Which AI works best for this?
Whether you choose the most widely known ChatGPT, the thoughtful and kind Claude, a European-based open-source Le Chat, or the AI that comes with your phone, you can’t go wrong. Almost all of these large language model AIs are now quite capable. Sure, if you get the paid version, you will likely get better answers. I did most of my testing on the paid ChatGPT. But even free versions give surprisingly good answers, and they are improving almost every month.
Please build a personalised nutrition plan for me
How do you start? Think of the AI as a self-service nutritionist. It has all the knowledge in the world, but it knows nothing about you, and it doesn’t even know it’s a nutritionist. So, step number one is to tell the AI that.
Prompt part 1: Please act as an experienced personal nutritionist during this whole conversation.
Next, you need to tell the AI who you are. The more relevant details about yourself and your goals you provide, the better and more personalised answers you’ll get.
Prompt part 2: Here is what you should know about me and my goals. Ask me follow-up questions if I left out something you need to make me a personalised nutrition plan.
- Your primary goal: Do you want to build muscle, lose fat, or improve cycling performance? Be specific, include numbers and specify when you want results.
- Your stats: Include your age, gender, weight, height, and body fat % if you know.
- Your current diet and supplements: When do you cook, and when do you eat out? Do you have budget constraints? You can describe your typical day of eating, including meal times and ask the AI to evaluate it.
- Diet preferences: Which foods you like and dislike, whether you’re a vegetarian, etc.
- Food allergies and health conditions: Tell the AI about these, but if it’s serious stuff, you should go see a qualified human nutritionist.
- Exercise schedule: Describe your usual week of exercise, including durations and intensity.
- Lifestyle: Briefly describe your sleeping habits, stress levels, alcohol consumption, problematic areas like sugar cravings, night-eating, emotional eating, etc.
And lastly, you should specify what kind of answer you want from the AI. Do you want it to make a meal plan for a week or a month? Do you want it to recommend a daily calorie intake and macros? How about supplements? Ask for whatever you want, go wild.
Prompt part 3: Based on what I told you, I want you to estimate my BMR and how many calories and macronutrients I need per day to reach my goals. Based on those numbers, make me a 7-day meal plan. Include calorie counts and macros for each meal. Add a shopping list for the week. And I also want you to recommend supplements if you think I need any. Highlight the most important 1 or 2 specific habits I should change or introduce to have an easier time hitting my goals.
Example prompt
Now, let’s take a look at a simplified version of a prompt and a short version of the answer you may receive.
Prompt example: Please act as an experienced personal nutritionist. I’m a 35-year-old male, 180 cm, 76 kg, cycling 5–6 hours a week. My goal is to drop 3 kg of body fat in 8 weeks while maintaining energy for training. I cook most meals at home and avoid dairy. Please estimate my daily calories and macros, and give me a 7-day meal plan with calories and macros per meal. Suggest supplements and habits that could help.
Expected output
Estimated daily needs: 2,300 kcal, 140 g protein, 275 g carbs, 70 g fat
Day 1 example
Breakfast: Oats (60 g) with oat milk, 1 banana, 10 g almond butter, 5 g chia seeds — 430 kcal, 12 g protein, 55 g carbs, 15 g fat
Lunch: Grilled chicken (150 g), cooked quinoa (100 g), roasted veg, 1 tsp olive oil — 600 kcal, 40 g protein, 45 g carbs, 25 g fat
Dinner: Lentil & sweet potato curry, brown rice (100 g cooked), spinach — 550 kcal, 25 g protein, 60 g carbs, 15 g fat
Snacks: Protein shake (30 g), whole grain toast (2 slices), hummus (2 tbsp) — 420 kcal, 35 g protein, 50 g carbs, 12 g fat
Pre-ride snack: 3 Medjool dates, 15 g almonds — 300 kcal, 8 g protein, 65 g carbs, 8 g fat
Key habit to focus on:
- Eat protein with every main meal to reduce hunger.
- Plan snacks around workouts to avoid evening cravings.
Suggested supplement:
- Vitamin D (1,000–2,000 IU/day, especially in winter).
Continue the conversation
As you can see, it looks pretty good as an initial answer. But it’s also obvious you are likely to have follow-up questions. Maybe you don’t like some of the meals or ingredients used or maybe the math doesn’t quite add up. You have to look at the results carefully and call the AI out with any mistakes you notice and ask for corrections. In general, it helps to keep the conversation going rather than starting with a new prompt.
It can also help you calculate macros for your favourite recipes
If you have your own favourite recipes and want those to be calculated and included in the plan, you can ask the AI to do that too. You can follow this example prompt.
Prompt example: Please calculate the macros and calories per portion for this 4-serving recipe: Ask follow-up questions if you need more information. Please also recommend where it fits in my nutrition plan best.
- 200 g chickpeas
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 150 g sweet potato
- 100 g spinach
- 1 garlic clove
- Spices: cumin, paprika
- Served with 150 g cooked brown rice per serving
Expected output (per serving):
- Calories: ~420 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 50 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Fat: 15 g
Note: Values may vary slightly depending on brand or cooking method. For extra accuracy, weigh your final cooked portions and divide.
Try it for yourself! You’ll see that AI is quite capable as a nutritionist. And it doesn’t stop at meal plans. It can offer continuous support and even provide some fuelling advice for your rides if prompted well. We will take a look at that in the rest of the series.
