Pascal, a 31-year-old GIS advisor and specialist from the Netherlands, used MacroFactor to find new motivation, lose weight, and trust the process.
“Peace of mind. Words cannot express how important this is in life in general,” Pascal said. “One of the most challenging and time-consuming parts of working out is figuring out how much to eat and tracking your weight gain or loss based on your intake. The stress of losing weight too slowly, plateauing, or gaining weight too quickly is no longer an issue for me because I can just look at MacroFactor and trust that it will adjust if needed.”
Before using MacroFactor, Pascal faced setbacks after a car accident and disruptions from COVID-19 that affected his health and fitness. It was soon after that Pascal discovered MacroFactor and started to turn things around.
“I’ve been lifting for most of my adult life, mainly as a powerlifter, until I got into a car accident. My health took a turn for the worse, and it was followed by COVID-19, which caused my motivation to hit an all-time low. It got to a point where I weighed 100kg (220lb), and I looked at myself and said, “No more!” That was when I discovered and started using MacroFactor.”
Prior to MacroFactor, Pascal relied on a combination of nutrition apps and Excel sheets to track his weight and nutrition. While these methods helped, he felt they were time-consuming and often left him uneasy about the fluctuations he saw on the scale.
“I used to struggle with trusting the process,” he said. “I would often get anxious when my weight fluctuated by a few kilos within days. This would make me want to impulsively adjust my caloric intake. Tracking my weekly/monthly averages in weight changes and TDEE using the Excel sheets helped me trust the process, but it was a significant time investment to maintain.”
Pascal’s primary goal with MacroFactor was to lose weight. He started at 100kg (220lb) and set a target of 75kg (165lb) (a 55lb weight loss). While that was a pretty big goal, he considered approaching the process with sustainability in mind.
“I wanted to lose weight in a non-intrusive way,” Pascal explained. “Since I had to lose a lot of weight, it would take a long time no matter [what]. Better let it take a month or two longer but make the experience that much easier on my physical and mental health.”
Using the MacroFactor coached program, he created a manageable deficit of roughly 350-400 Calories per day. He felt this would ensure he wouldn’t feel drained or too preoccupied with food.
Over nine months, Pascal dropped 17kg (37lb). His progress continued despite unexpected life events, such as moving and family health issues. In total, Pascal lost 24kg (52lb) over 14 months.
When asked about MacroFactor’s features, Pascal emphasized how much he appreciates the efficiency of the logging system.
“The app in its entirety has the philosophy to make a pleasant, responsive, and fast workflow that doesn’t take up much of your time. I have a lot of dinner recipes and meal prep recipes configured, so I don’t think tracking my food and using the app takes more than 2-5 minutes per day. … It’s also faster than any other apps I have tested. In the beginning, there was basically no European (Dutch) food recognized, so I had to set up hundreds of custom foods. Later on, the label scanner helped with it a lot, but nowadays I’d say about 80% of the products are being recognized, which is more than any other app I’ve used. I’m glad that [MacroFactor] is actively adding more products to the database.”
For Pascal, the biggest win wasn’t the weight loss — it was the peace of mind he gained by trusting the program laid out by MacroFactor.
“The app teaches you to trust the process,” Pascal said. “Don’t fret about losing or gaining weight too slowly or quickly. Trust the app to figure it out and adjust if needed, because it does.”
Pascal plans to continue cycling between bulking and cutting phases for the next few years, confident that MacroFactor will help him manage each phase.
“I’m currently building muscle. I’m trying to gain about 1kg a month. Ideally, I’ll cycle weight gain and loss cycles in a 4 month bulk / 1 month cut way for the next few years.”
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