beyond generic: how a personalized macro calculation boosted anneke’s fat loss and performance

Emily Field 00:00:00  Welcome to episode 37 of the Macros Made Easy podcast. I’m especially excited about today’s episode because I’m joined by Anneke, one of our inspiring clients who has had an amazing transformation with our custom macro calculation service. Anneke leads a busy and full life with passions for strength training, aerial sports, and even horseback riding, so her body is constantly in motion. But before she invested it in a CMC, Anneke was feeling stuck, sluggish and even a bit defeated. Despite her active lifestyle, she was gaining weight, battling carb cravings, and felt like she’d hit a plateau with her athletic performance. In this interview, Anneke opens up about how a personalized macro calculation changed everything for her, helping her lose over 20 lbs, feel better, and even rekindling her excitement around food. We’ll explore what it’s like to have a truly customized plan tailored to a person’s unique energy, needs and activities. Anneke shares how she approached her macros, the specific nutrition changes she made, and what it felt like to see her progress unfold in her body composition, energy, and sports performance.

 

Emily Field 00:01:02  If you’ve ever wondered about the difference a personalized macro plan can make, you’re going to want to hear Anneke’s story. So let’s dive in. Welcome to Macros Made Easy, the podcast that takes the confusion out of tracking macros. I’m your host, Emily Field, a registered dietitian that specializes in a macros approach. In each episode, I help you learn how to eat in a way that supports your health, body composition, and athletic performance goals. We’ll cover the basics of macronutrients how to track for various goals, the role of macros in your health, and how to make sustainable changes to your habits. I’ve helped hundreds of people experience more food freedom and flexibility while navigating their nutrition. So whether you’ve tried macros and it just didn’t stick or you just heard the word macros yesterday, I can’t wait to help you too. All right, Anneke, I’m so thrilled that you’re here. Can you just tell me and the audience a little bit about what you do? What are some things that you enjoy doing? How do you spend your time? I’m just curious about that.

 

Emily Field 00:01:56  Just set the stage for us.

 

Anneke 00:01:57  Well, I own a pole dance and aerial studio, so pretty active teaching through that and outside of work. I have a horse, so that’s my other passion.

 

Emily Field 00:02:08  I feel like when I got your health assessment for the custom macro calculation, it was such a wide range of things that you like to do. It was really awesome. You were doing some strength training, you were doing the pole stuff, the aerial stuff, horseback riding. You’re very active person. Yes. Did you feel like prior to the custom macro calculation? I’m curious what you were doing for your nutrition. Were you doing anything to kind of mind your intake or monitor your nutrition in any way?

 

Anneke 00:02:33  So I’ve been going to simply for life for years. I have on and off used my Fitness Pal, and I just use like an arbitrary macro program through them. That made no sense at all. Really? Really.

 

Emily Field 00:02:48  So how many weeks or months would you say you tried that macro program?

 

Anneke 00:02:52  I didn’t stick to it very well.

 

Emily Field 00:02:54  Okay, probably didn’t feel so good because your activity is so different day to day.

 

Anneke 00:02:58  And when you don’t know that the numbers mean something, it’s hard to stick to it.

 

Emily Field 00:03:04  So that’s interesting that you say that because I agree I’m more of like a y person. And I love the justification that we’re able to provide in the custom macro calculation. We say this is where your protein’s at. This is where your fats at and this is where your carbs are at. And this is why. And I do truly think that that is a game changer for some people. Because when they’re putting their information into a free calculator online, there’s no feedback like that. It’s just like, here’s your numbers, go on, do your thing. But when you have that reasoning, it really kind of hits home a little bit more. And I would imagine that makes people a little bit more motivated to follow it. Would you agree.

 

Anneke 00:03:40  100%, yes.

 

Emily Field 00:03:41  Cool. Well, I’m glad that that resonated. So before you got the custom macro calculation, I’m just pulling some quotes that you had on your health assessment.

 

Emily Field 00:03:48  You were feeling like you were the heaviest you’d ever been. You really felt like you needed to do something about it. You notice a trend in weight gain and you were having cravings for like carbs, bagels, bread, ice cream, things like that. Especially when you’re done teaching, which would be late at night around 930. So any other details you can color in for me about what your life was like before following the custom macro calculation?

 

Anneke 00:04:10  Yeah. So last year was probably like it was just a tough year in general. So that was probably a contributing factor to like why I was eating poorly and not caring as much. And then, yeah, I stepped on the scale one day and I was like, I really have to do something about this. Like I started to accept being like, oh, this is my new weight now, and that’s okay. And then adding another 5 lbs and being like, well, I guess that’s my new weight now and then. That was starting to become a trend and not a good one.

 

Anneke 00:04:42  I didn’t feel good in my own skin. I was tired and I mean, I work a lot, I work out a lot for my work and I didn’t feel good about any of that.

 

Emily Field 00:04:52  Yeah, that’s a tough place to be in.

 

Anneke 00:04:54  Yeah, it was a really vicious cycle because.

 

Emily Field 00:04:56  You’re trying to express self-love. It sounds like you’re trying to say, I’m okay with this body. I love my body for all that I can do. And also, I’m not thrilled with the way that it looks or feels. So I think that part of the reason why I love macro tracking and I teach it the way that I do, is because I really do believe in body autonomy, and whatever you want to do with your body is completely yours and totally fine. I’m not here to judge. So it sounds like you had a really good mindset when you signed up for the custom macro calculation, because you’re saying, you know, it wasn’t out of like, hate for your body that you were doing the custom macro calculation.

 

Emily Field 00:05:30  It was almost an act of love because you’re like, you know, this isn’t where I want to be, and I know I can feel better.

 

Anneke 00:05:35  Yes. And after I read a lot of your Instagram posts and your blogs, the first one I got from you was not actually even weight loss. I just wanted to like, eat for strength and to get myself feeling good. And I knew that I wasn’t eating enough, especially after reading. Like a lot of things you posted, I realized for sure that I wasn’t eating enough.

 

Emily Field 00:05:55  Which can be kind of like I.

 

Anneke 00:05:57  Wanted to make sure I was on that right track. Yeah, it was really hard. I tell me more. I wanted to be like, make me lose weight Because that’s like kind of cycle we get in. Right. But yeah by getting stronger and focusing on that I did lose some weight. And then I went for the second calculation that was more specific to weight loss.

 

Emily Field 00:06:18  So can you take me back. It was October when you first signed up for a custom macro calculation that was more to match your needs to get stronger, but you did see some body composition changes then?

 

Anneke 00:06:28  Yeah, for sure.

 

Anneke 00:06:29  I think you had me at like maybe a 5% deficit or something, but just I think eating better in general, making sure that I had like the proper, well, the proper macros obviously, since that’s what this is all about. But like making sure I was eating the right things and enough of them. I did see weight loss.

 

Emily Field 00:06:48  Yeah, I think that’s the case for a lot of people where they’re if they’re paying attention to their nutrition, even if they’re not hitting their macros. Exactly. That can be very powerful. We know just the act of tracking and being accountable to that, you know, can sometimes produce some changes in the body because at least for many people, it’s at least they’re not snacking, or at least they’re not overeating. If anything, they’re meeting their needs a little bit better and so their appetite is better managed, their energy is better. They can push harder in the gym, they can recover better. And that cycle feeds on itself and can lead to some subtle changes.

 

Emily Field 00:07:19  When did you decide it was the right time to go for a fat loss phase?

 

Anneke 00:07:23  I think I was about like four months in, and that felt like I had a good handle on like how to track, because that itself is a bit of a learning curve. So yeah, once I felt better about myself, stronger and like I said, better about that. How to track, then I thought it would be a good time to go for the weight loss phase.

 

Emily Field 00:07:45  So when you got those numbers from me, what was the thing that you noticed that you had to change most about your eating habits? So you’re going from maybe more maintenance or the lower end of your maintenance calories into a deficit. What did you have to change about your eating pattern or to make those numbers work.

 

Anneke 00:08:02  The protein remained the same and fat and and carbs my favorite.

 

Emily Field 00:08:06  Things.

 

Anneke 00:08:09  It wasn’t too bad really. I ate pretty much the same, just less of some things. Or maybe like one day something that I snack I would have had like left that out.

 

Anneke 00:08:18  But yeah I didn’t find it was too hard really to cycle to the deficit.

 

Emily Field 00:08:21  I love that you say that because sometimes people freak themselves out for a deficit. They think it’s going to feel really restrictive. And I think that’s because of their previous experiences with dieting plans and programs that are far too low in calories. They have no flexibility. It just feels extremely rigid. But yeah, to your point, I’m reducing your calories by 15%, maybe 20% from maintenance. And that means just 15 to 20% less carbs, 15 to 20% less fats. So if you continue to stick to the foods that you like and you’re just eating less of them, maybe you’re making up some space there with non-starchy vegetables for volume and things like that, but I love that you just pretty much kept the same foods that you like, and you just ate less of them. When I’m talking to my clients about how to visualize 15 to 20% less. It’s like, yeah, it simply is just the serving size that can be the main difference.

 

Emily Field 00:09:14  And it doesn’t have to be this big scary thing. So I’m glad that you embrace that as well. We usually talk in coaching about changes that happen in your body or the way that you feel like for weeks in maybe like 6 to 8 weeks in. And then beyond that, more like 10 or 12 weeks in. Can you remember back when you were starting the deficit? What were some of the first changes you noticed, like maybe the first four weeks?

 

Anneke 00:09:36  Honestly, I didn’t notice that much in the first four weeks, and I think it was in the email you would send me that says, like, you might not notice a difference for whatever it was 4 or 5. And I was like, okay, just keep the faith. This is going to happen. So it was probably closer to like the 5 or 6 weeks before, like I started noticing any like, composition changes.

 

Emily Field 00:10:00  I’m so glad you said that. And I’m glad that our marketing materials and our follow up materials are right on par, because that’s so true.

 

Emily Field 00:10:07  It takes a while to accumulate a deficit. So you’re kind of like digging a hole, I like to say like a swimming pool. And you’re going to take a few shovels out every single day, some more than others. But you’re not really going to notice a big pool or, you know, anything that resembles a swimming pool until several weeks in. And then definitely when you’re ten, 12, maybe 15 weeks in. So that’s right on pace for what we would expect. And, you know, is there a particular area of your body that you notice change?

 

Anneke 00:10:35  First my back. So I weighed myself every day and I took measurements and pictures every Friday. And I was shocked. It was my back that I just like cannot get over. I’m like a whole different person.

 

Emily Field 00:10:51  That’s awesome. I love that you mentioned that because it’s that definition that we don’t often see, but you had to take pictures in order to prove it to yourself. You know, sometimes we’re just taking a quick selfie in the mirror, and that’s not going to capture the same thing as like putting the camera up, doing a full rotation.

 

Emily Field 00:11:04  It can be really meaningful. So you said you tracked scale weight. You did measurements in progress pictures. I mean, grade A student love to see that well-rounded ness of metrics that you’re tracking. Was there any sort of, like, mindset issues that popped up by weighing yourself, especially in those first four weeks? I would imagine that the progress in the scale was probably pretty slow. Did that eat at you at all?

 

Anneke 00:11:26  No, I don’t find that like my actual weight itself has never, like, bothered me. It’s more like a reflection of what I see in the mirror that has bothered me. So like, I don’t personally find I have a problem with that. Like I had said about your email, I was like, okay, I will see a difference. But yeah, it was pretty slow on the scale for sure, but it definitely picked up. So that was okay.

 

Emily Field 00:11:51  Yeah. Once you’re past that 4 or 5 weeks it sometimes can be a pretty steady pace, you know towards the end of the deficit.

 

Emily Field 00:11:57  Yeah. How long did you stay in the deficit. 12 weeks. Okay. And in that time you lost how much weight.

 

Anneke 00:12:03  Probably close to 15 lbs.

 

Emily Field 00:12:05  So that’s great. That’s just slightly over a pound a week when you really map it out. And I guess if you were to look at your weight tracking chart and I show this to clients all the time. Not every single week will you lose weight, but across the whole of 12 weeks you will see a trend down. And that’s what we’re looking for. So it’s amazing when people are able to do this on their own. But I really applaud you for not getting really caught up in the weeds there and losing the forest through the trees. You’re just you kind of stayed the course, you trusted the process and you executed a finite calorie deficit because we don’t want to stay in a deficit until we get to our goal weight or our goal physique. We stay in a deficit for a finite amount of time. So I’m curious, at the end of 12 weeks where you interested in going longer or was it enough for you? How did you know you were done?

 

Anneke 00:12:49  I actually had planned to stop at ten, and then I switched from MyFitnessPal to chronometer, like eight weeks in and I realized that I was it default sets to net carbs and not total carbs.

 

Anneke 00:13:04  So I was eating like way and I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working anyway. So I was like, I’m going to give myself the extra two weeks.

 

Emily Field 00:13:12  Yeah. And see how it felt because you figured that out? Yes.

 

Anneke 00:13:16  I probably did a solid week of, like, a mess up. And then I was like, okay, I’ll do like two more and then I’ll call it quits.

 

Emily Field 00:13:24  Yeah. I usually have to warn people during a fat loss phase, a calorie deficit, that they may not feel as amazing in their workouts, they may experience a bit of cravings, they might be a little bit hungry or simply eager to eat, but we don’t want to be feeling like you’re white knuckling it through your day, or that it’s impacting your sleep, or that you’re just incredibly miserable. So there’s definitely a difference there. Did you notice any kind of feelings like that? Any sacrifices in the way that you felt or you performed as a result of the calorie deficit?

 

Anneke 00:13:56  I really didn’t.

 

Anneke 00:13:57  I probably ate for years under what this deficit was. So I still got to eat more and be in a deficit, which felt pretty good.

 

Emily Field 00:14:06  Yeah, that’s so powerful. That’s the truth for a lot of women. We especially somebody as tall as you and as active as you. If you were following just textbook advice that you hear from day one. As a woman, 1200 or 1500 calories would be an incredibly low deficit for you. And no wonder if you were following anything close to that. It would feel miserable. So I can imagine, like eating more than that felt really great. And you had experience prior to the deficit eating around your maintenance calories. So you know how good it feels to eat there. So you know where you’re going back to which I think can be really powerful for people. Yeah for sure. So you had mentioned in your health assessment that you had an ideal weight or a goal weight of 145 lbs. And I’m just curious, based on the success that you’ve seen so far, do you think this is still an appropriate weight for you or are you curious to get there.

 

Emily Field 00:14:58  Why or why not?

 

Anneke 00:15:00  I think actually my ideal way will probably be less than that. Okay, just like guessing at what I currently weigh and look like in the mirror, I think I could probably go under that and like still feel like really good about myself. And yeah, it’s I totally pick that as an arbitrary number. I like I said it was it’s more mirror than like actual number for me.

 

Emily Field 00:15:24  Yeah. I mean, in your case fat loss and weight loss trended together. And I think that was because you had a really strong routine already of being active. A lot of times what happens with women is they start strength training and go into a deficit at the same time. And so we don’t always see a lot of change in the scale. They’ll see fat loss, but they don’t necessarily see weight loss. That can be a really big mind warp because they still have this ideal weight in their mind. And it sounds like for you, just because of the background that you already had, those two things trended together.

 

Emily Field 00:15:54  And you know, you’re now you’re seeing like, well, maybe that wasn’t exactly my goal weight. I could ideally go lower just because I have more body fat than I realized. Or, you know, you wanted to see more definition than in your frame than what you have right now. That’s totally valid. Yeah. Do you have current goals right now for like, health, body composition, athletic performance? You training for anything? Just curious, where are you going from now?

 

Anneke 00:16:16  Not training for anything in specific, just for, like, good living. Yeah.

 

Emily Field 00:16:20  Love that. Are you still doing kind of the same workout routine that you were during the deficit, or is anything changed?

 

Anneke 00:16:26  No, it should be pretty much the same. I’m boring. My life is, like, pretty structured.

 

Emily Field 00:16:32  That makes for, like a good experiment though. You know when you’re talking about fifth grade science class, we want to only change a couple of variables. We don’t want to change everything at once.

 

Emily Field 00:16:41  So one of the reasons why you might have been so successful in the deficit is because you chose to change one variable, and that was your nutrition. You kept everything else the same. So that should be a message to people listening. Like, I know you want to accomplish a lot of different things, but it may be in your best interest to just try to change one variable at a time so you know what’s working and what’s not working.

 

Anneke 00:17:00  Yeah, that makes sense. I guess.

 

Emily Field 00:17:01  Like my last questions is about, you know, the qualities and characteristics. What do you think you possess that made you successful at like a DIY approach versus, you know, somebody might be listening like wondering if this service is for them. I’m just curious, who do you think would be a really good fit for this DIY approach? Like what characteristics or qualities do you possess that made you really thrive with this service?

 

Anneke 00:17:24  I think that I’m pretty driven, I am pretty self-motivated, and I also really like numbers.

 

Anneke 00:17:31  So like the whole numbers game of like trying to make things fit is very satisfying to me.

 

Emily Field 00:17:37  Yeah I would do like to say like data driven people, people who enjoy numbers, you know, they like to track metrics like it really does work for them. And there’s some people that absolutely hate that. And I will never claim that tracking macros is best for you. I do think I would add here that you have a very neutral relationship with the scale, and if you don’t have a neutral relationship with the scale, it doesn’t make it impossible to do something like this. But there may be more time and attention needed to neutralize that metric or simply don’t track it. Do something else, like pictures or body measurements or something like that. I think your neutrality around the scale is probably a strength here.

 

Anneke 00:18:13  Yeah for sure.

 

Emily Field 00:18:14  My last question is did you have any like, preconceived notions about what 2000 calories might feel like or 2100? The first macros I gave to you when you were at maintenance, and then when you’re coming down to deficit, did you have any preconceived notions about what that would feel like? Did you feel scared to eat more than what you were doing at that time?

 

Anneke 00:18:34  A little bit, I mean, I was eating like 1800 calories and gaining weight.

 

Anneke 00:18:38  So the idea of going up over 2000 and then supposedly losing weight, I was like, oh man, is this really going to work? And it really works.

 

Emily Field 00:18:49  That’s crazy. I mean, it’s not crazy. I see it all the time, but I’m so thrilled that you trusted the process because usually with a custom macro calculation, I send off my best work. It lands in an inbox and I’m hoping it lands for the client. But a lot of times I never get the circle back. People don’t come back around and say what worked or didn’t work, or if they found success, or if they found, you know, kind of a pain point or anything like that. So I’m thrilled that you circled back and you shared that you lost what you did, and then it really worked for you. You’re feeling awesome. And your active lifestyle. That’s obviously the goal. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for being here. I really am thrilled for you, and I’m glad that the DIY approach really worked for you.

 

Emily Field 00:19:27  You obviously have the power to move your macros up or down, depending on what kind of goals you have moving into the future, but you have the power in your hands. You never necessarily have to rely on a plan or program or coach to do it for you, because you have a really good understanding of how this all works in this budgeting system.

 

Anneke 00:19:44  Thanks for having me.

 

Emily Field 00:19:45  Thanks so much. Thank you so much for listening to the Macros Made Easy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the one you’re listening to right now to share it on your Instagram Stories, and tag me at Emily Fields so that more people can find this podcast and learn how to use a macros approach in a stress free way. If you love the podcast, head over to iTunes and leave me a rating and a review. Remember, you can always find more free health and nutrition content on Instagram and on my website at EmilyfieldRD.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you on the next episode.