As a macro coach, I get asked all the time about various macro tracking apps. To be honest, a lot of them I simply haven’t tried and don’t have a lot of feedback to give. I don’t personally track my food very often anymore, and if I do, I usually utilize MacrosFirst.

However, I kept seeing Macro Factor come up in conversations amongst my clients and wanted to give it a try to see what it’s like - I had heard about some of the features and wanted to check it out for myself. 

I downloaded the Macro Factor app and activated my free trial - here’s my feedback after using it for a full week to track my food and weight. 

Getting Started With Macro Factor

First, I really appreciate that Macro Factor offers a free trial of their app - it’s nice to be able to test it out before committing. I did a 7-day free trial, however, if you have a referral code (or influencer code), you will get a 14-day free trial. FYI, I did ask them if I could get a referral code, it’s “FHMacros” if you get to the end of this article and decide you’d like to do the free trial.

Once I downloaded the app, it took me through a series of questions about my current weight, my body type, how often I exercise, how active I am, what my experience level with lifting weights and doing cardio are, etc. This is basically your intake for getting a set of custom macros. 

After inputting all of my information, Macro Factor told me that my estimated initial calorie expenditure was 2305 calories. Essentially, they were saying this was my estimated maintenance calories. They note that this is an estimate done by their algorithm and that the more you log your food and weight, the more accurate MacroFactor will be with your metabolism. 

This number felt a tad on the high side for me, as I usually maintain around 2000-2100 calories per day. But, again, this is just an estimate based on my inputs; it’s certainly not spot on, but it would be a pretty good place to start. I also really like and respect that they didn’t just default to super low calories to get people quick results. 

From there, they tell you that your expenditure is dynamic and based on many different factors and that staying on top of your calorie needs is their specialty. Basically, the more you log your information, the better MacroFactor will work for you and the more accurate it will be. After that, it asked me for my target weight. I set my target weight at 5 lbs below my current weight so the app could calculate my deficit calories for me. 

They set me at a very moderate fat loss rate of .5 lbs per week with a calorie goal of 1975. Again, I really appreciate that they don’t give out super low calorie and macro numbers to people. The goal should always be to eat as much as you can and see results, not as little as you can. This approach is very aligned with my style of eating, and for coaching clients as well. 

The app asks you some questions on what your preferred diet is (balanced, low-fat, low-carb, keto), what type of training you’ll be doing (none, lifting, cardio, or cardio & lifting), how you would like to distribute your calories throughout the week (evenly or cycle them), and what your preferred protein intake is (low, moderate, high, extra high). I thought those were all great questions that can lead to a more customized approach. The only one I disagree with is the protein intake - I wouldn’t necessarily give people a choice - I calculate protein based on need.

For reference, I chose a balanced diet, even calories throughout the week, strength training & cardio, and high protein. With the high protein selection, they put me at approximately 1g of protein per pound of my current body weight, which is about what I eat anyway. MacroFactor then displays your macro program for you which shows your daily calories and macros. 

Using an Affiliate Code

Before I could exit out of the beginning setup, I was brought to a screen where I needed to input who referred me to the app. There’s a box for an affiliate code - if you end up trying the free trial of MacroFactor based on my review, please do me a favor and enter my code “FHMacros” in that box so they know I sent you! Plus, you’ll get the extended, 14-day trial.

Using the App

The setup process takes a few minutes to go through, but it’s worth it once you have a plan. MacroFactor doesn’t give cookie-cutter macros, which is great. Obviously, the most tailored plan would be created by an actual person (like a macro coach, dietitian, or nutritionist), but this is a step above the standard online macro calculators. 

Once inside the app, it can feel a little overwhelming knowing where to start, but all it takes is some time and exploration to start to see how things come together and are to be utilized. The dashboard that’s present when you first open the app shows your weekly nutrition in a chart. You have the option to look at it from two different views: calories consumed or calories remaining.

Note: Take a look at the video I made (below) to see inside the Macro Factor App:

You’ll also see your “insights and analytics,” which track your expenditure, weight trend, energy balance, and goal progress. There are also areas for your habits (weighing in and food logging), your body metrics, your nutrition breakdown, and then some general stuff like your steps and period tracking that gets pulled from your Apple Health App (if you consented to connecting them). You also have the option to customize your dashboard to make it how you want it, which is pretty neat.

The food logging aspect is pretty straightforward - you can manually enter your food, search for foods in the database, or scan a label to input your food. Food logging with MacroFactor is pretty similar to MacrosFirst or MyFitnessPal. I found that most of the foods that I eat were in the database, and the food scanner works really well. MacroFactor has you log your food by time of day vs meals, like most apps do. 

The other tab in the app is the “strategy” tab, where you’ll be able to review your macro program, goals, and weight loss. Obviously, the more you input information and track your meals, the more data the app will have and the better the app will be able to serve you. 

Overall Thoughts and Do I Recommend MacroFactor?

I tracked diligently in the MacroFactor App for a week straight. It took me some time to get used to the app and its functionality, but nothing was overly complicated about it. Overall, I feel like MacroFactor is definitely one of the more robust macro tracking apps out there. The entire intake process goes much deeper than most tracking apps do.

Instead of asking for just your height, weight, age, and estimated activity level to calculate a surface-level set of macros, MacroFactor does a bit deeper to allow for more accuracy and customization. I was so happy when the numbers that they gave me came back higher than anticipated. This tells me that MacroFactor is helping people make long-term, lasting health and fitness changes and that they’re not just out here trying to hand out quick fixes for short-term transformations.

I would definitely recommend MacroFactor to those who want to get started tracking macros and want to do so in a cost-effective way. I love that the free trial is available (remember, you can do a two-week trial if you use my code, FHMacros). This gives users ample time to check out the app and get used to its functionality before deciding whether or not to commit. 

If you’ve been thinking about trying MacroFactor, I say go for it! You have two full weeks to check it out risk-free so why not?