I lurked in the Facebook Macros group for about two years before I finally had enough of my own s**t and said I will sign up and find a way to make it work (financially). I was immediately discouraged to be matched with a male and kept thinking it was a sign I made a mistake, maybe I should ask to switch, etc. I searched in the Macros group and noticed others had the same feelings and all those posts were flooded with comments saying, “no, I felt this way too but I’m so glad I gave it a shot!” I am about 5 months in and SO GLAD to say I gave it a shot! I truly believe I couldn’t have been matched with a better coach. He’s so supportive in all the ways that HELP me — if I have a bad week, if I’m not hitting nutrition and/or exercise goals, if I’m feeling discouraged. I always make sure I try and recognize it so I can mention it in my check-ins, and the first few times, it gave me so much anxiety to open his message with feedback. I was already feeling disappointed in myself and ready to get in the mindset of “I can’t do this because I keep failing,” but 100% of the those times have been met with support, understanding, encouragement, and even praise for things that went well/improved. I’m sure he probably knew I was already being hard on myself about things I wish I had done better on, so having positive feedback despite those hiccups really helped me feel committed to move forward with trying my best. I would see so many posts about “consistency > perfection” and that kept coming back to me. As the weeks went on, I was pretty confident with my tracking, found some “go-to” foods I ENJOYED to keep on hand, slowly getting a little stronger with my workouts, and even seeing the scale going down. At 5ish months in, I am down 30 pounds — and that includes my “lull” I’ve had the last couple weeks with iffy tracking and missing many, many workouts. During those busy weeks where my tracking wasn’t as consistent and my workouts were ignored, I had my weekly check-in looking over my head. I tried to stick with most of my go-to foods and tried getting my steps in even though I wasn’t doing the exercises. I missed 1-2 check-ins and was starting to feel the “oh crap I’m falling off the wagon” feeling. I explained how life had been hectic and how badly I still wanted to stick with this despite my lack of attentiveness. I was immediately supported and validated, even being told I’m definitely not falling off the wagon. I’ve struggled with wanting to be thinner and healthier, but like many others, I would make all these definitive and sometimes drastic changes in my life and it wasn’t feasible long term. This is different. It’s reasonable and sustainable. I didn’t make any drastic changes in my life. I took some time to weigh and track foods I already eat and tweaked my routine to hit my generous macros. As time went in I’d try working on other areas — staying within my calorie/macro limits, getting all my workouts in/more reps, hitting my protein, adding more fruits/vegetables in my day, etc. I don’t (and won’t) eat foods I don’t like, I keep my “musts” in my life but am flexible for alternatives for things I don’t care about as much. If we have pizza and it sounds good, I will ALWAYS have a piece of pizza - maybe even sometimes I’ll have two pieces or I’ll have a breadstick - but I still track it and I still do my best to choose things for my other meals that stay within my calorie limit. For snacking, instead of dipping graham crackers in a can of frosting (ugh, so good though lol) I experimented with green yogurt mixed with peanut butter powder, with fresh fruit/graham crackers, etc, and 9/10 times the concoction I come up with tastes FANTASTIC, and I can feel good about it! It’s helped me so much figure out “wants” vs “needs.” If I’ve been great and on track but then go to a birthday party and there’s cake/ice cream and it sounds good, you can rest assured if the frosting is buttercream I will be having a piece. And I’ll enjoy it. And I’ll move on with my day. It won’t immediately send me into a downward spiral that I “ruined” the whole day (or the whole diet!) and indulge in every way possibly to “start again tomorrow.” It has all given me such a great sense of control. I’ve been feeling iffy, busy, and “stuck” lately which has me at a weight loss lull, but even as I slowly try getting back on track (with hiccups!) I continue to be met with encouragement and support. I can have a hard time letting things go, so if I don’t hit a goal I should’ve aimed for that week or something doesn’t go as well as I had hoped for, having a coach who is supportive rather than hard on me had made all the difference in my success and motivation to keep going. To remind me to keep up on the things I AM doing well on, and encouraging me to keep working on the goals I’m trying to improve. I have felt so great about the way it has improved many aspects of my life — as a mom of young kids it can be uncomfortable to start making choices that make you feel selfish, but I feel like I am such a more patient and energetic mom by taking the time to do this for myself. My workouts always give me my “me” time, and my walks do the same OR give me a reason for us all to take a walk. I feel confident most days when I DO choose to have a piece of pizza, a burger, or cake. I don’t spiral like I would have in the past (whether I was “dieting” or not). I have a better relationship with food that is only continuing to improve as time goes on. If I was at my goal weight and more confident about holding myself accountable for workouts, I would end my journey with my coach at the end of my contract. I originally signed up for 6 months to get my feet wet, and I’m very excited to sign up for 6 or 12 more months once it’s up so I can keep trucking with my loss goals and have that person to check in on me to help me hold myself responsible. I’ve been so overwhelmingly happy with the results I’ve seen in only 5 months (with almost a whole month of lots of slacking!) and am so excited about how much progress I’ll make in the next year. It has been so amazing to put myself first and work on this, because not only am I finally starting to feel more confident and healthy, but my daughters are able to see an example on a healthier relationship with food, dieting, and self image. It makes me excited for them to hopefully never feel self conscious about something because of overhearing what I say about my own body. My Macros has been slowly opening my eyes to more and more ways of how my life has improved as a result of signing up. I’m so grateful for how far I’ve come in the first few months, and I’m even more excited to see how much further I’ll be a year from now.