This is the final MacroFactor review you’ll need!
After logging my nutrition in Macrofactor for over 500 days, it has completely changed the way I eat.
It keeps track of all my data and helps guide my decision making process by presenting it all in a concise and beautiful way.
Below you’ll find:
- How MacroFactor actually works
- a few of my favorite features that make it fundamentally unique
- the three types of people who I think could seriously benefit from using an app like this
- A MacroFactor review, for those wondering whether or not it’s right for them.
disclaimer: this post isn’t sponsored, but if you want to sign up, you can use code MARRA, for an extended two week free trial. I’m a referral partner, and this supports me at no cost to you.
My girlfriend and I both get the annual subscription because it works out to be just under six bucks a month.
How does MacroFactor work?
To my knowledge, this app was actually born out of a spreadsheet that was created by world record holding powerlifter, Greg Nuckols.
It helps people calculate their calorie and macronutrient targets and adjust its recommendations based on how their body weight responded week to week.
The last time I used this spreadsheet, I was 22 years old. Whoa.
Now, about six years later, this spreadsheet has become a very sophisticated app that serves the same basic purpose, but with a lot more finesse.
Would this really be the best ever MacroFactor review without the history?
MacroFactor Review
Setup
It all starts with the setup process where you tell the app some basic information about yourself like your height, your weight, your age, your goals, your nutrient preferences, your activity levels.
The algorithms do their work and it spits out an initial plan for your nutrition on day one. Every seven days thereafter, you click a button that says check in (shown below) and it’ll update your nutrient targets based on your progress
If you’re moving toward your goal at the appropriate rate, the app gives you a thumbs up and says, keep on doing exactly what you’re doing.
Otherwise, your plan will be corrected accordingly.
Calories get adjusted upwards or downwards based on what you need.
Very cool.
You get to see MacroFactor review your progress every single week.
When you can see the scale move week after week, that’s highly motivating.
I love that this feature prevents you from going too far off track with your targets.
Imagine getting six weeks into a weight loss diet and you’re just not making the progress you want because your calorie targets were set up incorrectly on day one… you just don’t have that problem here.
Having an unbiased piece of software that adjusts your targets based on your progress means that you’re never guessing about whether or not you’re on the right track.
What makes MacroFactor unique?
The first and most notable difference when I started using the app was the speed.
It’s ultra quick to find foods, copy from previous days, and move foods around on the timeline.
If you’re going to be logging a few times a day, then it’s actually a pretty big deal.
Especially if you’re a nerd and you’re going to log over 500 days like I did.
Adherence neutral design
The way I see it, this means two things.
- if you go over your goals or you forget to track for the day, there isn’t some big red bar or warning icon that makes you feel like a loser.
- if you forget to track, or you don’t eat a specific amount of a specific food at a specific time, the app still functions exactly how it’s supposed to.
Which is cool because you don’t get punished or coerced into sticking to your goals.
Label scanner
I’ve only gotten to use this twice since the food database is already enormous, but if for whatever reason Macrofactor can’t find the food of the barcode that you’re scanning… it’s got your back.
Normally, I just scan the barcode on the food’s package and it takes less than a second to show up (shown in this video).
But if for whatever reason it can’t scan the barcode or it doesn’t have the feature, you can actually point the camera at the label.
And it’ll scan the nutrition facts.
Here are the two data displays that make this whole app completely worth it for me.
MacroFactor energy expenditure graph
The expenditure graph shows you an estimation of how many calories your body is burning each day.
This is a really cool feature because it shows you a visual representation of all the efforts that you might be putting in to burn more calories each day actually visualized on a graph. If you’re doing extra cardio or increasing your step goal or training more frequently in an effort to burn some more energy, you’re going to actually see how your body is responding here in a visual way.
A lot of people have asked me how the expenditure graph actually works.
It’s just using two pieces of data in order to figure out a third point of data. For example, if I know how fuel efficient a car is, I know how far it’s traveled, then I can tell you how much gas it used.
Or if I know how much gas it used and how efficient it is with fuel, I can tell you how far it traveled.
fuel efficiency * fuel used = distance travelled
Macrofactor is taking how much food you eat and how your body weight’s responding and saying, okay, well this is roughly how many calories you’re burning each day.
food intake * body weight changes = energy expenditure
There’s a lot more complicated math happening – but that’s above my pay grade.
MacroFactor weight trend graph
This weight trend graph is the most general population friendly weight tracking graph I’ve seen.
It takes all your normal body weight fluctuations that you would see during a weight loss diet, where the scale is going up and down throughout the week (even if you’re doing everything totally right) and it smooths them out.
Now you can see a moving average, week to week, of how your body weight is responding.
If you have an abnormal weight pop after a dinner out, it doesn’t show you a massive spike on the weight trend.
It might just say, your weight trend changed by 0.2 pounds from the average.
Which helps you stay focused on the longer term vision and the more important stuff, like the long term trends of where your body weight is going.
MacroFactor Coaching Modules
Coaching modules are a unique feature to MacroFactor you won’t see in any other nutrition app.
They’re essentially little educational blips to help users resolves issues regarding their diet, and optimize their nutrition habits to support their goals.
Each week when you check in, The MacroFactor Coach determines which modules will appear based on your unique habits and progress.
Some educational modules appear regularly, while others will only be shown in specific situations.
From the MacroFactor website:
Version 3.0.0 includes MacroFactor’s first six modules. This first batch of modules focuses on reviewing the week’s nutrition and weight logging data with the user, allowing them to provide context that will lead to more accurate coaching recommendations.
It’s pretty awesome to see this, since the majority of difficulties people might face with their diets could be easily solved through a bit of education.
Who should use MacroFactor?
If you’re reading a MacroFactor review, odds are good that you’re interested in eating better.
You could be just dipping your toes in the water with calorie tracking.
Or maybe you’ve been training and eating well for a decade.
Tracking your progress is a powerful tool for boosting your motivation and adherence.
I covered that in last month’s blog – How Intelligent Guys Will Get In Shape in 2024
In any case, there are three types of people who would benefit most…
The first type of person who would benefit from an app like this is someone who’s tried different weight loss type approaches in the past and is fed up with seeing subpar, slow, or no results from whatever they tried.
The done-for-you
Someone like my girlfriend, Jaye, who lost 20 pounds using Macrofactor this year.
She was tired of doing like the little portion container diets and all that fad stuff.
She wanted something that actually worked but she was a little intimidated by the idea of tracking calories and setting it all up. That’s where the “coached” feature in MacroFactor comes really in handy.
In the coached mode, you basically just tell the app what your goals are, how active you are, and how fast you want to go, then it takes adjusts all your targets for you.
You don’t have to set any macro or calorie targets, you just turn up and hit a single each day, and the app will keep you moving in the right direction.
The data-driven
The second type of person I’d recommend MacroFactor to is someone who’s very serious about their nutrition.
This could be the guy that I saw on the Macrofactor page who prepped for a bodybuilding show using this app.
Or a handful of powerlifter friends of mine who are really interested in seeing all their data visualized.
Or folks who really want to tweak every single little variable they can using tools like the micronutrient explorer and the nutrient timing feature to really get under the hood.
If you like to nerd out about things, you like data, and you like details, then this is definitely the nutrition app for you.
You can go in depth and play around with all your different calorie distributions for each day.
This is where manual mode really shines.
You can play around with different macronutrient ratios for different days, whether you have a hard training day or a light training day or an off day.
Honestly, there are so many nuts and bolts that you could play around with. It is insane.
The “good enough”
The third type of person I would classify as someone who takes things seriously but also can’t be bothered to fiddle with all the little details.
You just want to do good enough so that you get the majority of your results from the highest leverage tasks.
This is someone like me, and I use the collaborative mode.
It provides me all my initial goals and it makes adjustments week to week. But if I want to, I can also go in and adjust the protein targets, I can adjust the calorie targets manually if I want to.
It’s the best of both worlds.
I care about hitting his protein goal, and I want to make sure that I’m gaining weight or losing weight at the rate that I should be, but I don’t need to dial out every single little thing.
As long as I’m moving in the right direction week after week and hitting my protein goal, I’m happy.
Does MacroFactor actually work?
I’d say so – here’s my progress after losing 50 lb using MacroFactor.
It made all the decisions for my diet and macros.
I just showed up and did what it said each week.
If you want to learn more about the nutrition, training, and lifestyle habits I used to make this happen…
Check out my free guide to losing fat while building muscle – Body Recomposition 101.
I’ve found Macrofactor to be the fastest tracking app I’ve ever used.
The way you can copy-paste and log from the home screen makes it ridiculous easy to log.
As you can see, I’ve been using MacroFactor pretty religiously.
It’s also awesome that all your data is available to you.
It’s exportable to a csv, or accessible on the customizable dashboard.
This is how many days I’ve logged food using MacroFactor in the last 2 years.
How much does MacroFactor cost?
The price of MacroFactor is less than MyFitnessPal premium, the RP Diet App, and Carbon Diet Coach.
As far as I can tell, that makes it the most cost-effective premium nutrition app available.
They offer a value-based pricing model, meaning the app is cheaper if you commit to using it for longer.
My girlfriend and I both buy the annual subscription because it works out to be $6 / month.
- 1 month: $12 ($144/year)
- 6 months: $48 ($96/year or $8/month )
- 1 year: $72 ($6/month)
In case you’re not ready to jump into an annual subscription without trying it – you can get a free trial for one week before paying.
That trial becomes two weeks if you use code MARRA at the checkout – this also supports me, at no cost to you!
Is there a MacroFactor discount code?
Yup, if you use my last name as a code MARRA you get an extended two week free trial!
It supports me at no cost to you.
MacroFactor affiliate code – MARRA
How to set up MacroFactor?
If you’d like to see the app in action – check out this video where I do an on-screen walkthrough of how I set up MacroFactor for a weight loss diet.
Or follow the guide below, if you prefer.
I know this was supposed to be a MacroFactor review… but I’m hoping this helps:
STEP 1: MacroFactor Setup
Visit the MacroFactor website or download the app from your app store.
Sign in to MacroFactor using your preferred method, such as Google or your email.
Click “Yes” on the affiliate code and enter code: MARRA for an extended free trial.
Complete the initial setup by providing basic information such as your sex, age, height, current weight, body fat percentage, and exercise frequency.
STEP 2: Set Your Weight Loss Goal
After completing the setup, navigate to the goal setup section.
If your goal is weight loss, calculate your target weight loss by multiplying your current body weight by 0.1. Subtract this number from your initial body weight.
(200×0.1) = 20 lb loss goal / 200-20 = 180 goal weight.
Adjust the weight loss goal slider based on your preference for the speed of weight loss.
A safe and effective range is typically between 0.7% and 1% of your body weight per week.
Save your weight loss goal and proceed to program design.
STEP 3: Set Your Preferences
In the program design section, select the “balanced” option unless you have a specific dietary preference (e.g., low carb, keto, or low fat).
Indicate your training type (lifting, cardio, or both) and your level of experience.
Choose the option to distribute your daily calorie intake evenly across meals or shift if to different days. I prefer even distribution to make it easier to meet your calorie goals consistently.
Review the recommended daily calorie intake provided by MacroFactor. If uncertain, select “not sure” to allow the app to adjust your calories based on progress.
STEP 4: Adjust Your Protein Goal (optional)
Proceed to the MacroFactor dashboard once you have completed the setup.
Depending on your body weight, you may need to adjust your protein intake.
If you weigh below 250 pounds, consider increasing your protein intake to approximately one gram per pound of body weight.
If over 250, just use your height (in centimeters) as a protein goal (in grams)
To adjust protein intake, go to the “strategy” section and click on “edit goal.” Save the changes by clicking the checkmark.
Update your protein goal for each day of the week to reflect the desired adjustment.
STEP 5: Daily Weigh-Ins and Food Tracking
Begin each day by weighing yourself first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom, and wearing minimal or no clothing. MacroFactor smart scale integrations make this even easier.
Use the MacroFactor app to record your weight by clicking the “+” sign and selecting “weight.”
I make this a daily habit, but a minimum of three times per week is probably good too.
To track your calories and keep tabs on your food intake, click the “+” sign and select “search” to find each food item you consume.
If possible, use a food scale to weigh your portions for accurate tracking.
Log each food item with its corresponding nutritional information (calories, protein, carbs, and fats).
Monitor your daily calorie intake and adjust meal choices to stay within your calorie goals.
How do you track calories with MacroFactor and a food scale?
In case you’re new to tracking calories, here’s a short video to show you how it’s done.
All with an on-screen walkthrough using MacroFactor so you can see what the app looks like.
Here’s a simple version:
- Find the food you’re planning to eat in the MacroFactor database.
- Enter the amount you plan to eat (using a food scale, barcode scanner, or estimating).
- Press ‘Log Foods’.
That’s it.
It’s important to either track accurately, or estimate as best as you can.
MacroFactor doesn’t love partial logging – as it messes with the algorithm.
I talk more about that in a blog post – 7 Calorie Tracking Mistakes Keeping You Stuck
Is MacroFactor actually worth it?
Yes – absolutely.
It does exactly what it should and more (if you want it to).
It’s fast, easy-to-use, and has been a gamechanger for helping me stay on track with my nutrition goals.
I literally use it every single day.
So the summary of this MacroFactor review:
It’s a 10/10 product.
Which is better – MacroFactor vs MyFitnessPal?
MacroFactor has a much nicer user experience visually and through it’s ease/speed of logging.
The upside of MFP is that it has a free version (with ads).
So if you’re willing to spend the $6 / month to avoid that – MacroFactor is the clear winner.
Which is better – MacroFactor vs RP Diet App?
These 2 apps are fundamentally different.
The RP Diet App is not a calorie tracker, it is a meal planner.
It tells you how much to eat, of which types of foods, at what time of day.
MacroFactor is a calorie tracking app that allows you to keep a running tally of what you eat throughout the day, so you can be a bit more flexible with it.
If you want a more cut and dry meal plan, RP Diet App is better.
If you want flexibility, MacroFactor takes the cake.
MacroFactor review summary
I’m a huge fan of this app, and I definitely wouldn’t have made all the progress I have over the past 3 years without it.
Thank you for reading – hopefully this MacroFactor review helps you get your nutrition in check like it has for me!
If you have any questions, shoot me an email to matteo@marrastrength.com
– Matteo
PS: If you want to use this app to lose fat while building muscle at the same time…
Check out my free guide Body Recomposition 101 for everything you need to know.
