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I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

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Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#101

Post by devmor »

zeta0134 wrote: post #87
neither_color wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

add to that food calorie labels arent required to be 100% accurate, there's an acceptable range like +/- 20% iirc. That's enough to throw off a precise deficit. Calorie counting is more about directionally helping you lower your food consumption but it isnt as accurate as people think.

Honestly the main thing was learning that perfectly satisfying food I cook at home tends to land around 600-800 cal for a meal, where eating out almost anywhere is often twice that, even if my beverage is water. Just being aware how how heavy those otherwise delightful meals are gives me pause. Granted these figures are all a side effect of my personal eating habits and preferences, but that's rather the point of the…

Eating out, especially in the US, is horrifying when you look at serving calories.

Why does every major restaurant feature individual meals with a caloric intake of an entire day’s energy?

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#102

Post by cainxinth »

dack wrote: post #91

Calorie tracking is also about educating yourself about how many calories certain things are, so you can make better decisions. Like, oil is insanely caloric and can accidentally add hundreds of calories, but it's nearly impossible to eat too many greens. Once you learn this, then the tracking is just to keep you honest - your brain knows what to do but it lies to you when it wants to bend the rules and those little…

You develop a sixth sense for how calorific foods are when you track calories consistently. I kept a meticulous food journal for about six months before I realized I didn’t really need to anymore because I had gotten so good at just estimating my totals.

Protip: most people underestimate the calories in alcohol

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#103

Post by gavinray »

jonplackett wrote: post #55

I always just assumed these were terrible. There just isn’t enough info in a photo, even for the world’s leading calorie counting expert, to give a sensible estimate of the calories content. Ans even more so for macros. Add to that the fact vision is still pretty crap and you have a complete joke that I can’t believe anyone is paying for.

I have faith that ML can approximate calories from images under the following conditions:

- The food is inside containers of a standard size, which the model can use as a volumetric reference

- Optimally, the containers are clear plastic, for depth approximation

- The food is homogenous, or mostly-homogenous. Dishes containing a lot of mixed ingredients seem like an intractable problem to me

Now, whether or not abilities like this are useful to you would seem heavily dependent on your diet.

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#105

Post by vjulian »

I use ChatGPT (4o model) to track my daily macros, specifically calories, protein, fat, and carbs. I have a prompt containing my macro targets and a list of the foods I typically eat or have at home. Throughout the day, I report my meals, for example five large eggs, two slices of sprouted wheat toast, and a cup of spinach with a pat of butter. It calculates the macros for each meal and keeps a running macros total so I can see how I’m tracking. It’s so easy—I don’t even type, I use (the overall excellent) ChatGPT’s TTS function in the iOS app.

If I eat something unexpected, I have it recalculate what I need for the rest of the day. If I were planning on 8 ounces of chicken for dinner but had an unplanned snack, it might tell me that 6 ounces will suffice now, and I now have room for more fat, so I could add some cheese. I find it quite accurate in this.

Where it loses accuracy is over time. Even when focused on just a single day, the cumulative totals can be wrong when the context window gets too large. I catch this by mentally adding up the numbers it spits out. If the numbers seem off, I open a new chat. Also, it’s not reliable for looking back over multiple days or trying to track long-term patterns.

When I take a photo of a meal (like when eating out), it performs very well. I ask it to list the contents of the plate, then I correct any assumptions. Once corrected, the resulting macros are usually within 5% accuracy. I also tell it the quality of the ingredients and restaurant overall, which can help a bit.

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#106

Post by coltoneakins »

dack wrote: post #91

Calorie tracking is also about educating yourself about how many calories certain things are, so you can make better decisions. Like, oil is insanely caloric and can accidentally add hundreds of calories, but it's nearly impossible to eat too many greens. Once you learn this, then the tracking is just to keep you honest - your brain knows what to do but it lies to you when it wants to bend the rules and those little…

100% agree it is about re-educating yourself about calories in food. I wasn't happy with my weight but it was never 'obese': I am 5' 8" and weighed 187 lbs.

Back in November I started tracking calories in the app Cronometer. I lost 35+ lbs down to 151 lbs as of this morning.

Even as a 'relatively healthy' dude, I realized just how bad my perception of calories and macros in food was. So, I totally agree with this.

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#107

Post by yreg »

cainxinth wrote: post #102
dack wrote: post #91

Calorie tracking is also about educating yourself about how many calories certain things are, so you can make better decisions. Like, oil is insanely caloric and can accidentally add hundreds of calories, but it's nearly impossible to eat too many greens. Once you learn this, then the tracking is just to keep you honest - your brain knows what to do but it lies to you when it wants to bend the rules and those little…

You develop a sixth sense for how calorific foods are when you track calories consistently. I kept a meticulous food journal for about six months before I realized I didn’t really need to anymore because I had gotten so good at just estimating my totals. Protip: most people underestimate the calories in alcohol

> most people underestimate the calories in alcohol

Funny, I feel the other way around. I kept hearing about how much calories there are in alcohol, and then when I started calorie counting I didn't find it so high.

Like 6 shots of gin are ~550kcal and enough to get anyone pretty drunk. Unless one is a regular heavy drinker it's not that hard to once in a while budget calories during the day to be able to get a few shots when going out in the evening.

Obviously staying sober is the healthier option.

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#108

Post by jonplackett »

devmor wrote: post #100
jonplackett wrote: post #57

I used MyFitnessPal to lose 15kg a few years ago and I have a theory that the act of calorie counting (ie the effort of working it out and labour of putting it into the app) is a key part of why it works. It becomes just slightly more effort to eat something and it makes you stop and think. Making it easier I would expect to make it also easier to eat more.

As someone who lost nearly 100lbs (about 45kg) calorie counting and working out, this was a big part of it. It also just made me cognizant of my bad eating habits. I’d absent-mindedly snack on something, go to log it, then think “wait, why am I eating this right now?” and stop. It’s essential educating yourself on nutrition through habit.

Great achievement well done! Out of curiosity, did you track macros too and what calorie deficit did you aim for, and how long did it take?

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#109

Post by jxjnskkzxxhx »

jonplackett wrote: post #57

I used MyFitnessPal to lose 15kg a few years ago and I have a theory that the act of calorie counting (ie the effort of working it out and labour of putting it into the app) is a key part of why it works. It becomes just slightly more effort to eat something and it makes you stop and think. Making it easier I would expect to make it also easier to eat more.

Yes!! I used an app called Waistline 2 years ago to keep myself on a brutal diet. I did < 1500 calories per day for 2 months. Lost 9kg. Came out with the same insight: the hassle of meticulously keeping track helps with the restraint.

Re: I used AI-powered calorie counting apps, and they were even worse than expected

#110

Post by cj »

vjulian wrote: post #105

I use ChatGPT (4o model) to track my daily macros, specifically calories, protein, fat, and carbs. I have a prompt containing my macro targets and a list of the foods I typically eat or have at home. Throughout the day, I report my meals, for example five large eggs, two slices of sprouted wheat toast, and a cup of spinach with a pat of butter. It calculates the macros for each meal and keeps a running macros total s…

Do you find this easier than scanning barcodes with traditional calorie tracking apps?
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