How to Export Your Food Log and Keep Your Data

Export your food log before you need it: years of entries are only yours if you can take a copy out. Some apps document an export in their help center, and a CSV file opens in any spreadsheet. This guide compares what several apps say about export (as of October 2026), shows what a food-log CSV looks like, and explains what Remembite exports.

Key takeaways

• CSV gives one row per food and opens in a spreadsheet. JSON keeps more structure but suits scripts better than people.
• Export rules differ by app. MyFitnessPal lists Data Export for Premium and Premium+; Cronometer lists "ALL raw data" export in its free Basic plan.
• A chat history export is a record of conversations, not a food log with columns.
• Remembite's export (on the Account screen of every account) offers a full JSON file and a CSV with one row per food item.
• Export gives you rows, not day totals. You sum them yourself.

Why does an exportable food log matter?

A food log is a long series: months of meals you may want to chart, search or move. If the only copy sits inside one app, a changed plan, a closed account or a switch to another tool puts that series at risk. An export is your own copy, kept wherever you keep files.

It also lets you ask your own questions, the way quantified-self trackers do. A spreadsheet can answer "how many days did I log in March" or "what did I eat most" without any app feature.

Which export format should you pick?

Two formats cover almost every case.

• CSV. Plain text, one line per row, columns split by commas. Spreadsheets open it directly. It fits a food log well when each row is one food.
• JSON. Nested text that keeps relationships, such as a meal that contains several foods. Scripts and databases read it easily. People find it harder to read.

If you only want to look at your data, pick CSV. If you want a complete archive, pick JSON, and keep a CSV beside it.

What do some apps say about export?

The table below uses only what each vendor's own help or privacy page states. We read these pages on 2026-10-14 (US English). A blank "not stated" means the page does not say.

Scroll sideways to see all 4 columnsYou have reached the last column

For MyFitnessPal, the help center also describes a data-portability request route in its privacy rights page; see What are my privacy rights. It does not say which file format that route returns. For the price side of MyFitnessPal, see is MyFitnessPal Premium worth it and MyFitnessPal alternatives.

What about the food you log in an AI chat?

If you log meals by chatting, your AI app may let you export your data too. Claude's help page says its data exports "include conversation data and the user data for your account" (Export your Claude data, read 2026-10-14). The page does not mention a food log. A conversation export is a transcript: the calories and macros your AI worked out sit inside sentences, not in columns.

For the chat side of the workflow, see macro tracking without an app.

What does Remembite export?

Remembite is a record layer for the AI chat you already use: your AI works out the numbers, and Remembite stores every meal. Any free account can export its log. To see the Account screen first, open the demo, which uses a sample account where nobody is signed in. For how logging by chat works end to end, read AI food logging explained.

The Account screen offers two downloads:

• Download JSON (remembite-export.json): everything Remembite stores about you. The file has the export time, your account email, your consent history, your connected apps, and every table that holds your data.
• Download CSV (remembite-meals.csv): one row per food you logged.

The CSV has 23 columns, in five groups. A cell is empty when no value was stored.

• When and what: local_date, eaten_at, meal_type, food, typed_as
• Amount: quantity, unit, grams, grams_low, grams_high
• Energy: kcal, kcal_low, kcal_high
• Nutrients: protein_g, carbs_g, fat_g, fiber_g, sugar_g, sat_fat_g, sodium_mg
• Origin: confidence, source, source_food_id

The file starts with a UTF-8 byte order mark, which lets many spreadsheet apps detect the encoding. Any cell that starts with =, +, - or @ gets a leading apostrophe, so a spreadsheet does not run it as a formula.

What does a food-log CSV look like?

Sample data with the Remembite column names. The numbers are invented for this page and do not describe any real food or account. The table shows a subset of the columns, ordered for reading, not as in the file. The real file has all 23, comma-separated.

Scroll sideways to see all 11 columnsYou have reached the last column

How do you open a CSV in a spreadsheet?

1. Google Sheets: create or open a sheet and use its import option in the File menu to upload the .csv file.
2. Excel: use the Data tab and its option to import from a text or CSV file, then choose the file. Opening the file by double-click can also work.
3. Check the columns. If everything lands in one column, re-import and set the separator to comma.
4. Sum by day. The CSV has one row per food, not per day. Use a pivot table or a SUMIF over local_date to get day totals.

Menu names vary by version and language.

What are the limits of an export?

• Rows, not totals. Remembite's CSV has no day-total rows. You calculate them.
• Column names are per app. Merging exports from two apps means matching columns by hand. Every app names and splits nutrients its own way.
• Numbers stay estimates. The file holds what was saved, including values your AI estimated.
• A rate limit. Remembite allows 5 exports per 10 minutes per account, so repeated exports in a row are refused.
• Your own account only. The demo has no real data to export. The features page says where each part stands.

Can you delete your data as well?

Yes. The Account screen also has a Delete account control (shown in the demo, switched off there). Once real accounts open, it will delete your meals, water entries, saved foods, goals, connected apps and sign-in. It cannot be undone, and the screen tells you to export first if you want a copy. You will confirm by typing your email address. The privacy page has the current notice.

See the Account screen

See the export and delete controls on a sample account in the Remembite demo.

Remembite publishes this article and makes a product in this area, so we are not a neutral party. Remembite is not affiliated with MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, Cronometer, MacroFactor, Apple or Anthropic.

Estimates, not medical advice. How the numbers work.