When you log a meal or snack, you don’t just track what you ate — you also get feedback on how that choice supports your health and weight-loss goals.
Please note that free plan users do not have access to premium insights on logged meals with AVO. Upgrade to a premium subscription to unlock this feature.
Our expert nutrition scientists developed these Scores based on factors that impact health and weight.
What are Nutrition Scores?
Every meal or snack you log is given a Nutrition Score that reflects its overall nutritional value.
The available scores are:
Optimal (dark green): Nutrient-rich and high in nutritional value
Good (light green): A balanced mix of essential nutrients
Fair (yellow): Could benefit from more key nutrients
Low (orange): Low in essential nutrients and/or high in calories, sugar, or unhealthy fats
How Nutrition Scores are calculated
Nutrition Scores are based on a combination of nutrients that play an important role in healthy weight management, including:
Protein
Fiber
Sugar
Saturated fats
Unsaturated fats
Calcium
Sodium
Using insights like “high in unsaturated fats” or “high in sugar,” Nutrition Scores highlight both strengths and easy opportunities for improvement.
What happens after you log a meal
Once your food is logged, Simple analyzes the nutritional quality of the meal using an algorithm developed by our nutrition scientists.
You’ll receive:
A Nutrition Score for the meal
Personalized food feedback from Avo™ (for Premium users)
Insights that contribute to your overall Success Score
Each food is assessed based on nutritional factors that influence health and weight, such as fiber, protein, fats, sugar, and calorie density.
These scores help you see how your daily food choices support your weight-loss journey over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
💬 Do I need to log exact portions of each food?
If you give us some details — like the number of eggs or whether it was white or whole grain bread — the information you get back will be even more accurate and helpful.
But if you don’t log a portion, no worries! We’ll assume the average portion size and work from that, so you still get valuable nutritional insights without tracking every single detail.
💬 How should I use these Scores?
The Nutrition Scores system is based on our belief that foods are neither “good” nor “bad” — they just have a varying impact on your weight goals and overall health. They’re not intended to judge the food choices you make.
Rather, they’ll help guide you toward more of what you want. If improved health and weight loss are your goals, shooting for better overall Nutrition Scores will help you get there faster while finding the right balance of foods for you!
💬 Will you tell me my macros?
We will! We’ll list the macronutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, protein, and fat) for each meal and for the day as a whole. (The daily total you see will update as you add more meals throughout the day.)
Remember there are no “perfect” macros to hit — you can lose weight with various macronutrient combinations, though it’s important to make sure you get enough protein and don’t over-restrict carbs or fat. Over time, you’ll learn more about what works best for you.
💬 I logged a food that’s high in healthy fat. Why does it score lower than other healthy foods?
The Nutrition Scores system is based on factors that affect not just health but weight too. Foods that are healthy may not always be super conducive to weight loss or weight management (portion size obviously makes a difference).
So, for instance, foods like nuts and plant-based oils are healthy choices that provide important nutrients. But they may score lower than other foods as they’re more calorie-dense and can lead to weight gain if eaten in large quantities.
💬 I logged a healthy food, but it had a lower score than I expected. Why is this?
This is often because Nutrition Scores are looking not just at how healthy a food is but at how balanced the overall meal is.
For example, whole grains are healthy, nutritious, and a solid choice. But as no single food can give us all the nutrients we need, they won’t get a Score of “Optimal” if they’re logged on their own. However, pair that whole grain with a protein source and some veggies, and the Score will go up.
💬 An unhealthy food scored higher than I thought. Why is this?
The Nutrition Scores system takes a lot of factors into account. Sometimes, the nutritional quality of a food may surprise you!
For instance, we score unsaturated fats higher than saturated fats, as they’re better for heart health. Snacks like chips or pretzels are sometimes cooked with unsaturated fats, and those that are will score slightly higher. (Before you run out to the store to grab some chips, apart from that small amount of unsaturated fat, they don’t contain much nutritional value, so keep them for occasional eating.)
💬 Should I only ever eat foods that score as “Good” or “Optimal”?
That’s not a “should” that we’d ever suggest you aim for! We prefer a more realistic approach to food. It’s A-OK to eat some less nutritious foods sometimes and to enjoy those without guilt. It’s all about balance.
As a rule of thumb, shoot for an 80:20 balance: eat nutrient-rich foods 80% of the time and whatever you like the other 20. (If you’re eager to reach your goals even faster, consider dialing that up to 90:10.)