Julie, a 55-year-old physical therapist and professor from Montana, used MacroFactor to unlock her strength and dive into the world of powerlifting after years of facing challenges with activity and nutrition.
“Over a few years’ time, I had lost a great deal of muscle mass, and gained quite a bit of body fat,” Julie said. “I had low energy, and felt like I would never reclaim the energy or ability to exercise and do the things I loved to do (hike, ski, water sports, lift weights).”
Julie was also struggling with the need to put more conscious effort into her nutrition.
“Because I was active throughout my adult life, I tried to eat healthfully, but I didn’t have to worry too much about maintaining my weight,” she said.
She realized the strategies that had once worked were no longer effective.
Julie found herself in a situation many women over 40 can relate to — adjusting to changing hormones and dealing with nagging injuries. Severe knee osteoarthritis had impacted her ability to train and significantly reduced her activity levels. Julie weighed the options and decided to undergo a partial knee replacement and reclaim her active life.
“After 6 months of rehabilitation and slowly building back my lower extremity range of motion and strength, I signed up for a barbell lifting class at my gym. I loved it so much that it evolved into a new competitive sport for me – powerlifting!”
Jumping into powerlifting, Julie knew she wanted her nutrition to align with her training.
“A little over a year ago, as I was starting to train for my first competition, my powerlifting coach introduced me to MacroFactor,” she said. “He had been using it with great success, and told me that it had a coached program feature that would recommend adjustments to my calories and macros based on my energy expenditure. It was just what I had been looking for. I tried it for a week and was hooked!”
Goal wise, Julie knew she wanted to lose body fat, but she also wanted her nutrition to support her strength training.
“I wanted to eventually lose more body fat to get back to the weight I had been throughout my 30s and 40s,” she said. “However, because I was preparing for my first powerlifting competition, I decided to go into maintenance with a slight bulk prior to the meet, since I was already in the middle of my weight class and trying to increase my strength and hit PRs.”
This approach allowed Julie to keep gaining strength while staying in her desired weight class.
Julie used MacroFactor’s dynamic adjustments to help her hit her body fat goals while also protecting her hard earned strength and muscle so she didn’t have to spend time second-guessing her progress.
“I ended up exceeding my original goal of fitting back into the clothes in my closet, losing belly fat, and reaching 130 pounds, which is the weight I maintained throughout my 30s and much of my 40s,” she said. “One year ago, I never would have believed it was achievable in my 50s, but with the knowledge and tools MF provided, I did it! I rocked that bikini all summer long and showed off my abs. I got down to 17.5% body fat and 125 pounds at the end of summer. I also managed to gain 2 pounds of muscle during my cut.”
Throughout this journey, Julie gained not just physical strength but also a sense of mental clarity about nutrition that will stay with her for life.
“My biggest win since starting MacroFactor has been the ability to change my relationship with food. Instead of seeing foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or feeling like I had to completely eliminate types of foods or food groups, I felt like I had more conscious control over my decisions by reviewing all of the tracking data in the MF app.”
Julie ate 5-6 times a day, prioritizing high-protein meals to fuel her recovery and muscle growth, and she really held strong to following the coached program recommendations.
“I joke that MacroFactor knows me better than I know myself and picks up on increases or decreases in energy expenditure before I even realize it!”
When asked about her favorite MacroFactor features, Julie had a clear winner.
“I love so many of the features that MacroFactor offers,” she began, “but my absolute favorite is the Energy Balance graph on my dashboard. It lets me know how closely I have been sticking to my targets, and the difference between my nutrition and my expenditure. This has been a total game changer for me and has taken out all of the guess work!”
Julie went on to explain how the feature helped her better understand her progress.
“If I am losing weight at a slower or faster rate than planned, I know exactly why. As long as I track accurately and consistently, MacroFactor has been spot-on in all of my coaching recommendations. Knowledge is power, and MF takes out so much of the frustration of trying to lose weight and/or gain muscle.”
When asked what her biggest piece of advice was for a fellow MacroFactor user, Julie shared a theme that resonates throughout many success stories.
“Patience and consistency is key,” she said. “I have heard other people on MacroFactor’s social media sites say, ‘Trust the process,’ and that is so true. MacroFactor’s algorithms will work well, as long as the user is consistent and accurate in logging.”
Julie acknowledges that it can take a little work but insists it’s worth it.
“Tracking macros has a learning curve, but the payoff is fantastic! It won’t all happen at once. You learn what works for you, and you can tweak the process along the way.”
Julie’s story offers hope to anyone feeling stuck in their journey. With the right tools and education, she’s shown that progress is possible. From here, Julie is looking forward to putting on a little more muscle and seeing where things take her.
“After reaching my fat loss goal, I switched over to a slow gain (at a rate of 0.2 lbs per week) a few weeks ago as I started training for my next powerlifting meet,” she explained. “I will stay in the same weight class but try to put on a little more muscle so I can go after some new PRs! After the meet, I will go back to a slight deficit to lean out a little bit more. With MacroFactor, I know that I won’t gain too fast so that I can stay in my weight class, and I am not afraid to gain weight, since I know I can achieve fat loss again. I now have the tools to meet and maintain my goals.”
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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