Nutrition & Hydration Tracker

Track daily food intake and water consumption with detailed macro breakdowns, hydration reminders, and weekly nutrition reports. This skill transforms Claude Code into a personal nutrition assistant that logs meals, calculates macronutrient ratios, monitors hydration against your body-weight-adjusted targets, and generates weekly trend reports to keep you accountable without needing a separate app.

Supported Platforms & Integrations

Platform	Integration Type	Features
MyFitnessPal	CSV/JSON export import	Import historical food logs, sync calorie data, map food database entries
Cronometer	CSV export parsing	Import detailed micronutrient data, parse gold-standard nutrition entries
Apple Health	XML export analysis	Read water intake records, parse nutrition summaries, correlate with activity
Google Sheets	Direct read/write	Store daily logs in shared spreadsheets, generate charts and pivot tables
Fitbit	JSON export parsing	Import water logging data, correlate nutrition with step count and sleep
USDA FoodData Central	API reference	Look up accurate nutrition data for whole foods, verify macro calculations

When to Use

• Daily meal logging -- quickly record breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with estimated portions and get instant macro calculations
• Hydration monitoring -- track water intake throughout the day against personalized targets based on body weight and activity level
• Weekly nutrition review -- generate end-of-week reports showing average calories, macro ratios, hydration consistency, and trends
• Meal prep planning -- calculate nutrition totals for batch-cooked meals divided into portions across the week
• Diet compliance checking -- verify whether daily intake aligns with specific diet protocols like keto, zone, or high-protein targets
• Pre-appointment summaries -- generate nutrition summaries to share with dietitians or doctors before consultations

Alternatives to consider:

• For barcode scanning and massive food databases, use MyFitnessPal or Cronometer directly
• For precise kitchen-scale tracking with micronutrients, Cronometer offers deeper granularity
• For AI-powered photo-based food logging, apps like Calorie Mama or Nutrify specialize in visual recognition

Quick Start

Copy
# nutrition-hydration-tracker.yaml
skill:
  name: nutrition-hydration-tracker
  description: Track daily food intake and water consumption
  config:
    units: metric               # metric or imperial
    body_weight_kg: 75
    calorie_target: 2200
    protein_target_g: 165
    carb_target_g: 220
    fat_target_g: 73
    water_target_ml: 3000
    meals_per_day: 4            # breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack
    storage_path: ~/.claude/nutrition/
    week_start: monday

Example interaction:

User: Log lunch: grilled chicken breast 200g, brown rice 150g cooked,
      steamed broccoli 100g, olive oil 1 tbsp

Assistant: Logged lunch for March 15, 2026:

| Food               | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat  |
|--------------------|----------|---------|-------|------|
| Chicken breast 200g|   330    |  62g    |  0g   |  7g  |
| Brown rice 150g    |   173    |   4g    | 36g   |  1g  |
| Broccoli 100g      |    34    |   3g    |  7g   |  0g  |
| Olive oil 1 tbsp   |   119    |   0g    |  0g   | 14g  |
| **Meal Total**     | **656**  | **69g** |**43g**|**22g**|

Daily running total: 1,342 / 2,200 cal (61%)
Water today: 1,200 / 3,000 ml (40%) -- consider drinking more this afternoon

Advanced Configuration

Platform-specific setup for MyFitnessPal import:

Copy
import:
  source: myfitnesspal
  export_path: ~/Downloads/mfp-export.csv
  date_format: "YYYY-MM-DD"
  merge_strategy: overwrite     # overwrite or append
  map_meals: true               # map MFP meal names to local categories

Full parameter reference:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
units	string	metric	Measurement system: metric or imperial
body_weight_kg	number	70	Body weight for hydration calculations
calorie_target	number	2000	Daily calorie goal
protein_target_g	number	150	Daily protein goal in grams
carb_target_g	number	200	Daily carbohydrate goal in grams
fat_target_g	number	67	Daily fat goal in grams
water_target_ml	number	2500	Daily water intake target in milliliters
hydration_reminders	boolean	true	Enable periodic hydration check-ins
reminder_interval_hrs	number	2	Hours between hydration reminders
storage_format	string	json	Storage format: json, csv, or markdown
weekly_report_day	string	sunday	Day to generate weekly summaries
track_fiber	boolean	false	Include fiber tracking in macro breakdown
track_sodium	boolean	false	Include sodium tracking for heart health
activity_multiplier	number	1.0	Multiply water target on active days

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Macro Ratio	Percentage breakdown of calories from protein, carbohydrates, and fat -- typically expressed as P/C/F like 30/40/30
Hydration Target	Body-weight-adjusted water goal calculated as ~33ml per kg of body weight, increased on active days
Rolling Average	7-day moving average for calories and macros that smooths daily variance for accurate trend analysis
Meal Template	Saved meal combinations you eat frequently, recalled by name for one-command logging
Compliance Score	Daily percentage showing how close intake matched targets across all tracked dimensions

  Daily Nutrition Pipeline
  ========================

  [Meal Input] --> [Food Lookup / Estimation]
       |                    |
       v                    v
  [Portion Calc] --> [Macro Calculation]
       |                    |
       v                    v
  [Daily Log] --------> [Running Totals]
       |                    |
       v                    v
  [Hydration Log] --> [Compliance Check]
       |                    |
       v                    v
  [Weekly Aggregation] --> [Trend Report]

Workflow Examples

Scenario 1: Morning logging with saved template

Input:  "Log breakfast: my usual oatmeal bowl"
Lookup: Recalls saved template "usual oatmeal bowl" = oats 80g, banana 1 medium,
        almond butter 1 tbsp, honey 1 tsp, almond milk 200ml
Output: Breakfast logged -- 487 cal | P: 14g | C: 72g | F: 17g
        Daily target remaining: 1,713 cal

Scenario 2: End-of-day hydration check

Input:  "How's my water today?"
Output: Hydration Report for March 15:
        Total: 2,100ml / 3,000ml target (70%)
        Glasses logged: 7 of ~10 recommended
        Suggestion: Drink 2-3 more glasses before bed to hit your target.
        Streak: 4 consecutive days above 80% -- keep it going!

Scenario 3: Weekly nutrition report

Input:  "Generate my weekly nutrition report"
Output: Week of March 9-15, 2026:
        Avg Calories: 2,145 / 2,200 target (97.5% compliance)
        Avg Protein: 158g / 165g (95.8%)
        Avg Carbs:   198g / 220g (90.0%)
        Avg Fat:      71g / 73g  (97.3%)
        Hydration:   82% avg daily target met
        Best day: Wednesday (99% overall compliance)
        Needs work: Saturday (only 68% -- low protein, missed water)
        Trend: Protein intake improving week-over-week (+8g avg)

Best Practices

1. Log meals immediately after eating -- delayed logging leads to forgotten items and inaccurate portion estimates. A quick approximate entry is better than a perfect entry you never make.

2. Create templates for recurring meals -- if you eat the same breakfast most days, save it as a template to reduce logging friction from minutes to seconds.

3. Use the rolling 7-day average for decisions -- single days will fluctuate significantly. Only adjust targets based on weekly trends, not daily spikes or dips.

4. Set realistic hydration targets -- start with the baseline calculation and adjust based on climate, activity level, and caffeine intake. Over-ambitious targets lead to abandonment.

5. Review weekly reports on a consistent day -- pick a day (Sunday works well) to review the week's data and set intentions for the coming week. Consistency in review drives consistency in behavior.

Common Issues

Issue: Portion estimation is wildly inaccurate Solution: Use reference objects for calibration. A deck of cards is roughly 85g of meat. A tennis ball is roughly one cup. A thumb tip is roughly one tablespoon. Consider using a kitchen scale for the first two weeks to calibrate your visual estimates, then switch to estimation.

Issue: Forgetting to log water throughout the day Solution: Enable hydration_reminders and set the interval to 2 hours. Pair water logging with existing habits -- drink a glass every time you get up for a break, after each meeting, or when checking your phone.

Issue: Macro targets feel impossible to hit consistently Solution: Start by tracking only calories for the first week. Add protein tracking in week two, then full macros in week three. Gradual habit building has much higher adherence rates than tracking everything from day one.

Privacy & Data Handling

All nutrition and hydration data is stored locally in your configured storage_path directory (default: ~/.claude/nutrition/). No food logs, body weight data, or dietary information is transmitted to external servers. When importing from platforms like MyFitnessPal or Cronometer, files are read locally from your exported CSV/JSON files and never uploaded. Weekly reports are generated and stored on your machine. You maintain complete ownership of your health data and can delete the storage directory at any time to remove all records. If you use Google Sheets integration, data flows only between your local machine and your own Google account.