Macros is short for macronutrients. There are 3 main types- carbohydrates, protein, and fat. All food is made up of these three components. In fact, if you know how many grams there are of each of these, you can calculate how many calories are in your food. There are 4 calories in every gram of carbohydrates and protein, and 9 calories in every gram of fat. Add these up, and you have your calorie count. Each macro plays its own part in the functioning of the body and they are all important.

Macros rule when it comes to having the body you want. While calories reign supreme in terms of weight gain/loss, protein comes second. Protein aids in muscle synthesis which is important regardless of your fitness goal. For example, eating sufficient protein while trying to lose weight helps your body burn fat instead of muscle, and the more muscle mass you’re able to retain, the more defined and toned your body will look. Additionally macros are important when it comes to vitamin absorption, hormone production, and more.

There’s no magic pill. There are so many paths that could work for you; the best diet plan is the one you can stick to long term.

Check out our recommended meal planning flow here.

For our recipes, most of our ingredients are sourced from the USDA’s FoodData Central database. For barcode scanning and some off-plan foods we use FatSecret’s Food and Nutrition API which sources and verifies nutrition information.

Our calorie recommendations use the Mifflin St. Jeor equation which is used for estimating the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). See here for details.

The macro recommendations use the recommendations outlined by the The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). See here for details.

Menu > Settings > scroll down to the Nutrition section. Without having to go too deep into the math behind it, know that when you place limits on 2 of the 3 macros, you are essentially limiting the 3rd macro as well. While the app does not allow for hitting specific/exact macro goals (it would be extremely difficult for the algorithm to find the perfect combination of recipes to meet those narrow targets while still offering ample variety), you can get very close to your targets. In the Nutrition section of the settings, you can check the macros boxes to manually enter custom goals. Most users set an “at least” amount for protein and an “at most” amount for carbs (which effectively limits fat to a certain range), but it all depends on your specific diet goals so adjust accordingly. 

We strive for our meal plans to be realistic in terms of grocery budget, time and effort, so currently this is not available as we have found it drastically increases grocery list sizes as well as the amount of time needed to prep/cook recipes everyday. However, keep in mind that each meal allows for an unlimited number recipe slots (though the app will never automatically suggest more than 3 recipes per meal type), so if you want to eat more than 4 times a day, you can add in as many recipes as you want and then eat/log the recipes throughout the day. Since the app asks when you are logging a meal what portion size you ate, you can easily log part of your lunch earlier in the day and part of it later. Some examples of how this could work:

• Having 4 separate recipes for your snack and eating/logging them at 4 different times throughout the day
• Making your lunch slot have a burrito, a salad, and pasta and eating/logging each of them separately throughout the day
• Making chicken with a side salad and eating/logging half of everything earlier and half later

When you go to log a meal, the app will keep track of unlogged recipes or partially unlogged recipes, so you will be able to easily see what you have left to eat and be able to log the rest later.

Yes. See this tutorial.

The app can accommodate multiple people even if they have different weight loss goals, though it is built for one person who just wants to add others to the meals they share, not for multiple people with completely different plans. For example, you can add another person to the meals you share and it will update your recipes/grocery list to account for their portions. When you set them up in the app, it will ask for their info- weight, goals, etc. and it will adjust their calorie level accordingly and the recipes will show everyone’s portion sizes so that you can easily divvy them up. However, if another person was hoping to actively track their macros, wants to eat different meals, or wants a vastly different macro proportion (for example, if they wanted a high-fat diet, you wanted low-fat), they would need their own account with a separate subscription and there is currently no way to sync multiple accounts or grocery lists together.

In short, you can add other people to the meals you share, but if they want more individualized attention, they would need their own account/subscription.

Generally speaking, you should measure ingredients raw unless otherwise noted in the ingredient list. For example, if it says “broccoli, frozen” it should be weighed when frozen.

See the Excluding Keywords tutorial for a how-to and to also get some helpful tips on how to exclude not too much or too little.

See the If Your Meal Plan Isn’t Matching Your Targets tutorial.

See our Adjusting Number and Variety of Meals tutorial.

Progressive overload is an integral part of the routines in the Strongr Fastr database. This means routines are built to gradually increase the stress placed on your musculoskeletal system by increasing reps/weight/exercise difficulty/etc as you get stronger and build more muscle. Routines are generally built to repeat the same set of exercises week after week for a period of time to give your body time to build strength and muscle. Another benefit of this approach is that strength gains are more obvious over time as you can see yourself being able to lift heavier or complete more reps when doing the same exercise than you did weeks ago. Many find this method to be more motivating and easier to stick to when compared to workouts that are constantly switching up exercises because with repetition you can see strength gains in concrete numbers and have a better sense of what gains you could lose if you were to stop working out. Think of starting to bench press where you can barely lift just the bar for a few reps and as you gain strength over time, you start being able to add more and more weight. Each workout you hope to lift a little bit more than in the past and eventually you see the bar with heavy weight plates on both side. It’s a very concrete way to set realistic goals for each workout and visualize your progress all while being part of an evidence-based strategy to efficiently build strength and muscle mass.

Weighted Routines (Gym): Automatic progression is built in. Each routine differs in its progression strategy (details can be found and adjusted by Pro subscribers in the exercise settings), but generally, once you hit certain targets the app will automatically add weight/reps to its weight recommendation in your next workout.

Bodyweight Routines (Home): The main exercises in our home routines use bodyweight progressions (a list of various bodyweight exercises that target similar muscles and are ranked from easier to harder) which are available to select from. Once you hit the top of the recommended rep range (with high-quality reps with great form) for an exercise, you can select the next hardest exercise on the list. This process is not automated for a variety of reasons, one being that different bodyweight exercises in a progression may utilize various implements (e.g. pieces of furniture) that some may not have available at home, so you can select the next highest level that you are able to do and work your way up from there.

If you want to start your plan at the beginning but keep your weight data, see here. If you want to update your maxes/strength level, see here.

Our macro analysis feature is designed to help users optimize their nutrition by analyzing your food/body weight logs and providing personalized calorie/macro recommendations based on your goals and how your body is adapting over time. Here’s how macro analysis works:

1. Track your food: The first step in macro analysis is tracking your calories and macros by logging what you eat throughout the day. For the most accuracy, you can use a food scale and weigh your foods (especially the calorically-dense ones) during recipe preparation. 
2. Track your body weight: For the most accurate weight log, we recommend weighing yourself at the same time each day- ideally first thing in the morning. While you don’t need to log your weight every day, you should try to weigh yourself most days for the best analytics. There are a lot of natural fluctuations in body weight and the software is really looking to see an overall trend.
3. Macro Analysis: Once you’ve tracked your food and weight, our software analyzes your data to determine how your nutrition habits are impacting your weight over time. Then it can do the math and suggest a calorie level that will set you on a sustainable rate to hitting your weight goal. For example, if your goal is to lose weight and it sees that over time that you’ve been gaining weight, it will suggest a lower calorie recommendation to a level it calculates will get you on track to sustainably losing weight  In this way, as your body adapts, your calorie/macro recommendations will too.

Seeing the recommendations:

If you use Strongr Fastr’s default calorie/macro recommendation: the app will automatically adjust your goals over time and notify you of the updates. 

If you use your own calorie/macro override: macro analytics will still be available for you to review and to help inform any updates you may want to make to your override. After a couple weeks of logging meals and your weight, take a look at your Macro/TDEE report (Menu > Macro/TDEE Report) to view the analytics.

You do not need to log other workouts or activities for the Macro Analysis feature to work, and, in fact, you do not need to log your planned exercise either. Typically burned calorie estimates are HIGHLY inaccurate (especially for strength training) and also it is impossible for the app to guess how much a user will end up exercising at the beginning of the week when planning their meals, so instead of estimating a workout’s burned calories, the app uses a more reliable method that’s also used by top fitness coaches and athletes: analyzing what you’re eating and what’s happening on the scale as a result. After consistently logging what you eat and what you weigh, the app will calculate how many calories you’ve actually been burning and will adjust your calorie/macro recommendations accordingly. For example, if your goal is to lose weight and it sees that over time you’ve been gaining weight, it will lower your calorie recommendation to a level it calculates will get you on track to sustainably losing weight. For the most accurate analytics, it’s important to log your food and your weight accurately and consistently. 

We know this approach is somewhat unique in the fitness app market, but we chose it because of how much more accurate and reliable it is. Many people fail to achieve their goals because they see inflated “calories burned” numbers and then overeat as a result. Figuring out how much you need to be eating with any accuracy is an iterative process that takes a little bit of time in reality. Your body can even adapt to different calorie levels over time, meaning your calorie needs aren’t static and are something that may need to be recalibrated over time, which the app makes easy to do.

See this FAQ for more information about macro analysis.

Currently there is no way to sync multiple accounts together. The app does have a family meal planning feature that allows you to add people to the meals you share and it will calculate their portions and update the grocery list and recipes accordingly, but it only allows for one person to log their meals/workouts.

Yes. To export your grocery list to PDF, you can go the Grocery List tab and a large, green download button will be at the bottom right of the screen. Note- the digital version of the grocery list does have additional features not available via PDF (like the “find brands with similar macros” tool or the ability to see which recipes the ingredient is used in) so we recommend using the app or at least having it on hand when shopping.

Yes. For Meal Planning tutorials, see here. Workout tutorials, see here.

Yes! Please send any suggestions our way at Menu > Contact/feedback

In order to get your custom domain working, you need to tell your DNS provider (e.g. GoDaddy) that the custom domain you set up should point to Strongr Fastr’s servers. To do that, you need to add a CNAME record to your domain by following the instructions below.

If you don’t know who your DNS provider is, see the “Finding Your DNS Provider” section below.

The exact process will vary by DNS provider, but the general structure of a CNAME record is the same. If you need more specific instructions your DNS provider probably has documentation on how to do this, so try Googling e.g. “[YOUR DNS PROVIDER] add CNAME record”. If you still need help, feel free to contact us.

1. On your DNS provider’s website (e.g. godaddy.com) sign into your account and find your domain.
2. Add a record to your domain’s DNS settings, selecting CNAME as the record type.
3. Set the Name/Label/Host field to whatever subdomain you chose when you input your custom domain. I.e. if your custom domain is app.yourdomain.com, the Name/Label/Host field should be “app” (without the quotation marks).
4. Set the Destination/Target field to “www.hostly.app” (without the quotation marks).
5. For a custom domain like app.yourdomain.com, the final setup should look something like the table below:
6. Save your record. CNAME record changes can take up to 72 hours to go into effect, but typically they happen much sooner. 
7. Once your changes have successfully propagated, you should be able to visit app.yourdomain.com [remember to replace “yourdomain” with your actual domain name] and your fully-branded version of Strongr Fastr should be visible. Only proceed with inviting clients after confirming this, as the invitation links will not function properly until then.

If you need additional help, feel free to contact us or your DNS provider.

Finding your DNS provider
If you don’t know who your DNS provider is, you can find out by going to https://who.is and entering your domain name (without the subdomain). I.e. if the custom domain you chose for Strongr Fastr was app.yourdomain.com, you would go to https://who.is and enter only the yourdomain.com part. That should yield something like this:

You can then sign into your account on their website and follow the instructions above, or contact them to figure out how to add a CNAME record.

1. Go to https://appleid.apple.com/sign-in and sign in with your Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you’ll need to create one by clicking the Create Your Apple ID link in the upper righthand corner (or in the Apple ID dropdown menu if you’re on mobile)
2. Once you’re signed in to your Apple ID go to https://developer.apple.com/account
3. Click the Enroll button and follow the steps there until you’ve completed your purchase. Important: you will be given the option to create an “Individual” account or an “Organizational” account. You MUST choose Organizational because Individual accounts can’t give our developers the access they need to create your app. 
4. Note: it can take a while (up to 48 hours) for them to finish processing the purchase. During this time you’ll probably see a message that says “To continue your enrollment, please complete your purchase” on your Apple Developer dashboard, but don’t be confused or try to purchase again, your membership is in fact processing.
5. Once your enrollment has finished processing go to https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/login and login with your Apple ID.
6. Click on the Users and Access icon then click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new user.
7. Fill in the form as follows and click Next/Invite:
   1. First Name: Philip
   2. Last Name: Schinis
   3. Email: philip@strongrfastr.com
8.  
9. Lastly, if you haven’t already go to https://www.strongrfastr.com/app/trainer/branded_app_setup and fill in and submit all required fields (app name, description, icon, etc).
10. That’s it. We’ll be in touch once your App Store listing is ready for your review. 

Go to Menu > Contact/feedback or email mary@strongrfastr.com