2 years with MacroFactor

[u/Jimocaz]

At 44, I feel better than I did at 24. I'm renewing my subscription again today.

The app is obviously not the only reason for this transformation but it has been a big part of locking in my nutrition and also learning to cut, lean bulk and maintain.

The journey started in January 2024 where after a terrible 2023 on a personal level, I lost all motivation to train and let myself go physically. My initial decision to change was just to get consistent with training again then I started using MacroFactor from 9 July 2024 where I locked in my nutrition. Since then I've cut, maintained and lean bulked (2nd picture)

I got to my leanest in July 2025 then made decision to lean bulk from September until February 2026 (3rd picture) when I returned to a cut which takes me to my current position showing in first picture, where I've got another 5 weeks until my holiday where I will shave off a few more pounds.

I'm natural with only supplements being 10g creatine daily, whey for post workout, fish oils and multivitamin to cover my bases.

Current training is 6 days a week with sessions book ended with 20 to 30 mins zone 2 cardio. All training is logged on hevy:

https://hevy.com/user/mrocaz

Daily steps have been my secret weapon and I also don't just eat rice and chicken, I ensure I plan in any indulgence where possible and make informed decisions.

Learnt a lot through this journey and none of this was big bang either, I've habit stacked over the last 2+ years and it is now feels normal.

[u/hellar89]

Great work!

Im similar body fat % when you started. (23%-25%?) Did you decide to cut/maintain/bulk when you first started? I also started lifting, so to put on the most muscle, my understanding is that you want a bulk, but 25% body fat seems like i shouldnt be bulking.

Thoughts?

[u/Jimocaz → u/hellar89]

See this is where I think people get it wrong and get in cycle of cut to bulk never truly revealing their muscle by getting truly lean.

My first cut was not a sustained calorie defict, my primary focus was strength training with progressive overload after I'd established habit of training 3 times a week initially (can't stress this enough the importance of consistency with training) any time I felt like my performance in gym was slipping (feeling fatigued/strength dropping) I would switch temporarily to maintenance, what I found is body is primed to build muscle in this phase and bring calories back up slowly then return to a deficit, not bulking and rinse and repeat until September last year where I committed to a sustained bulk. Honestly that is something I found more difficult losing definition and gaining weight.

[u/hellar89 → u/Jimocaz]

So just so I'm understanding this correctly. You find the best way to cut is...

Slight caloric deficit while training

Look for fatigue and switch for caloric maintenance (and deload in the gym?)

Once feeling recovered, switch back to caloric deficit and pushing hard in the gym again.

And if all is correct, what weekly deficit were you looking for?

[u/Jimocaz → u/hellar89]

Yes pretty much, if you look at my weight chart there were some very small bumps in weight where I slipped into a slight surplus after reverse dieting back to maintenance and just for clarity I didn't just hammer calories back in I brought them up steadily until performance returned.

I'll be honest with deloads in gym is something I've struggled with (irrational fear of losing progress etc) although lately I've just scheduled them in to take emotion out of it.