Davis Wanless, a 27-year-old UX designer from Canada, used MacroFactor to lose 20 pounds, better understand her body’s needs, and improve her relationship with food.
“I committed and listened to the app’s recommendation for cutting calories,” Davis said. “I hit my weight goal after years of trying, and I felt great!”
After reaching her weight loss goal earlier this year, Davis is now in maintenance and focusing on fueling her bodybuilding-style training. She said this is her “first healthy, most consistent maintenance phase – ever.”
“Some people find tracking triggering, but I have found the data so helpful in understanding that my body needs more from me,” Davis said. “My expenditure has gone up more than 250+ calories since the end of my cut!”
“As a kid, I was overweight and bullied,” Davis said.
She started using MyFitnessPal when she was just 13 years old. She lost a lot of weight, but was attempting to burn thousands of calories through exercise every day, and was only eating about 800 calories per day.
She was exhausted and her relationship with food and nutrition had reached unhealthy levels.
“I hit a point where I knew this exhaustion and effort couldn’t be normal, so I spent time trying to learn what I was doing wrong. Was it this hard for everyone?” she said. “I then spent parts of high school and university getting a handle on fitness and nutrition in my free time. I stopped tracking completely, started training and just ‘trusted my intuitive signals’ – which was good for my mind and honing in on my body, but ultimately my weight creeped back up to an uncomfortable level.”
Years later, she decided that she wanted to try to lose weight again, but knew she needed a healthy and sustainable approach that could help her reach both her physique and training goals.
“I needed a tool that would help me trust my own judgment and understand my body’s needs. MyFitnessPal was NOT the tool to do that,” Davis said. “Cue MacroFactor entering the scene at the right time!”
MacroFactor used Davis’ weight and nutrition data to provide her with a dynamic expenditure estimate and custom macro program.
“[MacroFactor] used my data to help guide me to understand my body’s needs,” she said. “So I wouldn’t restrict when my body needs fuel to power my workouts, and not overeat when life gets stressful.”
As a result, she lost 20 pounds and 5 inches on her waist, while also hitting some massive PRs in the gym.
“With actually understanding how to fuel my body – enough protein and calories – my training progress is through the roof,” Davis said. “I’m adding weight in every session, hitting PRs every couple weeks. I feel great and ultimately, balanced. My relationship with food has also benefited. I feel so much less moral value around foods and just consume what my body needs – for physical OR mental health.”
She said MacroFactor’s evidence-based recommendations, adherence-neutral philosophy, and supportive community in the Facebook group were especially helpful for her.
“This mix provided explicit and implicit support systems as I navigated the complex relationship with food and my own understanding of it,” Davis said.
Since hitting her weight loss goal, Davis has transitioned to a maintenance goal. She’s currently focusing on using nutrition to power her training, while tracking how her expenditure changes with her lifting.
“I also keep an eye on how things change through the month with my [menstrual] cycle,” she said. “The app can clearly pick up on changes around different times of my cycle as water retention increases.”
In the future, Davis said she’s considering a small bulk to help with her training progression. For now, though, she said she is enjoying food and life, while developing a better understanding of how her body responds to it.
To conclude our interview, we asked Davis if she had any advice for other MacroFactor users who have had similar struggles and have similar goals.
“Trust the app,” she said. “The calories are not too high. Your body needs fuel and you’ve been running on empty.”
If you’d like to connect with Davis and follow her training, you can find her on Instagram.
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.
