Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 06/03/2024 | Last updated: 17 October 2026.

1. Who we are

The Calorie Academy is a trading name of Me My Chins and I Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14651108), registered office Unit L, Rose Business Estate, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 3ND. We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. That means we decide how and why your data is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.

This policy covers our website, our membership and coaching services, and the TCA app (on iPhone, Android and the web).

Questions about your data, or want to use any of your rights? Email support@thecalorieacademy.com with “Privacy” in the subject line. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number CSN9316522.

2. What we collect

Some of what you share with us is health data. The law treats health data as “special category” data, which means it needs extra protection and your explicit consent (see section 3). Health data is marked below.

Account details: name, email, phone number, postal and billing address, profile photo, app colour choice, membership tier.
Payments: what you bought and when. Card payments are handled by our payment provider. We never see or store your full card number.
Body and progress (health data): weight, height, body measurements, goal weight, progress photos and try-on photos.
Cycle tracking (health data): period dates, cycle and period length, symptoms, mood, discharge and notes, only if you turn cycle tracking on.
Food and drink (health data): food you log, recipes you save or customise, photos of meals, water, drinks and macros.
Dietary needs (health data): dietary requirements, allergies, intolerances and foods you avoid.
Activity, sleep and wellbeing (health data): steps (typed in, or synced from Apple Health or Health Connect), workouts, sleep and energy check-ins.
Coaching (health data): habits, goals, wins, journal and brain dump entries, daily notes, check-ins (including paid voice note check in answers), and notes your coach keeps, including any health limitations you tell us about.
Messages and community (can include health data): messages with your coach and the TCA chatbot, group chat messages, newsfeed posts, comments and reactions, voice notes, photos and videos you send.
Calls: call bookings, times and video call links.
Device and usage: device type, app version, notification settings and push notification tokens, pages and features used, sign-in times.
Website: cookies and similar technologies on thecalorieacademy.com.

We only collect what we need to coach you and run the app. You choose what to track: cycle tracking, photos and health syncing are all optional.

3. How we use your data, and why we’re allowed to

Because you’re a member (contract):

To create and run your account, and give you access to the app and the membership you paid for.
To take payments and manage your subscription, refunds and plan changes. We also keep financial records because the law requires it.
To send you reminders and notifications you’ve switched on, and emails about your account.
To run the community (group chats and newsfeed).

With your explicit consent (health data):

To build your meal plans, macros, recipes and swaps around your goals, diet and allergies.
To coach you: track your progress, cycle, habits and wellbeing, and spot when you might need support (for example, a safety check if your weight drops below a healthy range).
Anything health-related you choose to post in group chats or on the newsfeed.

Only if you’ve said yes (consent):

To send you marketing emails. You can unsubscribe at any time.
To share your progress and wins in our marketing (for example on our website or social media). We’ll always ask you first, by WhatsApp, email or in the app, or you can tick “Happy for TCA to share this” when you post on the newsfeed. We only ever show your first name.

To keep things running well (legitimate interests):

To keep the app safe, fix problems and improve it.

Explicit consent for health data. We ask for this when you join the app. You can withdraw it at any time by emailing us. If you do, we’ll stop using your health data, but we won’t be able to provide the parts of the coaching that depend on it, such as meal plans, progress tracking and cycle-aware coaching.

We never sell your data. We never use your health data, photos or story in our marketing unless you’ve given us your permission first.

4. AI and automated features

Some app features use artificial intelligence (AI) provided by Anthropic (the company behind Claude):

The TCA chatbot answers how-to questions in your messages. It reads your message, and can look up our recipe and ingredient library, to reply.
AI check-in and your weekly report read your check-in answers and daily notes, so the messages you get are personal to you.
Food photo recognition in the Food Journal estimates what’s in a photo of your meal.
Recipe Inspo reads a screenshot you save and turns it into a recipe.
Recipe suggestions (What Can I Cook, currently paused) suggest recipes from ingredients you have.

Only what’s needed for that feature is sent: your message, photo, ingredient list or check-in answers and notes, and where relevant your dietary needs and macro targets. Under our provider’s terms, your data is not used to train its AI models.

Your meal plans are built automatically by our own system using your preferences, targets and our recipe rules. Your coach can see and change your plan, and you can swap meals at any time. We don’t make any decision about you based only on automated processing that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you.

5. Who we share it with

Our team. Your coach and TCA admin staff can see your data where they need it to coach and support you. Our owner and admin team can also view your account in read-only mode to help with support questions. They can’t change anything while viewing, and every view is logged. Everyone on the team is bound by confidentiality.

Other members. Only what you choose to post in group chats or on the newsfeed. Your name shows as your first name and last initial.

Companies that run parts of our service for us. They only use your data to provide their service to us, under a contract with us:

Cloud hosting and database: store the app’s data, sign-in and files (photos, voice notes). Your app data is stored in the EU (Ireland).
App delivery: host the web app, deliver push notifications and app updates, and the app stores.
Health apps: Apple Health or Health Connect, only if you choose to connect them.
Payments: take payments and manage subscriptions.
Email: send account emails, and marketing emails if you’ve signed up.
Workplace tools: our email, calendar and video calls for coaching. When you book a call, you get a calendar invite with a video call link.
AI provider: power the AI features in section 4.
Food database: barcode lookups. Only the barcode number is sent, never anything about you.

If you’d like the names of the companies we use, just ask and we’ll tell you.

We may also share data if the law requires it, or with a buyer if the business is ever sold (they’d have to protect it in the same way).

Outside the UK. Some of these providers handle data outside the UK, in the EU and the USA. When that happens we make sure it’s protected, for example through the UK-US “Data Bridge” or UK-approved contract terms.

6. How long we keep it

We only keep your data for as long as we need it.

Your account and everything you’ve tracked: while you’re a member. If your membership ends, your account is archived and you can still log in to see your own data, until you ask us to delete it.
To delete your account, go to Settings in the app and tap Delete my account. If you have a paid membership, please cancel it first. Your account can be deleted once your membership has ended.
Your account is deleted automatically 14 days after you ask. Until then, you can change your mind in Settings by tapping Keep my account.
When your account is deleted, we remove your profile, progress, measurements, photos, food diary, wins, messages to our team and all of your files, and your log in is closed.
Messages you posted in group chats stay, so the conversation still makes sense for everyone else, but they’re shown as Anonymous member. Any photos, videos or voice notes you posted there are removed.
Newsfeed posts you shared are removed when your account is deleted.
Payment and invoice records: 6 years, because the law requires it.
Marketing email list: until you unsubscribe.
Progress or wins you’ve said we can share: if you change your mind, or delete your account, we’ll stop using them and take them down from our own website and social media. We can’t remove copies other people have already shared or saved.

7. Your rights

You have the right to:

See the data we hold about you, and get a copy.
Correct anything that’s wrong (most of it you can change yourself in the app’s Settings).
Delete your data.
Take your data elsewhere in a common format.
Object to us using your data for our legitimate interests, and to marketing at any time.
Restrict how we use it while a concern is looked into.
Withdraw consent at any time, including for health data (section 3).

To use any of these, email support@thecalorieacademy.com with “Privacy” in the subject line. We’ll reply within one month. It’s free.

Deleting your account. Go to Settings in the app and tap Delete my account (section 6 explains how it works). Or email us with “Delete my account” in the subject line, from the email address on your account.

Complaints. If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

8. Security, children and changes

Security. Your data is encrypted while it travels and while it’s stored. Each member can only see her own data. Coaches and admins sign in with their own accounts and only see what their role allows. No system is 100% secure, but if something ever went wrong that put you at risk, we’d tell you and the ICO as the law requires.

Children. Our services are for adults aged 18 and over. We don’t knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

Changes. If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.