How to use the Food Calorie Estimator
- Take or upload a photo of your meal (top-down in good light works best).
- Tap the AI’s suggested foods to add them, or search the list.
- Change the grams to match your portion and choose how much cooking oil was used.
- Read the calorie and macro totals and, if you like, save the meal to the local food diary.
Why not calculate calories straight from the photo?
Portion size, oil and sugar can double the calories of the same-looking dish, and a single photo cannot measure weight or hidden fat. Many photo calorie apps show precise-looking numbers with large errors. We use AI for what it does well, suggesting what the food might be, and let you confirm the portion, which gives a more honest result.
Which foods can the AI recognise?
About 50 common foods: pizza, burgers, hot dogs, burritos, pasta, ice cream, bagels, broccoli, cauliflower, corn and mushrooms, plus fruit such as bananas, apples, oranges, strawberries and pineapple. Rice, noodles, dumplings and most Asian dishes are not recognised, so add them from the list.
Where do the nutrition values come from?
Values per 100 g are rounded averages of typical recipes from USDA FoodData Central and the China Food Composition Tables. Restaurant recipes vary a lot, so read the result as approximate; errors of 20–50% are common.
How to estimate portions
A bowl of rice is about 150 g, an egg about 50 g, a medium apple about 180 g, a pizza slice about 100 g, and a fist-sized piece of cooked meat about 100 g. A kitchen scale is best; for stir-fried or restaurant food choose normal or heavy oil.
Frequently asked questions
Are photos uploaded?
No. Recognition runs in your browser, and the food diary is stored only in this browser.
How accurate is it?
It is an estimate. You confirm the foods; portion and oil have the biggest effect, and errors of 30–50% are possible.
Can I use it for weight loss or blood sugar control?
It is fine for logging and self-reference, but for a diet plan, and especially with diabetes, kidney disease or pregnancy, consult a doctor or registered dietitian.
What daily reference should I use?
The default 2,000 kcal is the reference used on nutrition labels. Real needs depend on age, sex, weight and activity; change it to suit you.
Why add cooking oil separately?
One tablespoon (about 10 g) of oil is about 88 kcal, and oil used for frying is an easily forgotten source of calories.
Are Asian dishes included?
Yes. The list includes rice, congee, noodles, ramen, steamed buns, dumplings, fried rice, kung pao chicken, mapo tofu, braised pork belly, stir-fried greens, soy milk and more.