Why Deficit

I built Deficit to solve my own problem: the calorie tracking experience mostly sucks, and diet phase tracking barely exists.

Logging food

Tracking macros by itself is a simple process, but somehow many apps fail to get it right. You end up spending a lot of time on micro-actions that should be simple, but aren’t made simple. Tracking also needs to be precise enough, otherwise it’s pointless.

So I built an app that aims to reduce the number of useless actions.

Deficit is optimized for classic logging while also letting you log via voice and photo. You can find the exact food by name or barcode. Then, once you’ve added a new food, you can always find it again in a couple of taps and reuse it.

You can also talk to the AI, and it will find food for you (it will even prefer foods and portions you’ve already logged). And you can take a picture of your food, and it will help you log popular restaurant dishes like sushi, ramen, noodle soups or pasta.

My personal split when logging is the following:

50% → classic search and tapping. Food at home, well-known fast food when I’m up for it, and whatever I’ve snapped or scanned before (because it’s easier to do a few taps and find it by name in my Recents anyway).
20% → re-log from yesterday. I mostly eat the same food for breakfast, so my morning flat white, eggs and bread are a copy-paste from day to day.
10% → voice. “125 grams of blackberries and 125 grams of blueberries” is my top entry of all time. I use it when I’m lazy and don’t feel like typing. Pro tip: always mention the portion size. Another pro tip: you can speak any language.
10% → snap. When I’m eating out, I use snaps for ramen, sushi and other stuff that’s hard to log. It’s super useful and okay-ish accurate (probably as accurate as it can be).
5% → custom recipes. I cook a few dishes with the same set of ingredients. I log them once, save them as a custom recipe, and reuse them. It’s super convenient.
5% → barcodes. I’m not a big fan of barcodes, but sometimes I use them to find a food once. After that, I log it by name.

If you are multilingual or travel a lot, you can log your food in almost any Western language.

Setting up and following diet phases

If you want to get in shape, you obviously have to eat right and move more. But beyond that, there is a specific set of actions to follow. Those actions are repetitive and simple. Get them right, and you’ll get in shape.

A good coach would:

Set a goal
Create a first estimate of your calorie needs
Calibrate for 1–3 weeks and see how your body responds. Is the weight moving? Is your waistline shrinking? If the response is right, continue. If you are behind, analyze (and in some cases adjust the goals)
Continue tracking and monitoring until the goal is achieved

And you would:

Walk and work out
Track nutrition and activity
Weigh in daily (read why)
Measure your waistline and other body parts weekly (read why)
Inevitably see progress, because you’re doing things right

I wrote a free, detailed guide on how to correctly set up and monitor your diet phases. The guide follows a data-driven, evidence-based approach. It’s based on my own journey, my experience helping friends and family, Menno Henselmans’ educational content, coaching experience from my peers and fitness industry best practices.

Deficit packages years of experience into a smart app that guides you through your fitness journey. It’s a complete set of tools for getting down to 10–12% body fat (if you want to go lower, you likely already have a professional coach).

Right now Deficit only supports cut and maintenance phases. I’m working on adding bulk and recomp modes in the near future.