What this tool does
A plan that ignores your calorie and protein targets is a recipe blog. This generator starts from those numbers, a diet pattern, constraints, and a day count (7 is the usual). You still have to edit. A quinoa bowl you will not eat is not a plan.
How it works
Calories and protein are daily targets. Diet limits the protein and carb sources. Constraints cover time, budget, leftovers, and foods you refuse. Days default to a week. The model should repeat a short set of dinners rather than invent fourteen new cuisines — that is how grocery lists stay sane.
How to interpret the result
Check one day: do three meals plus snacks add to the calorie box ±10%, and does protein land near the gram target? If breakfast is 12 g and dinner is 80 g, move food. Then generate the grocery list from the edited plan, not from the first draft.
Example
2,200 kcal, 150 g protein, omnivore, “leftover lunches, 25-minute dinners,” 7 days. A workable draft is yogurt-oat breakfasts (~30 g protein), a leftover chicken-rice lunch, and a rotating dinner of salmon, turkey mince, or eggs — each dinner cooked once for two plates. If a generated day prints 110 g protein, add Greek yogurt or a larger chicken portion before you shop.
Common mistakes
- Accepting seven unique dinners you will not prep.
- Picking vegan and still expecting the first draft to hit 180 g protein on 1,800 kcal without soy or seitan.
- Leaving constraints blank, then complaining about cottage cheese.
- Following the draft into a restaurant weekend without adjusting.
When this estimate may be off
- Clinical diets (renal, texture, allergen auto-immune protocols).
- Calories are a guess and protein is a slogan.
- You train twice a day and need timed carbs this grid will not periodize.
- Household members eat different dinners you never mentioned.