unfortunately, FatSecret and CalorieQuick.com were not been able to negotiate a contract that allowed CalorieQuick to continue accessing their database. As a result, the connection to the FatSecret web service was shut down on October 31, 2010 and support removed from version 1.2.

This possibility is happening is covered by paragraph 13 of the CalorieQuick End User Agreement which all users agree to when initially installing CalorieQuick.

Note the version 1.2 contains a powerful new feature, the CalorieQuick shared food database. This online database contains foods contributed by CalorieQuick users, including UPC bar codes.

For general information about CalorieQuick, see the Overview help page. For the latest information about CalorieQuick, visit CalorieQuick.com.