Getting Started with OnlyCal: From First Scan to First Post

So you have just downloaded OnlyCal and you are staring at a fresh home screen. What now? This guide walks you through every step, from creating your account to publishing your very first meal post on the social feed. By the end, you will be tracking calories with AI, understanding your macros, and sharing your nutrition journey with a community that actually cares about food.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, maintain, or build muscle, OnlyCal adapts to you. Let's get started.

1. Download and sign up

OnlyCal is available for free on both iOS and Android. Head to the App Store or Google Play, search for "OnlyCal," and install it. The app is lightweight and takes just a few seconds to download.

When you open OnlyCal for the first time, you will be prompted to create an account. You have two options:

• Email and password — the classic route. Enter your email, choose a password, and you are in.
• Social login — sign in with your existing Google or Apple account for a one-tap setup.

That's it. No lengthy questionnaires before you can see the app. Account creation takes under 30 seconds.

2. Set up your profile

Right after sign-up, OnlyCal launches the onboarding wizard. This is where the app learns about you so it can calculate personalized calorie and macro targets. The wizard asks for:

• Gender
• Age
• Height and weight
• Activity level (sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active)
• Goal — lose weight, maintain weight, or gain weight

Based on your answers, OnlyCal calculates your daily calorie target and breaks it down into macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fat. These targets appear on your dashboard immediately and guide everything else in the app.

3. Your first meal scan

This is the part that makes OnlyCal different. Instead of searching a database and manually entering every ingredient, you can just take a photo of your plate and let AI do the work. (Curious about how accurate AI food scanning really is? We have a full breakdown.)

Here is how it works, step by step:

1. Open the Log tab (the center tab at the bottom of the screen).
2. Tap the camera icon.
3. Point your phone at your meal and take a photo. Good lighting helps, but don't worry about being a food photographer.
4. OnlyCal's AI (powered by Google Gemini) analyzes the image. In a few seconds, it identifies the ingredients on your plate and estimates the portion sizes.
5. A review screen appears with the detected foods, their quantities, and the corresponding macros (calories, protein, carbs, fat).
6. Adjust anything that looks off. You can change quantities, remove items, or add things the AI missed.
7. Tap Log to save the meal.

The whole process takes about 15 seconds once you get the hang of it. It is dramatically faster than typing "grilled chicken breast 150g" into a search bar.

4. Other ways to log food

AI scanning is the fastest method, but OnlyCal gives you several other ways to log your meals:

• Search the food database — type the name of any food in the search bar. OnlyCal has an extensive database with nutritional data for common and branded items. Select a food, set the quantity, and log it.
• Barcode scanning — for packaged foods, tap the barcode icon and scan the product. OnlyCal pulls the nutritional information directly from the OpenFoodFacts database. Set your portion size and you are done.
• Manual entry — if you know the exact macros (maybe from a restaurant menu), you can enter calories, protein, carbs, and fat manually.

You can mix and match these methods throughout the day. Scan your homemade lunch with AI, barcode your afternoon protein bar, and search for your dinner restaurant dish. Whatever works best for each situation.

5. Understanding the dashboard

After you have logged your first meal, head to the Dashboard tab (the first tab). This is your daily command center, and it shows three key things:

The calorie ring

A large circular progress ring right at the top. It shows how many calories you have consumed versus your daily target. As you log meals, the ring fills up. The number in the center shows your remaining calories for the day.

Macro breakdown

Below the ring, you will see three colored progress bars for your macros:

• Protein — shown in red
• Carbs — shown in gold
• Fat — shown in green

Each bar shows how much you have eaten versus your target. This makes it easy to see at a glance if you are hitting your macros or falling short on protein, for example.

Food log

Below the macros, you will find a complete list of everything you have logged today. Each entry shows the food name, quantity, and calorie count. Tap any entry to edit it or remove it.

You can also switch between three views using the segment control at the top:

• Dashboard — the daily overview described above
• Goals — a deeper look at your calorie and macro targets
• History — review past days (free users see 7 days; OnlyCal+ unlocks full history)

6. Publish your first post

OnlyCal is not just a tracker. It is a social network for nutrition. Sharing your meals publicly is one of the most effective ways to stay accountable, and it only takes a few extra taps.

After you have logged a meal, you will see an option to share it to the feed. Here is what happens:

1. Your meal photo becomes the post image.
2. The post automatically includes the full nutritional breakdown: total calories, protein, carbs, and fat.
3. Write a caption — describe what you ate, share a recipe tip, or just say how you are feeling about your day.
4. Tap Publish and your post goes live.

Your followers will see the post in their feed, complete with your meal photo and macros. They can like it, comment on it, save it for inspiration, or even add your meal to their own tracker with a single tap. That last feature is one of the things people love most about OnlyCal.

7. Explore the feed

Now that you have published a post, it is time to explore what everyone else is eating. OnlyCal has two main places for social content:

The main feed (Pour toi)

This is your personalized feed showing posts from people you follow. Every post includes the meal photo, macros, and caption. You can:

• Like posts to show appreciation
• Comment to start a conversation
• Save posts for later (great for meal inspiration)
• Add to tracker — tap once to add someone's entire meal to your own food log

The Discover tab (Explorer)

This is where you find new people to follow. The Discover tab shows popular posts from across the OnlyCal community and includes a profile search. Look for people with similar goals, similar calorie targets, or simply meals that look delicious.

Following other users is the key to making OnlyCal stick. When you see other people consistently logging their meals, it creates a positive feedback loop that keeps you coming back too.

8. Build your streak

Every day you log at least one meal, your streak counter goes up by one. Your current streak is displayed on your profile for everyone to see.

Streaks might seem like a small thing, but they are surprisingly powerful. Once you have a 10-day streak going, you really don't want to break it. And once it hits 30, 60, or 100 days, it becomes a point of pride that keeps you logging consistently.

OnlyCal even sends you a gentle reminder notification in the evening if you haven't logged anything yet. Think of it as a friendly nudge, not a nag. You can turn this off in settings if you prefer.

9. Tips for getting the most out of OnlyCal

You have set up your profile, scanned a meal, explored the dashboard, and published your first post. Here are a few tips to help you get even more value from the app going forward:

Log consistently, even on imperfect days

The biggest mistake people make with calorie tracking is skipping days when they eat poorly. But those are exactly the days where tracking matters most. Logging an over-budget day gives you data. Skipping it gives you nothing. Don't aim for a perfect log — aim for a complete one.

Follow people with similar goals

If you are trying to lose weight, follow other people on a similar journey. If you are bulking, find people who are eating 3000+ calories a day. Seeing people with the same targets makes the social feed much more relevant and motivating.

Use the Daily Plate feature

Every evening, OnlyCal can generate a Daily Plate summary — a visual recap of everything you ate that day, with your total macros and calorie count. It is designed to be shared on social media or directly on the OnlyCal feed. Think of it as your daily nutrition report card.

Consider upgrading to OnlyCal+

The free plan is generous and covers most needs. But if you are serious about tracking, OnlyCal+ unlocks some powerful features:

• 20 AI scans per day — 10× the free tier, no more rationing your 2 daily scans
• Full history — look back at any day, not just the last 7
• NutriCoach — weekly AI-powered nutrition insights based on your eating patterns
• Extra Daily Plate templates — 10 templates instead of 3
• Calorie cycling and analytics — advanced tools for fine-tuning your nutrition

Plans start at $9.99/month or $49.99/year. There is also a weekly plan at $2.99/week if you want to try it short-term.