r/caloriecount rules, stats, and what to post

This community is for people who are managing weight through control of calorie intake. That is the whole description, and it tells you the room is full of everyday people who count their calories and want practical help doing it. From the rules you can tell who posts here: people sharing what they ate so others can help them learn how to count and estimate calories, people learning the basics, and people who are new to this and might not find it easy. The rules also make clear this is a support space, not a place for medical advice, because Reddit is not the place for that.

The rule that ends most marketing hopes immediately is “No product promotion”, which says do not post or link products, websites, channels, or subreddits you are promoting or thinking of creating, and it even covers research on potential products. Next comes “No Al, low effort posts, spamming posts.”, which bans posts or comments made by, written by, or posted from AI, and also bans promoting or encouraging AI usage. If you thought about running a survey or sharing a study to learn about users, “No posting studies or surveys” shuts that door. Tone rules matter just as much here, so “Be kind” bans personal attacks and food shaming, “No Health Police” removes comments against processed food, seed oils, real versus fake food, or carbs, and “No dismissive comments” removes things like telling someone their meal is too many to count or that they should just start over tomorrow. “No discussion of eating disorders” bans extremely low calorie diet talk and calorie needs assessments for people who are underweight, “No inappropriate advice to minors” bans meal plans and calorie advice for teens, and “No call out posts” bans commenting on anyone's health or medical status. Finally, “No discussion of subreddit moderation” means you take concerns to the mod team rather than posting about them.

Honestly, there is almost no marketing play here, and that is fine, because the community bans promotion outright. What you can do is participate as a person. If you genuinely count calories, you can share your own food log and ask for help estimating calories, which is exactly what posters here want. You can answer other people's estimation questions in plain, kind words that you wrote yourself. If you have personal experience counting calories for your own health, you can share it as your own story rather than as advice for anyone specific. Keep every comment judgment free and focused purely on the mechanics of counting, and never steer anyone toward a product, a website, or a subreddit you are connected to.

Any product promotion gets you removed, including links to products, websites, channels, or subreddits you are promoting or thinking of creating, and even research on potential products. AI is banned here, so no posts or comments made by, written by, or posted from AI, no AI apps, and no promoting or encouraging AI usage. Studies and surveys of members are not allowed. Food shaming, health policing against processed food, seed oils, real versus fake food, or carbs, and dismissive comments about someone's meal all break the rules. Extremely low calorie diet talk, eating disorder discussion, calorie needs assessments for people who are underweight, and meal plans or calorie advice for minors are all off limits. Do not comment on anyone's health or medical status, and do not post publicly about moderation concerns, because those go straight to the mod team.

This is one of the strictest anti-AI rooms I have read, with a rule that even forbids encouraging AI use, so if you build anything automated for calorie counting this is the wrong room to test it. I also like that the rules go beyond policing spam and actually protect the people posting their meals, like “No dismissive comments” and “No Health Police”. If you show up here, show up as a person who counts calories too.