Yesterday my brother and I recorded an upcoming Midjourney Monday episode that I think you'll really enjoy. It's about creating food photography in Midjourney. Midjourney is shockingly good at creating realistic food photography, so you should definitely check that out.
But then all the food-related AI applications got me thinking...
Here's a picture of me in January 2020, a month or two before the pandemic.
It may not seem like much, but for me it was a huge accomplishment. I had lost something in the ballpark of 50 lbs. over several years and developed healthy exercise habits that I frankly had never had in my entire life.
While I've kept up with the exercise habits, let's just say a global pandemic isn't good for your dietary habits.
Lately I've been thinking it's time to shake off those pounds--for me, those pounds are my last pandemic-era holdout. And I want to beat them. The first time I did it by losing weight slowly and conscientiously keeping track of my calories and food intake. But that has proven difficult in the last year. It probably has something to do with deciding to move with my family to Spain for a year, but that's a completely different story.
Anyway, I had been looking for ways to more easily keep track of what I'm eating and how much of it I've been eating.
Enter Artificial Intelligence.
After we did food photography yesterday I realized, "Hey, I bet ChatGPT could tell me the nutritional value and calories of this meal in this here picture." I tried it, and it did.
So I got to work on the Calorie Counter GPT, now available in Open AI's GPT platform. I'm excited to announce that it has the following capabilities--and these are the words straight from the GPT itself:
As "Calorie Counter" GPT, I am specialized in providing detailed nutritional analysis, dietary advice, and meal planning support. Here's an overview of what I can do for you:
Nutritional Analysis of Meals: You can show me a picture or describe a meal, and I will estimate its calorie content and nutritional value. I'll break down the meal into individual food items, estimate their serving sizes, and provide detailed information on calories, macronutrients (fat, carbs, and protein), micronutrients, and overall nutrition facts.
Recipe Generation: If you show me a picture of food or describe a meal, I can attempt to reverse engineer the recipe. I'll provide a list of ingredients with measurements and step-by-step cooking instructions. I can also offer to find similar recipes online or provide a downloadable CSV file of the recipe.
Personalized Meal Planning: If you need help with diet, nutrition, or meal planning, I can create a customized meal plan based on your personal details like height, weight, age, exercise habits, dietary preferences, and more. The meal plan will include a variety of meals for each day of the week, along with their calorie counts.
Educational Guidance: I can answer questions about diet, nutrition, weight management, and related topics, providing advice and information based on scientific principles and current dietary guidelines.
Remember, my responses are based on the information you provide and general nutritional knowledge. I can't offer medical advice or replace professional dietetic consultations. Let's get started on your nutritional journey! What can I assist you with today?
The Calorie Counter GPT does all of this in the typical Tingenuity AI fashion--with structured and detailed markdown output.
I tested the GPT with food photography generated from Midjourney. One of the things that I think is truly incredible is how consistent Calorie Counter has been with it's calorie estimates. Obviously it can't tell you exactly how many calories are in meal that you've shared with it, but as I've tested it, it usually stays in a range of about 50 calories.
Similarly with estimating portion sizes and amounts, it will generally say "that's 1 cup of potatoes" and "1/2 cup of butternut squash" and stay within 1/4 cup range in terms of amounts as well. It is shockingly good at this task.
Below, I'll post pictures of the food that Calorie Counter looked at (images generated in Midjourney), as well as screenshots of Calorie Counter GPT's output. When the video is up on Youtube we will embed it here as well.
Calorie Counter: A New Custom GPT