Michael Cadegan, a 32-year-old Registered Nurse at a children’s hospital, used MacroFactor to lose 19 pounds in four months (going from a body-fat percentage of 17% to 9.5%), fuel his CrossFit training, and gain muscle and strength.
“My biggest win, generally speaking, has been setting a goal of body recomposition and accomplishing that goal – especially given that it’s something I’ve tried to accomplish on and off for many years and have never succeeded,” Michael said.
“MacroFactor was integral to this process, as it informed me of what my macro targets were, allowed me to easily log my daily food intake, and kept me on track by giving me objective data of my progress throughout.”
Prior to using MacroFactor, Michael tried to simultaneously lose fat and gain muscle several times. He trained hard – doing CrossFit classes five days per week – but struggled to control his nutrition, so he didn’t see the physique progress he desired.
“I had tried using other apps to count my macros in the past, but was never able to be consistent or achieve long term success,” he said.
Michael heard about MacroFactor from Jeff Nippard, and started using the app when he was cast in the lead role of Joseph in a production of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
“As part of the role I had to be shirtless for well over half the show,” Michael said. “I didn’t want my insecurities about my body to negatively impact my ability to sing and perform the role.”
His goal was to lose weight, maintain muscle mass, and ultimately achieve a physique that he was confident displaying on stage and that reflected the hard work he was doing in the gym.
“Over a period of four months, since starting MacroFactor, my body fat percentage went from 17% to 9.5%, my scale weight went from 172 lbs to 153 lbs, and I gained 1lb of muscle mass,” Michael said. “I was able to obtain a physique that was not only characteristic of the role of Joseph but also reflective of the effort I was putting forth in the gym.”
In addition, he also gained strength in the gym – increasing his 1-rep maxes on his hang power clean, clean and jerk, squat clean, and overhead squat.
Michael shared a few details about how he set up his diet in MacroFactor.
He used a coached program, ate a very high protein diet, and aimed for similar calories on all days. In addition, he focused on protein and total calorie intake instead of trying to hit all macronutrient targets perfectly.
“Prior to using MacroFactor, I would have attempted to closely track calories, proteins, carbs, and fats,” Michael said. “I’ve done this in the past with other apps and was never successful, probably because I was too rigid in my approach.
“However, based on MacroFactor’s recommendation, I only focused on protein and calories and didn’t pay much attention to my fat or carb intake. I believe this more relaxed approach set me up for success.”
During the cut, Michael was still able to eat the foods he loves (like cookies), which helped him deal with cravings and shift out of an all-or-nothing mindset.
“MacroFactor allowed me to think of cutting as budgeting,” he said. “You can still eat all the foods you enjoy that are more calorically dense, within reason. You just have to adjust your intake accordingly so you don’t exceed your daily caloric limit.”
After struggling to make progress with other macro tracking and diet coach apps, Michael cited several unique MacroFactor features that helped him achieve his impressive results.
MacroFactor adjusts your calorie targets weekly, just like a nutrition coach would.
“The built-in macro coach is an absolute game changer,” Michael said. “By recording my weight and food intake daily, the app was able to adjust my macros and calories based on if I was gaining or losing weight, rather than me having to do guess work or calculations myself.”
He also found the weekly check-ins motivating, keeping him on track with his goal and encouraging him to increase his daily expenditure.
MacroFactor’s food logging workflows make it fast and easy to track meals.
Michael prepared 4-5 days of meals at once, eating the same meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Consequently, he made use of MacroFactor’s copy-and-paste features to quickly plan his meals and log food ahead of time.
He also loved being able to log his food in grams, quickly create recipes from cookbooks, and share recipes and calorie information with his partner via the app when they ate the same meal.
The weight trend metric highlights meaningful changes, free from day-to-day fluctuations.
Michael said that the app’s unique weight trend metric was crucial to his success – allowing him to focus on the overall trend of his success, rather than the day-to-day fluctuations that he was seeing on the scale.
MacroFactor’s weight trend page also shows typical weekly weight loss, energy deficit per day, and 30-day weight projection.
“Ultimately, having all this data made my results feel tangible and reinforced the healthy habits that were leading to my success,” Michael said. “It provided me with information that told me what I was doing was working, rather than just relying on what I saw in the mirror and on the scale.”
“MacroFactor is by far the most user-friendly, intelligent app I’ve tried,” Michael said. “I truly love how data-driven and goal-focused it is. It gives you graphics of your scale weight, weight trend, energy balance and nutrition and gives you the option to see how these variables change over time. Visually, the app is stunning.”
“Overall, it is unlike any other health app I’ve used and I recommend it to all my friends who are trying to make lifestyle changes.”
After reaching his initial goal, Michael shifted to a maintenance goal in MacroFactor.
“Maintenance can often be the most difficult part of a fitness journey,” he said. “However, the dynamic maintenance phase has been super helpful in allowing me to maintain my current physique since my cut.”
He’s currently eating 3,300 calories per day, and has maintained his weight of 155 pounds for almost a month.
“If it hadn’t been for MacroFactor, I never would have realized I would need to eat this much in order to maintain my progress and likely would have grossly underestimated my daily food intake,” Michael said.
To conclude our interview, we asked Michael if he had any advice to other MacroFactor users who have similar goals. He provided five great, thorough points.
Be aware of the nutrition habits you fall into when you are on autopilot, bored, or feeling stressed or sad, and have a strategy to prevent you from falling back into those habits.
For example, Michael said he has a tendency to want to snack at night. To combat this, he makes a high-protein dessert every night before bed that satiates him physically, helps him reach his protein target, and satisfies his sweet tooth.
- Michael’s go-to is “protein cookie dough,” which is blended oats, protein powder, peanut butter, almond milk, and chocolate chips.
If you do fall off track for a couple of days, try not to be hard on yourself.
“We are imperfect by nature and learning to cope with our emotions and deal with setbacks is life’s work,” Michael said.
Have something external to hold you accountable in reaching your goal.
“For me, it was the musical,” Michael said. “I knew the musical was going to happen, and I would have to be shirtless on stage whether or not I reached my goal or not.”
Don’t tie your happiness to the way your body looks. MacroFactor can help you achieve your body composition goals, but health is about much more than your physique. Be sure to prioritize your mental health and focus on goals that are empowering and edifying.
“I think we all fall into the trap of thinking once our bodies look a certain way we will be ‘happy,’” Michael said. “I can say from personal experience that, although I am content with how my body appears at present, I am still dealing with the same difficult thoughts and feelings I did before I started this journey.”
Find a fitness community that uplifts you, challenges you, and allows you to have fun. For Michael, he found a motivating community at his CrossFit gym.
“CrossFit allowed me to take the focus off of aesthetics and instead switch it to performance,” he said. “It has allowed me to work harder in the gym than I ever have before, while also allowing me to have more fun than I ever have had working out. Because I continue to lift more weight and move faster in the gym – and now have a diet that supports this – my body has been growing and responding accordingly.”
Try MacroFactor for yourself with a 7-day free trial
Confidently control your nutrition with MacroFactor, a science-backed diet coach and macro tracker app that empowers you with the tools you need to reach your goals without rigidity.
You can try it free for 7 days on the App Store or Google Play, or learn more here.
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