New and Noteworthy
Case study: Alex Barone’s 25 pound weight loss
After years struggling with her nutrition and weight, 30-year-old Alex Barone used MacroFactor to complete her most successful and psychologically sustainable attempt at weight loss yet – all while gaining strength in her lifts, working a manual labor job, and engaging in active hobbies.
She said her biggest win, though, has been developing a more neutral relationship with food.
“This 6-month period of using MacroFactor is the longest period of time that I can remember not binge eating. I have completely eradicated emotional compulsion from my eating behaviors for the first time in my life.”
Read more of Alex’s story in the new case study article here: How Alex Used MacroFactor to Fuel Her Physically Demanding Lifestyle, Develop a Better Relationship with Food, and Lose Weight
How Alex Used MacroFactor to Fuel Her Physically Demanding Lifestyle, Develop a Better Relationship with Food, and Lose Weight
Updated KB articles from Greg
Greg added and updated some new articles to the Knowledge Base this month.
Why Don’t My Macros Add Up to my Total Calories?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get from new users, so Greg updated and improved our KB entry on the topic.
Many people are surprised to learn that there’s not a 1-to-1 relationship between macros and calories. Read the article to learn more, and to determine whether you should aim for your macro targets or calorie targets.
How Do MacroFactor’s Coaching Algorithms Deal with Partially Logged Days?
MacroFactor’s algorithms are remarkably durable, but they have one major Achilles heel: partial food logging. Read this updated article to learn why partial logging can be a problem, and what to do if you find yourself in a situation where you’ve logged some food for a day, but you either can’t or don’t want to log anything else for the rest of the day.
Does MacroFactor use Energy Expenditure Data from my Wearable Activity Tracker?
We realized that the previous version of this KB article was too long to be skimmable, and too short to fully explain the issue. This updated version is a short, concise answer to the question. For those who want to dive deeper and learn more, check out our website article about the accuracy of wearable devices: The Drawbacks of Using Wearable Devices to Inform Nutrition Targets.
In Case You Missed It
We share a lot of informative content on our Instagram and in our groups on Facebook and Reddit throughout the month.
Here are some of our favorites from the past few weeks, in case you missed them.
Quick Tips
Quick Tip posts aim to give you quick tutorials on how to use some of the cool, lesser-known features in the app. This month, we published Quick Tips on viewing top contributors for nutrients and tracking micronutrient intake over time.
Micronutrient Spotlights
Micronutrient Spotlights feature a micronutrient that you can track in MacroFactor and give you information on intake guidelines and good food sources for eating more of that nutrient. This month, we published Micronutrient Spotlights on fiber and magnesium.
In a Jam
In a Jam posts cover tips for navigating difficult situations and questions related to diet, nutrition, or using MacroFactor. This month, we published In a Jam posts on changing your macro plan and guesstimating calories.
Success Story
We were thrilled to share another wonderful success story this month, too.
Brett Alcox, a 30-year old software engineer, used MacroFactor to lose 47 pounds and achieve his goal of a single-digit body fat percentage.
“My biggest win was the lifelong changes MacroFactor assisted in making,” Brett said. “About 4 months into my cut, I started walking a minimum of 12,000 steps per day, and MacroFactor really showed the difference on the expenditure graph. It has made diet compliance a breeze due to the sheer increase in calories while also positively impacting so many other aspects of my health — resting heart rate dropped, blood pressure dropped, HRV increased, lipids dropped, and sleep quality improved.”
Read more from Brett’s success story here.
What We’re Working On
Widgets
Widgets are coming soon! Although we’ve got a lot of plans in motion, we’re giving widgets the majority of our app development attention right now.
We recently expanded the scope of our plan for widgets, and there’s sure to be some pleasant surprises included in the finished product we will deliver. This expansion in scope has extended the development timeline some, but we believe it will be well worth it!
Widgets are our most highly requested feature, by a pretty sizable margin, so we know you’re as excited as we are to bring MacroFactor to your home screen.
Development plans for Year 3
On the occasion of MacroFactor’s second anniversary earlier this month, we published our MacroFactor Annual Report.
In the report, we reflect on the improvements made to MacroFactor in its second year, and provide a sneak peek at the development we’re planning for Year 3.
While we can’t reveal all of our plans, we feel confident in saying our major theme for development this year will be the MacroFactor coaching experience.
MacroFactor’s smart nutrition coach has been at the heart of the app since Day 1, but we know there’s plenty of room for further improvement.
For months now, we’ve been contemplating how MacroFactor can create a coaching experience that serves you better – one that’s more dynamic, observant, and experientially rich.
We found an answer, and we feel confident in saying the features we have planned will blow you away.
So, in Year 3, we are going back to our roots. We’re building a coaching system that’s not simply an evolution of what’s already out there, but a revolution that will redefine what an algorithmic nutrition coach can do. This will be like nothing you’ve seen before.
The total scale of this project is larger than any feature set we’ve done before, so we’re confident in saying that the new coaching system will be our one big focus for Year 3. Coaching is the heart of the app, and we need to make sure we get this right.
We’ll of course continue rolling out other highly requested, individual features along the way, but 2023-2024 will largely be the year of the coaching revolution.
Read the full Annual Report to learn more.
The 2023 MacroFactor Annual Report
To learn more about what we’re working on, check our public roadmap to see our plans for new features and improvements. You can also submit features for consideration and vote on the upcoming features that are the highest priority to you
