Your plan at a glance
The few numbers worth seeing before the spreadsheets emerge from their cave.
Grain of Truth · Plan with evidence. Eat with intention.
Your nutrition workspace
Start with one clear next step
What would you like to do today?
Grain of Truth connects goal feasibility, meal planning, food tracking, recipes, and progress review—without making you learn the whole cockpit before takeoff.
Workspace:
Finish your goal plan
Start by testing whether the goal and timeline are realistic.
How the system works
A simple loop, even though the math underneath is decidedly not simple.
1Test the goalSee the required pace and intake.
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2Build the weekTurn targets into meals and activity.
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3Track realityLog food, weight, and adherence.
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4Adjust intelligentlyUse trends, not one dramatic Tuesday weigh-in.
Start with the question that matters
Can this goal work on this timeline?
Enter your metrics, goal, and deadline. The planner calculates the intake and pace the goal would require before you commit to the plan.
Quick planner keeps the essential inputs and results together, similar to the NIH planner. Guided steps are still available when you prefer one decision at a time.
1
Your metrics
Used to estimate resting needs with Mifflin–St Jeor and initialize the dynamic model.
2–3
Goal and timeline
Tell the tool what you want first. It will tell you what that request implies.
This is a planning estimate, not medical clearance. The model can quantify the requested pace; it cannot know every medication, condition, or life event that may affect it.
Requested plan vs. a balanced alternative
Dynamic projections include changing maintenance needs rather than treating every pound as a fixed 3,500-calorie coupon.
What this goal requires
The practical readout, minus the motivational-poster fog.
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Calorie counter
Search starter foods, add custom foods, and total calories and macros by meal. This is the functional foundation for a Cronometer/MyFitnessPal-style diary.
Add food
Starter foods are approximate generic entries. Custom foods are saved in this browser.
Add a custom food
Macro progress
Protein gets a target. Carbohydrate and fat remain descriptive in this version.
Calories0%
Protein0%
Nutrition data status: the offline starter foods remain a demo. Recipe details now use standardized ingredient weights and a micronutrient calculation engine. The production stack is mapped in Data & Product: USDA FoodData Central for core nutrient truth, with a separate barcode layer and complete source provenance.
Micronutrient snapshot
Calculated where ingredient-level data are available. Coverage is shown so missing data never masquerades as precision.
Interpretation: %DV is a general adult label reference, not a personalized clinical target. Individual DRIs vary by age, sex, life stage, and condition.
Today’s food
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Example meal plans
Generate practical 1-week, 2-week, or 4-week examples around the current calorie and protein targets.
Start fasterChoose a planning stylePresets fill sensible defaults. Every value remains editable.
Plan targets
Defaults come from Plan Details and can be adjusted here without changing the weight forecast.
How to use these
They are examples, not rigid marching orders.
Swap within meal typeBreakfast for breakfast, lunch for lunch, and preserve a similar calorie/protein range.
Use portions as the adjustment dialThe generator prioritizes protein and then gets calories close; small portion edits finish the job.
Add meals to the diaryEach day can be copied into the calorie counter for the matching date.
Nutrition constraints
The optimizer scores the full day, not isolated meals. Targets are planning defaults and remain editable.
Exclude ingredients
These are hard filters. The generator will report when the current recipe library cannot satisfy them rather than quietly ignoring them.
Ready to generate.Ingredient exclusions and dietary filters will be enforced.
Consolidated grocery list
Calculated from standardized recipe gram weights. Version 6 can subtract pantry inventory and estimate purchase packages from your price book.
Batch-prep schedule
Repeated recipes are grouped so you can see what to prepare, how many servings to make, and when each recipe first appears.
Build once, calculate consistently
Create recipes from the same ingredient registry used by the diary and meal planner.
Recipe Studio calculates macros, available micronutrients, allergens, diet flags, source coverage, and estimated cost from standardized gram weights. Drafts remain local until a production backend exists.
F4TCREATE
Recipe details
Use a semantic version and change note so recipe edits remain auditable.
Ingredients
Search the registry, add an ingredient, then enter the recipe’s total gram weight.
Live recipe analysis
Totals are calculated from ingredient profiles; missing nutrient values remain visibly incomplete rather than being treated as zero.
Saved custom recipes
Custom recipes are loaded into the active recipe registry and can be used in the meal planner when their category and constraints fit.
From nutrition plan to shopping reality
Maintain a personal price book and subtract what is already in the pantry.
Package prices and inventory are user-entered planning data, not market quotes. They stay in this browser and can be exported with the rest of the project backup.
F4TSHOP
Price book and pantry
Enter the price and net grams for a normal package, plus grams currently on hand.
| Ingredient | Package price | Package grams | On hand (g) | Cost / 100 g | Plan need |
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Current plan shopping gap
Uses the most recently generated meal plan and household-serving setting.
Portable project backup
Export all Grain of Truth browser data before changing computers or clearing browser storage.
Prototype limitation: browser storage is not a substitute for authenticated cloud storage, database backups, or HIPAA-ready infrastructure. Do not store identifiable client health information in this prototype.
Plan status
Build or edit your plan to generate a forecast.
Weight forecast
Scale weight, tissue trend, and a practical uncertainty corridor.
Scale forecast
Tissue trend
Range
Plan interpretation
What the current forecast is actually saying.
Milestone forecast
Projected dates are estimates, not appointments the scale is legally required to keep.
| Milestone | Projected date | Days from start | Change from start | Status |
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Build the plan around a real week
Set your goal, then either enter a weekly calorie pattern or let the solver find the average intake required.
Starting profile
Goal and intervention
Activity change adjusts the model’s weight-dependent activity term. It is not permission to believe every calorie number your watch invents.
Weekly calorie pattern
Edit each day, or use a preset. The target-intake solver preserves the shape of the pattern.
Weekly calories—
Daily average—
Average baseline deficit—
Compare three choices before committing
Change calories or activity and see the trade-offs side by side.
Scenario comparison
Each line uses the same starting profile and a different intervention.
Daily log
Track enough to calibrate the plan without turning dinner into forensic accounting.
Recent entries
Weight averages matter more than whichever number yelled the loudest this morning.
| Date | Weight | Waist | Calories | Protein | Steps | Workout | Alcohol-free | Binge-free |
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Weekly review
Compare smoothed trends with the model, then make the smallest useful adjustment.
Actual vs. planned
Daily weights plus 7-day and 28-day rolling trends.
PlanLogged7-day28-day
Recommended next move
Weekly projection table
Planned trend, actual weekly average, and whether the gap is meaningful.
| Week ending | Planned weight | Actual 7-day avg | Deviation | Planned calories | Status |
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Trust before scale
Every nutrient value needs a traceable record.
Version 5 separates profile completeness from source verification. A food can have a full-looking nutrient panel and still be unfit for production until an exact FoodData Central record, food form, release, and reviewer are attached.
F4TVERIFY
Ingredient registry
Filter the mapping queue and inspect why each record is—or is not—ready for production.
| Ingredient | Basis | Preferred source | FDC ID | Profile | Source | Status |
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Selected record
Mapping decisions remain explicitly reviewable.
Select an ingredient from the registry.
Versioned recipe registry
Recipe nutrition is recalculated from ingredient snapshots. Source coverage cannot exceed the coverage of the underlying ingredients.
| Recipe | Version | Status | Diet | Allergens | Ingredient source coverage |
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Production mapping workflow
The website prototype never invents FDC identifiers. The source package includes a deterministic candidate-mapping script and a human-review decision file.
1. SearchUse the stored source query and preferred FDC data types.
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2. CompareReview food form, preparation state, description, nutrients, and portions.
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3. ApproveRecord the exact FDC ID, data type, reviewer, and decision date.
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4. HydrateImport the approved record and preserve its source snapshot for reproducibility.
Current checkpoint: the nutrient calculation engine works, but all ingredient source records remain intentionally marked as unverified until exact mapping is completed. Full-looking numbers are not the same thing as defensible data.
From prototype to defensible product
A nutrition tool is only as trustworthy as its data trail.
The production plan separates generic nutrient truth, branded barcode data, original recipe intellectual property, and professional workflows so licensing problems do not become a surprise houseguest.
F4TDATA
PrimaryCC0 / public domain
USDA FoodData Central
Core source for generic foods, Foundation Foods, survey foods, nutrient values, and a versioned local ingredient database.
- Best fit for recipe calculation and micronutrients
- Store FDC ID, release, data type, serving basis, and retrieval date
- Use a server-side API key or scheduled dataset import
Barcode layerODbL
Open Food Facts
Free global packaged-food and barcode coverage. Keep its data logically separated and display attribution because its database license has share-alike obligations.
- Useful for barcode lookup and international products
- Community data require confidence and completeness flags
- Do not casually merge into a proprietary master database
Commercial optionAPI agreement
fatsecret Platform
A strong alternative for branded, restaurant, barcode, and verified food coverage. Its current free Basic edition can support early testing, with startup access available by application.
- Potentially faster route to broad US search coverage
- Commercial use is permitted under its platform terms
- Evaluate white-label and market limits before launch
Optional serviceRestricted caching
Edamam / licensed recipe APIs
Useful for natural-language recipe parsing, but not the default foundation for a product that needs to retain, edit, and reuse nutrient records.
- Commercial plans and attribution are required
- Caching and automated collection are restricted by plan
- Use only for a clearly licensed, user-triggered feature
Recommended production architecture
Static browser keys are banned from this particular kitchen.
Responsive web appConsumer, athlete, coach, RD modes
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Grain of Truth APIAuthentication, validation, rate limits
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Nutrition databasePostgreSQL + versioned source records
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Source adaptersUSDA, barcode, optional commercial APIs
Every food gets provenanceSource, external ID, data type, serving basis, nutrient coverage, retrieval date.
Recipes are Grain of Truth IPOriginal instructions and photos; nutrient totals are recalculated from ingredients.
No false precisionCoverage and confidence appear beside nutrient totals and branded entries.
Professional auditabilityCoaches and RDs can see exactly which record produced each number.
Market-ready modes
One engine, different experiences.
Self-directedGoal feasibility, planning, food diary, recipes, weekly adaptation.
Athlete + coachTraining-day targets, fueling windows, team templates, compliance—not pediatric weight-loss automation.
Dietetic practiceClient consent, chart notes, assignments, nutrient reports, messaging, export, and clinical boundaries.
Health-data line in the sand: a public wellness tool can start with ordinary account security. A practice edition handling identifiable clinical data needs a separate privacy, security, consent, and vendor review before anyone utters “HIPAA” with confidence.
Design direction for Grain of Truth
Evidence should feel approachable—not sterile, preachy, or gamified into a slot machine.
01Warm authority
Evergreen, warm cream, and citrus-orange communicate food and credibility without the predictable hospital-blue takeover.
02Progressive disclosure
Show the answer first; let users open the math, ingredients, and micronutrients when they want depth.
03Fast logging
Recent foods, saved meals, barcode, copy-day, and one-click plan-to-diary matter more than decorative dashboards.
04Professional transparency
Source badges, coverage indicators, assumptions, and exportable reports become part of the visual identity.
Validation and method
The engine follows the published dynamic model, while the validation harness keeps us honest about what has and has not been proven.
Validation harness
One official NIDDK interface sanity check plus four automated regression checks.
| Check | Reference | Grain of Truth | Tolerance | Result |
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Important: this is not yet a five-case official NIH equivalence study. Only the default maintenance example shown in the NIDDK interface has an external reference value here. The other checks guard the equations and app behavior while we build the full reference set.
Model foundations
The simulation uses separate fat, lean, glycogen, glycogen-associated water, extracellular fluid, thermic effect of feeding, physical activity, and adaptive thermogenesis terms.
Baseline resting energy expenditure uses the Mifflin–St Jeor equation. Initial body fat can be entered directly or estimated from the sex-specific regression in the published appendix.
The current engine uses quarter-day numerical steps and now distinguishes baseline carbohydrate intake from planned carbohydrate intake, allowing the early glycogen/fluid response to behave as intended.
Current limitations
- This is a planning prototype, not a medical device or electronic health record.
- Formal equivalence testing against at least 30 official NIDDK cases remains incomplete.
- The model-equivalent calorie gap is an inference from weight data, not a metabolic chamber measurement.
- The uncertainty corridor is a practical display range, not a formal prediction interval.
- The feedback rules are independently designed and intentionally conservative.
Use boundaries
This version is intended for adults 18 years or older and not for pregnancy or breastfeeding. It is not designed for children, eating-disorder treatment, edema-producing illness, or situations where rapid fluid shifts make scale weight a poor proxy for tissue change. A future athlete edition must separate performance fueling from weight-loss coaching and add age-appropriate safeguards before it is used with minors.
Official NIDDK Body Weight Planner · Published model appendix · Independent model comparison