The meal swap feature works by providing you with alternative meals within your taste and in your calorie and macro target needed to hit your goals. This will ensure that your goals are supported if changing out a meal.
Can I swap a meal out?
Yes - you can do this as much as you like using the meal swap feature 😍
The swapped meal options will have similar macros to your original meal to ensure you're still hitting your daily targets.
To use the meal swap feature:
Open the equ mobile app
Click on the 'Today' tab
Scroll to whichever meal/snack you want to swap
Click the refresh icon underneath it (far right icon)
A list of up to 10 options will pop up for you to choose from.
If you have any issues swapping a meal out, for Premium (Aus only), let your coach know and they can swap it out for you. For Standard Plan users, you can use your food diary to make adjustments to your meals in line with your taste.
You can see an example here: -
There are no swap meals available?
If the app is unable to find a meal suitable within the calories and macros of your first meal, it will provide no options for you. In this case, you are able to utilise your food diary to make alternative swaps yourself within your calories and macros.
Say you're given an apple, and you are feeling like another fruit. Simply copy your whole meal plan to your diary -> swipe right to remove the apple, and search for another fruit in its replacement. You then want to play around with the quantity of that fruit OR quantities in the rest of your meal plan to ensure you are still meeting your macros.
When self-tracking, the rule of thumb is: -
Stay within your calories 40 calories over/under is fine but no more or less.
You should always meet the protein within 20g on either side
Fibre requirements is minimum of 10g off your goal
Fats should be around 20g on either side of your goal
The remainder will be made up of carbs
You can find more information on optimal tracking in the guides under the settings of the app.
How to swap a whole meal if no suitable swap is provided.
How you’re tracking for the day is generally better understood once you self-track the whole day.
So our suggestion would be to input all meals and remove the one you aren't wanting to have, then track in an alternate meal of your choice e.g. pasta, steak & chips, anything you are craving.
Then, play around with your day to ensure your macros are met. For example, if the protein is low, you might have given yourself a steak and chips for dinner in replacement for a meal you didn't want. You can bring the steak quantity (protein source) up and the chip quantity (carb source) down. Meat and veg dinners are always really easy for your macros - i.e protein source + healthy choice chips/potato gems/white/sweet potato + greens. Making each meal balanced and not dominant in one particular macro will help. Make sure to follow the rule of thumb when self tracking.
We always recommend pre-planning rather than tracking as you go to ensure you are meeting your daily targets!