How she thinks

Six weeks, one conversation.

Sophia is the coach inside metrIQ: she sets your targets, learns what your body actually does with them, and tells you what's next.

Here are her first six weeks with one member — the first number and where it came from, the week her estimate met their data, the morning the scale made no sense, and the ten days she told them to stop.

Sophia, your metrIQ coach
Day one

Your first number, and how sure she is of it.

She has no history to go on yet, so she starts where every app starts — a formula. What she does differently is say so, and tell you what would make it better.

BMR, from your height, weight, age and sex1,680
TDEE, once your activity is counted2,100
The deficit she takes off−350
Your daily target1,750

Note the promise she makes at the end, because the rest of this page is her keeping it.

SophiaYour coach · always here
Monday, 22 June
Right — 74.1kg, 168cm, 34, training three or four times a week. That's enough for me to start.
I'm putting you on 1,750 calories a day. One thing I want to be straight about, though: 2,100 of that is a formula's guess at what you burn, not a measurement. It's the best anyone can do before they've seen you eat.
19:12
why 1,750? that feels low to me
19:15
M
Because I'm taking 350 off what I think you burn. That's about a third of a kilo a week — fast enough that you'll see it, slow enough that you can live like this.
And if I've guessed your burn too low, you'll drop faster than that and I'll give the calories back. Estimates get better with data — that's what the weigh-ins are for.
19:16
The ordinary week

She keeps the day in her head, so you don't have to.

You tell her what you had, in your own words, and she does the arithmetic. And because she is the one holding the whole day, “what should I have for dinner?” gets a real answer back rather than a number you have to interpret yourself.

SophiaYour coach · always here
Thursday, 25 June
chicken thighs and rice, and a flat white on the way in
13:22
M
Logged. That's a good chunk of your protein done before the afternoon, which is the bit most people leave until it's too late.
740kcal
Lunch
Protein51gCarbs62gFat32g
Left today1,010 kcal · 84g P
13:22
what should I do for dinner? I've got chicken or salmon in
18:40
M
Salmon, and don't be shy with the portion — you've got room for a proper dinner and most of your protein still to come.
Something starchy alongside it and as many vegetables as you want. You'll land on target without weighing a thing.
18:41
Week three

Your number stops being a guess.

Three weeks of weigh-ins and logged intake are enough to measure what the formula only guessed. It was low by 220 calories — so the deficit had been deeper than she intended and the weight was coming off faster than the plan called for. She corrects it towards what she has measured.

What the formula predicted you burn2,100
What your own data says you burn2,320
Your target, corrected1,900

This is the part a coach built on a score cannot do. Correcting a guess needs the thing they never collect: what you actually ate, week after week, next to what your weight actually did.

SophiaYour coach · always here
Monday, 13 July
72.6 this morning
07:48
M
That's eleven weigh-ins in three weeks. I know it's the least interesting thing I ask you for, but it's the one that lets me do this next bit.
I've now got enough to measure what you actually burn instead of guessing at it. My formula was low — you've been losing faster than my number said you would, which means you've been eating further under than either of us intended.
Nothing you did wrong. I was.
⚖️
Weigh-in▼ 0.3 kg since last
72.6 kg

Your daily target changed

1,7501,900 kcal

Three weeks of your weight and intake put your burn about 220 above my starting estimate.

07:49
The week it goes wrong

The scale is up. She can tell you why.

This is the morning that ends most attempts. The number is up, the week was good, and nothing in a tracker can tell you which of those two to believe.

She can, because she has last night's meal and four weeks of trend in front of her — and once she has answered, she volunteers the pattern she has been watching build, which is not a thing you asked for and not a thing a tracker has.

SophiaYour coach · always here
Tuesday, 28 July
I just had chicken thighs and rice, and I finished off the peanut butter jar 🙈 not my finest work
20:41
M
Logged — and most of that was the jar, honestly. Peanut butter is dense enough that the last of one can quietly cost a meal's worth.
It's not a problem tonight, though. One evening doesn't undo a week. Sleep well.
830kcal
Dinner
Protein55gCarbs63gFat39g
Left today120 kcal · 20g P
20:42
Wednesday, 29 July
72.3 this morning. That's 0.8 up from Monday and I've been so careful this week — I really don't get it 😩
07:31
M
I know. Seeing that after a careful week is horrible, so let me take it off your shoulders straight away: it isn't fat. 0.8kg of fat is about 6,000 calories, and you didn't eat them.
Last night was rice and the end of a peanut butter jar, and you weighed the morning after — that's water and sodium, and it goes. Your four-week trend is still down half a kilo a week. Weigh again Thursday and we'll look at it properly.
⚖️
Weigh-in▲ 0.8 kg since last
72.3 kg

Something I've been sitting on for a few weeks: your days are tidy right up until about eight in the evening, and then they aren't. It happens on training days and rest days alike, so it isn't hunger from the gym — it's the hour. Worth a proper look when you've got a minute.

07:32
The holiday

She takes the deficit away.

Holding a deficit through a holiday is miserable, and it rarely survives the first proper dinner. So she takes it off the table herself: maintenance while you are away, a warning about what the scale will do before it does it, and nothing asked of you until you are home.

SophiaYour coach · always here
Monday, 3 August
we're in Italy for ten days from Friday and I'm already dreading what it does to all this 😬
12:05
M
Then let's take it off the table. Go and enjoy it properly — I'll put you on maintenance while you're away so you're not doing arithmetic over dinner.
You'll come back up on the scale. Most of it will be salt, carbohydrate and a full gut rather than fat, and it comes off in the week after. That happens whether we plan for it or not, so we may as well plan for it.
Tell me when you're home and we'll pick the deficit back up.
12:07
Honestly

What she still can't do.

  • She's an AI coach, not a person and not a medical professional. If something needs a doctor, see one.
  • She can't see your food. She works from what you tell her, so a rough description gets a rough number.
  • She can't measure what you burn without weigh-ins. A month of erratic logging leaves her on the formula, and she'll say so rather than pretend.
  • She can't make a bad week not have happened. She can tell you what it actually cost, which is usually less than you think.
SophiaYour coach · always here
Tuesday, 4 August
can I just send you a photo of my lunch instead of typing it out?
12:58
M
I can't see photos — I only know what you tell me. A sentence is enough, though, and it doesn't have to be precise: "a big bowl of pasta with chicken" gets you most of the way there.
What I won't do is pretend a guess is a measurement. If I've had to estimate a portion, I'll say so rather than hand you a number that looks more certain than it is.
12:58

Stop working it out alone.

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