CaloRatio is a smartphone app that was created by Dr. Matthew Weiner, a weight loss surgeon from Detroit, MI. The app encourages users to eat a diet that will trigger some of the same hormonal changes that occur after weight loss surgery. The diet modifications that the app encourages are the same that Dr. Weiner described in a book he wrote in 2012 titled “Pound of Cure.”

Most weight loss programs are designed to restrict calorie intake which triggers several unwanted physiologic changes like intense hunger and a slow metabolism. These unwanted reactions to starvation may trigger weight loss over a few weeks or months, but rarely result in prolonged weight loss.

Those interested in losing weight by eating healthy foods that are rich in nutrients and low in calories do not have an established method for numerically measuring the quality of their diet. The creation of the CaloRatio app ends this, offering users a way to measure the quality of their diet instead of using inaccurate measurements based on quantity like calorie counts, or the number of grams of carbohydrates or fats. The app measures the ratio of the good calories that you consume (like those found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans) to the bad calories consumed (like those found in processed foods). The app provides a single score, referred to as your CaloRatio that measures the quality of your diet. By eating to obtain the highest CaloRatio score possible, users will avoid starvation and are encouraged to eat large amounts of all of the healthy foods that trigger weight loss.