What I'm Building: MILA
I've written three posts about the problem with fitness math, what the research shows people actually need, and why I chose one BMR formula and refused to add a fallback. Here's what the body composition app that came out of all that actually looks like.
What MILA Does
MILA (Macro Intelligence, Lean Adaptation) is a body composition planning tool built around one premise: your calorie and macro targets should be calculated from your actual physiology, not a population average — and every number should be visible and explainable.
Here's what it does concretely:
Calculates your TDEE using Katch-McArdle.
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total calories you burn per day based on your metabolism and activity level. The Katch-McArdle formula uses lean body mass — the weight of everything in your body that isn't fat — rather than just your overall weight. It requires knowing your body fat percentage, which is why MILA walks you through three estimation methods to get there.
Outputs a plan based on your goal.
Fat Cut or Muscle Gain. Each mode gives you a target daily intake with a named intensity level. You pick the pace. You see the number.
| Goal | Intensity Levels | Daily Target |
|---|---|---|
| Fat Cut | Gentle / Steady / Moderate / Aggressive | TDEE − deficit |
| Muscle Gain | Micro / Lean / Standard / Aggressive | TDEE + surplus |
Shows every number with its source.
The formula is visible. The inputs are yours. There are no mystery targets.
Recalculates as you change.
As your weight shifts, your lean mass changes — and so does your TDEE. MILA prompts recalculation when your weight changes by 5+ lbs, every 4 weeks, or when your activity level shifts. Each recalculation shows you the delta: how much your needs changed, and why.
Who It's For
Not everyone. Specifically:
- The person who has been consistent — logging, tracking, doing everything "right" — and hit a wall they can't diagnose because they have no real data
- The one running MyFitnessPal + a calculator + a spreadsheet and still guessing whether their targets are correct
- The person who has looked at an app-generated calorie number and thought: why is this the number?
- Anyone who can't justify $150–300/month for a trainer but wants the same quality of reasoning
💡 MILA isn't for people who want to be told what to do. It's for people who want to understand what they're doing and why it works.
What It's Not
| Not this | Why |
|---|---|
| A food logger (at v1) | It calculates what you should eat — log it in any app against that target |
| A workout tracker | It doesn't count reps or generate training plans |
| An AI that issues commands | Every output has a formula behind it. MILA shows you the formula |
| A streak system or leaderboard | No notifications designed to make you feel guilty for an imperfect week |
The goal is competence, not compliance.
How to Access It
MILA is still in development. When it's ready, it will be available in the App Store.
If you want to follow the build as it happens — the product decisions, the things I got wrong and had to rework — this blog is where I document it.
The next post covers the research that convinced me to build this in the first place.