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Emotion-first
Hunger, fullness, and twenty-one feelings. Notice what's actually happening — not what a number says about you.
A mindful eating journal
How It Felt — A mindful eating journal.
No calories. No tracking. No judgement.
A private space to pause and notice how you feel around meals. Just a moment for yourself.
Live preview Calendar
The promise
Three things this app will never do.
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Privacy-first
Everything stays on your device. No accounts. No cloud. No analytics on your entries. Only you can ever see them.
03
Judgement-free
No calories, no streaks, no scores, no rankings. Just space to be honest with yourself, on whatever day this is.
Features
Built for noticing, not measuring.
Mindful eating timer
A gentle companion for your meal.
Start when you begin eating. The breathing circle keeps time, and soft prompts arrive every few minutes. Four ambient soundscapes if you'd like one.
- Breathing-circle animation, no countdown pressure
- Soft prompts: notice texture, set your fork down, take a breath
- Ambient soundscapes — rain, café, forest, silence
- Tap the circle to skip a prompt — no friction
Camera-first journaling
A photo, a feeling, a sense — that's enough.
Snap a photo or skip it. Note hunger before, fullness after, one feeling, one sense, and anything you want to remember. Five seconds is enough.
- Photo, hunger, fullness, feeling, sense, notes — pick what you need
- Skip image when a photo doesn't fit the moment
- Snack, meal, drink, or dessert — your call
- Save and move on — no streaks to break
Calendar + Insights
Look back without being scored.
A simple calendar of moments and a quiet insights view: what you checked in with, photos from this time, gentle prompts for next time.
- Day, week, month, or all-time views
- What you checked in with — feelings, senses, hunger, fullness
- A moment to revisit — one entry, gently surfaced
- No scores, no streaks, no rankings
Affirmations
A gentle word after each entry.
Choose to receive a short, supportive message after logging. Or turn affirmations off completely — your reflection, your way.
- Toggle on or off in settings, anytime
- Contextual to the feeling you logged
- No motivational pressure, no streaks
Twenty-one feelings · Three families
All of them welcome.
After each meal, choose a feeling that fits. There's no right answer — just an invitation to notice. Hover to slow the ribbon.
- Happy
- Neutral
- Sad
- Excited
- Relaxed
- Angry
- Grateful
- Curious
- Anxious
- Confident
- Bored
- Frustrated
- Content
- Tired
- Overwhelmed
- Proud
- Nostalgic
- Guilty
- Calm
- Hopeful
- Stressed
Positive Neutral Difficult
Built around the research
The science of slowing down.
Every choice in this app is anchored in published research on mindful eating, emotion regulation, and self-compassion. The footnotes link to full citations.
30 min
Your body knows best
Fullness signals exist — they just need about 30 minutes to arrive. Slowing down lets you notice them.2
Kokkinos et al., 2010 · Peer-reviewed
6 weeks
Check-ins change the pattern
Brief emotional check-ins — even just a word — reduced mealtime stress in about six weeks.3
Kristeller & Wolever, 2011 · Peer-reviewed
24 studies
Presence makes meals better
Across 24 studies, eating without distractions left people more satisfied and more at ease.4
Robinson et al., 2014 · Peer-reviewed
More from the literature
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People who eat slowly consume about 88 fewer kcal per meal — without trying to eat less.5
Andrade et al., 2008
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Mindful eating interventions cut binge frequency roughly in half across published trials.6
Katterman et al., 2014
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Distracted eating dampens fullness signals and increases what people eat later in the day.7
Robinson et al., 2013
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Naming an emotion reduces amygdala activity — putting feelings into words calms the body.8
Lieberman et al., 2007
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Self-compassion is more strongly linked to long-term wellbeing than self-criticism or self-esteem.9
Neff & Germer, 2013
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Photographing meals for awareness (not calorie counting) supports more intuitive eating patterns.10
Doumit et al., 2016
Who this is for
You don't need to fix yourself. You just need a quieter way to listen.
How It Felt is for people who want a quieter way to notice meals. It doesn't score you, count you, or coach you. It just gives you space to check in — and gently get to know yourself again.
Pricing
Free forever. Support if you'd like.
The journal stays free, including 7-day exports. Becoming a Supporter helps us keep it ad-free, account-free, and quiet — for everyone.
Free
$0
Forever. No account, no card.
- Unlimited entries
- Mindful eating timer + soundscapes
- All 21 feelings + senses
- Calendar + insights
- Camera or skip-image journaling
- Photo, hunger, fullness, sense, notes
- 7-day CSV / PDF export
Supporter
Support the journal
7 days free
Help us keep it ad-free, account-free, and quiet. Cancel anytime.
- Everything in free
- Ad-free reflection
- Full affirmation library
- Export entries beyond 7 days
- Cancel anytime
Questions
Things people often ask.
Still wondering? Email howitfeltapp@gmail.com
Does it count calories?
No. There are no calories, macros, weight tracking, or scores. The diary captures hunger, fullness, feelings, senses, and a photo or note — and that's it.
Where is my data stored?
Everything stays on your device, in a local database (Drift / SQLite). There are no accounts, no cloud sync, and no analytics on your entries. You can export your data as CSV or PDF at any time.
Will I get pushed affirmations?
Only if you want them. After each entry you can see a short, supportive message — and you can turn affirmations off completely in settings.
Is this medical advice?
No. How It Felt is for self-reflection and journaling. It doesn't provide medical or therapeutic advice. If you're working through something hard, please reach out to someone qualified to support you.
What languages is it in?
English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The app picks up your phone's language automatically; you can also change it in settings.
What platforms does it run on?
iOS and Android phones. The app is mobile-only — there's no web or desktop version, and no plans for one right now.
Footnotes
Sources & references.
Every claim and statistic on this page is footnoted. Click any superscript above to land here.
- 1.
Local-only data: How It Felt stores all entries on-device using Drift / SQLite. No cloud, no accounts. See FAQ for details.
- 2.
Kokkinos A. et al. (2010). Eating slowly increases the postprandial response of the anorexigenic gut hormones. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 95(1), 333–337. DOI
- 3.
Kristeller J. & Wolever R. (2011). Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training for Treating Binge Eating Disorder. Eating Disorders, 19(1), 49–61. DOI
- 4.
Robinson E. et al. (2014). Eating attentively: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 97(4), 728–742. DOI
- 5.
Andrade A.M., Greene G.W., Melanson K.J. (2008). Eating slowly led to decreases in energy intake within meals in healthy women. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 108(7), 1186–1191. DOI
- 6.
Katterman S.N. et al. (2014). Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: A systematic review. Eating Behaviors, 15(2), 197–204. DOI
- 7.
Robinson E. et al. (2013). Distracted eating and recall of recent eating: A laboratory experiment. Appetite, 60, 197–201.
- 8.
Lieberman M.D. et al. (2007). Putting Feelings into Words: Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. DOI
- 9.
Neff K.D. & Germer C.K. (2013). A Pilot Study and Randomized Controlled Trial of the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 28–44. DOI
- 10.
Doumit R. et al. (2016). Effects of Recording Food Intake Using Cell Phone Camera Pictures on Energy Intake and Food Choice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13(3), 216–223. DOI