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Built a 'vibe coded' calorie tracker called šŸ„©Caltrack by exporting Claude chatā€¦

2026-08-03 Ā· 14:50 UTC Ā·@levelsio Ā·2 min read

Brief

@levelsio reports that his 'vibe coded' calorie trackerā€”now expanded into a tool called šŸ„©Caltrackā€”helped him sustain an ~500 kcal daily deficit plus a protein protocol (~2 g/kg: started at 150 g/day, increased to 180 g/day) for about a month, producing roughly 500 g/week weight loss. He credits muscle retention to consistently hitting the 180 g protein target and lifting equal or heavier weights. He built the system by exporting Claude chat data to CSV, running Claude Code on a VPS, and adding a Telegram bot and Termius SSH for logging and deeper Q&A. His goal is 80 kg (175 lb) at 10ā€“15% body fat (aiming for @marclou levels). He emphasizes diet over exercise (claims ~80ā€“90% diet, ~10ā€“20% exercise), warns that belly fat is particularly dangerous with age, and rejects crash diets as unsustainable.

Why it matters

Built a 'vibe coded' calorie tracker called šŸ„©Caltrack by exporting Claude chat data as CSV, running Claude Code on a VPS, and adding a Telegram bot and Termius SSH input to log meals and ask progress questions.

Key details

  • Targets a ~500 kcal daily deficit plus a protein goal of ~2 g/kg: started at 150 g/day, raised to 180 g/day; reports this regimen for about a month and a weight-loss rate of ~500 g/week.
  • Says he is maintaining muscle because he hits ~180 g/day protein almost every day and is lifting the same or heavier in the gym; end goal is 80 kg (175 lb) at 10ā€“15% body fat and to reach @marclou levels of low body fat.
  • Asserts diet determines ~80% (some say 90%) of body fat vs ~20% (or 10%) exercise, warns belly fat is especially harmful with age ('essentially poisons your body' with hormonal disruptors, inflammation, heart disease and cancer), and dismisses crash diets as temporary.
Source evidence

It's working!

My vibe coded calorie tracker (and well it does much more than that now, it got a bit out of hand) helped me keep a ~500cal deficit per day + protein target of first 150g then adjusted up to 180g per day for about a month

I'm losing at a rate of about 500g/week which is the ideal sweet spot to maintain muscle and lose fat

Weight loss isn't the goal btw, fat loss is, but you can't really grow muscle per kg faster than you can lose fat per kg, so this is it

I know I am maintaining muscle mass because 1) I hit the protein goal of 180g/day almost every day, 2) I lift same or heavier in the gym than before

My end goal would be 80kg/175lbs at 10-15% body fat

The aesthetics of being lean are a nice motivator but the real reason is that specifically belly fat is very dangerous when you get older, it's essentially poisons your body with hormonal disruptors, inflammation and can cause heart disease and cancer

You have to have essentially zero belly fat because it's so bad for you

@levelsio (@levelsio)

So I am trying to hit a 500 calorie deficit every day + hit my protein goal of about 150g (2g per kg bodyweight), and I used Claude chat for that, but after a week it starts losing track so I asked it to export its data as CSV and copy pasted that into Claude Code on the VPS

And asked it to build a little calorie tracker called šŸ„©Caltrack with a Telegram bot too, so I can log whatever I eat or drink in there either via Telegram or if I want more granular via Termius SSH on the VPS

I like to do this mix of Claude Code and a dashboard/chatbot because you can ask more deep questions to it like "how am I doing", "what to improve" etc. it's just much smarter and "able" on the server than the Claude chat app by itself

Anyway my goal is to get @marclou levels of body fat, which is LOW, right now we're strong and lean but we can be leaner, let's try šŸ˜ŠšŸ˜ŠšŸ˜Š

80% of body fat is decided by what you eat, only 20% what you exercise, some say even 90% vs 10%, I agree, I eat very clean but I was mostly staying on maintenance

Silly calorie dense food like yogurt with low protein, taste nice but it gets you away from your calorie deficit fast, and to figure that out you kinda really gotta track things

Other people suggest crash diets like eat only sardines, we know from studies though that crash diets are temporary, you just gain it back

Claude says the ideal is just 500 calories deficit per day and hit your 2g/kg protein goal and you maintain muscle and reduce body fat! So I'm doing that

And this app I made helps a lot!!!

Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!

ā€” https://nitter.net/levelsio/status/2075642972243190039#m