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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

#121

Post by thearrow »

cowanon2222 wrote: post #31

I've had pretty good results using the AI features in Macrofactor. It's certainly not perfect, but it does a pretty good job with mixed text and photos and allows you to easily fine-tune the results. Macrofactor is also the only app I've seen that actually estimates your underlying metabolic rate and adjusts accordingly. It predates the recent AI surge, and seems to have a team that's studied nutrition science behind…

Same. I was very skeptical when Macrofactor introduced this feature, but have since been incredibly impressed. The ability to give it text alongside a photo and then adjust the results (broken out by ingredients) are critical. I’ve also been taking pictures of food sitting on scales and it will take the measurement into account.

Seems like the Macrofactor team took their time developing this feature, as it felt like they were one of the last to roll it out, but the extra polish definitely shows and was worth the wait.

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

#122

Post by malfist »

yreg wrote: post #107
cainxinth wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

Sure six shots are 550 calories. But who drinks six shots of gin?

You need to also include all the mixers as well and they're usually all sugar

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

#123

Post by woadwarrior01 »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #60

Others have found that CalAI likely uses Gemini 1.5 (not sure which variant) which is used because it's very cheap, not for its accuracy. I understand the fundamental issues with calorie counting via photo analysis/LLM. However these articles would be more interesting if they included comparison with results from actual cutting-edge LLMs, rather than the budget models. I acknowledge that apps don't use these models t…

> I don't think it's being used in CalAI though.

They don't, but that doesn't stop them from lying about it on their homepage.

> Snap a photo with Cal AI, and your phone's depth sensor calculates food volume. Our AI then analyzes and breaks down your meal to determine calories, protein, carbs, and fat.

The grift must go on.

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

#124

Post by fastball »

rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #117

Calorie counting is a tedious, impractical activity for anybody who isn’t even entering a bodybuilding competition. Just go on a total deficit with high-quality foods, whatever the composition.

How do you know you are on a total deficit if you don't count calories?

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

#125

Post by shlant »

tayo42 wrote: post #44
surfmike wrote: post #36

The founder of parrotpal (another AI calorie tracking app, supporting both text and photos) points out that using photos is one of the least accurate ways for tracking food: https://www.instagram.com/parrot.pal/reel/DAB9NtfM250/ Users also seem to like using photos less than text for food tracking: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBoSeQzM3bQ/ The author of this article seems to be against the concept of calorie counting…

> seems to be against the concept of calorie counting as a whole too What are peoples criticisms of calorie counting? Its the only thing that keeps my weight from creeping up. There are way to many calorie dense foods that can easily sneak in if im thoughtless. (I want my 20 year old life style back :( )

most people do not arrive at the idea that CICO (Calories In Calories Out) is useless or incorrect on their own - they usually buy into that belief because they follow specific diet communities or health influencers that are incentivized to tell them that.

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

#126

Post by echelon »

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…

I really don't get the bearish on AI folks.

One company has a tool that can replace what we professionally do.

This app would have taken person months to build, yet here it is, almost as an afterthought.

The next ten years are going to be wild. Hope everyone has a plan for leveling up and riding this tsunami.

Even if LLMs presently can't do intricate things, that doesn't matter. I know in my gut that my generous total comp job isn't going to be available in the future in its current form. In aggregate, the work we do isn't going to be as hard or as in demand as LLMs devour more of the market share and growth of the human economic field and attention economy.

The LLMs are likely going to increase demand for software, but in doing so they'll eat more of the market share.

ZIRP, Section 174, industry-wide layoffs, offshoring, and now this. Plan accordingly. I'm sure there are gradients with tremendous success to be had, but for many there will be a decrease in fitness.

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

#127

Post by rsynnott »

tayo42 wrote: post #44
surfmike wrote: post #36

The founder of parrotpal (another AI calorie tracking app, supporting both text and photos) points out that using photos is one of the least accurate ways for tracking food: https://www.instagram.com/parrot.pal/reel/DAB9NtfM250/ Users also seem to like using photos less than text for food tracking: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBoSeQzM3bQ/ The author of this article seems to be against the concept of calorie counting…

> seems to be against the concept of calorie counting as a whole too What are peoples criticisms of calorie counting? Its the only thing that keeps my weight from creeping up. There are way to many calorie dense foods that can easily sneak in if im thoughtless. (I want my 20 year old life style back :( )

Sometimes people get a bit obsessive with it, would be the main obvious problem.

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

#128

Post by reedf1 »

yreg wrote: post #107
cainxinth wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

The idea that a night out with 4-5 pints might clear my daily total requirement for calories was not something I had really considered until my late twenties.
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