Needs a lot of work
I also find it wild that there’s no trial period for this app—you must pay the outlandish subscription fee to even try it out and then you’re locked in (very annoyed that I signed up for a full year. I want to ditch this thing immediately). I was seeing Fuelin all over socials, advertised to me by athletes I respect and admire, so I had such high hopes about this being a game changer. I hope the developers make the changes necessary to make this app worth the hype and money. For now, you should stick to your other food trackers and wait for Fuelin to level up.
Could be great but not quite there yet
Gut aber noch viel Luft nach oben
Response from developer
Vielen Dank für dein Feedback! Schön zu hören, dass dir die Planung der Mahlzeiten und Snacks rund ums Training weiterhilft. Wir bauen unsere Integrationen ständig aus und standen auch mit Mats bereits im Austausch. Deine Vorschläge zur Foto-Erkennung von Mahlzeiten und zur Kopierfunktion geben wir direkt an unser Team weiter. Wenn du weitere Ideen hast, schreib uns gern an support@fuelin.com.
Not for serious distance runners
The clearest example of the lack of personalisation was the “personalized fueling playbook” Fuelin sent me. Their email said that I had told them how I like to train, how I like to eat and what I was working towards, and that they had used that information to create a guide built around my training and goals. They also claimed that nutritionists would typically charge $150–$200 for a personalised guide like this.
I had told Fuelin that I was vegetarian. Yet my supposedly personalised guide prominently recommended meat-based foods. If the claimed value of the guide comes from it being personalised, then it should at a minimum reflect something as fundamental as the dietary preference I had already provided. Mine clearly did not.
The consultation pricing also struck me as extremely difficult to justify. Fuelin charges US$500 for a 60-minute (online?) consultation with co-founder Scott Tindal. On the same page, Dr Alan McCubbin — listed as having a PhD in Sports Nutrition, being an Accredited Sports Dietitian and having extensive experience with endurance athletes — charges US$250 for the same 60 minutes.
For comparison, qualified sports dietitians in Australia are substantially cheaper. One local option I looked at charges roughly US$100 per appointment when averaging an initial consultation and a follow-up.
Overall, my experience left me unconvinced that Fuelin’s nutrition advice was genuinely personalised or sufficiently tailored to distance running, and I would not pay for it once the trial ends.
Response from developer
I’m sorry about this. You shouldn’t have received the omnivore version of the fueling guide PDF, and we’re fixing that. The app itself is personalized and does account for your dietary preferences, so your daily plan should reflect that you’re vegetarian. Our protein targets are based on the latest sport science, and the whole plan is built around carbohydrate periodization to match your training load. We’ve helped many distance runners fuel their training this way. Consult pricing for our co-founder Scott reflects his limited availability. We also have more accessible options, such as a $150 consult with Coach Megan, one of our Registered Dietitians. If you have questions about how your plan is personalized, or if something seems off about your plan, please email us at coach@fuelin.com. We’re happy to help.
