How do I count calories in a meal I cooked myself?

Either photograph your plate and correct the portion, or describe the dish with its main ingredients and the oil or butter you used. For a batch, describe the whole pot and log the share you ate.

Do I need to log cooking oil?

Yes, it is the most common thing people miss. One tablespoon of olive oil is about 120 kcal and 14 g of fat, and it is invisible in a photo. Mention it when you log.

What if I eat the same home-cooked meals every week?

Use a recipe with known values. TrackAI has 500 recipes with full nutrition you can log in one tap, and you can describe your own version with the changes you made.

How to Track Macros for Home-Cooked Meals

Updated October 3, 2026. We make TrackAI; the methods work in any tracker, and we note where TrackAI does something specific.

Packaged food has a label. Restaurant meals often have published numbers. A stir-fry you made from what was in the fridge has neither, which is why home cooking is where most food logs go vague. Here are four ways to log it, from fastest to most precise.

1. Photograph the plate

The fastest way. Take the photo from slightly above with the whole plate in frame; TrackAI recognises the components and estimates the portion. Then check the portion before you save. This works best for plates where you can see the parts: protein, a grain, vegetables.

2. Describe it, including the fat

Type what went in: "chicken thigh stir-fry with rice, broccoli and peppers, cooked in 1 tbsp sesame oil". Descriptions are good for mixed dishes the camera cannot see into, and they let you name what matters most for accuracy:

Cooking fat. One tablespoon of oil is about 120 kcal. Butter and cream add up just as fast.
The protein and how much of it. "150 g chicken" is better than "chicken".
Sauces and toppings. Pesto, cheese, a drizzle of honey.

If the first estimate looks off, correct it in plain words, like "it was two tablespoons of oil" or "no cheese", and TrackAI re-estimates.

3. Log the whole pot, then your share

For batch cooking, describe the full recipe once (everything that went into the pot), then log the fraction you ate. In TrackAI you can change the amount on the entry, so a quarter of a stew is the whole stew at 0.25.

4. Use a recipe with known numbers

If you cook from a recipe, start from its values. TrackAI's 500 recipes list calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber and a full vitamin and mineral panel per serving, and you can log one in a tap. Cooking it a bit differently? Describe your version instead.

Where home-cooked logs go wrong

Forgetting the oil. By far the biggest gap.
Guessing grain portions. A "bowl of rice" can be 150 or 400 kcal. Weigh it once to learn what your usual scoop is.
Logging the recipe, eating the double portion. Adjust the amount.
Skipping the tasting. Spoonfuls while cooking count too, though they rarely make or break a day.

It does not have to be perfect

A home-cooked log that is roughly right every day beats a precise log you keep for one week. Pick the fastest method that you will actually use, mention the oil, and let the weekly trend tell you whether your numbers are close enough.

Need a target to aim at? Try the calorie calculator.