Kale is a side project that started from my own interest in dieting and nutrition tracking.

Before designing the app, I was manually calculating my basal metabolic rate and tracking meals and macronutrients by hand, which revealed the complexity of managing a diet consistently.

This experience motivated me to explore mobile app design as a way to turn manual tracking into a digital experience.

The initial concept for Kale was to be a simple tool to support people who already know how to structure a diet, as well as those who are still learning. The goal was not to overwhelm users with data, but to help them build awareness around their daily intake.

One of the main challenges was finding the right balance between simplicity and control.

The app needed to be intuitive enough to quickly show whether users were eating above or below their calorie targets, while still offering enough flexibility for those who wanted to plan diets, track detailed macronutrients, and monitor progress over time.

At the time, my primary use case was flexible dieting, also known as IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros). This led to the concept of separating meals into structured diet plans (folders) and standalone meals, allowing users to clearly distinguish what was planned versus what was consumed outside the plan, and understand how both impacted their daily calories and macronutrients goals.