My Muscle Chef vs Youfoodz vs Macros comparison, which is best for women who want to lose fat and build muscles.

There are a few reviews out there on My Muscle Chef vs Youfoodz two of the most popular ready-made meals in Australia for the health-conscious and those who want to build lean muscle or lose some unwanted body fat. But none I could find that specifically explains how suitable those meals are for women.

Women often have different goals and different caloric requirements to men. I’ll dive into in this comparison review with a focus on women who are looking to lose body fat while building and maintaining muscle mass.

I also really wanted to add Macros to this comparison, a very underrated (in my opinion) healthy ready-made meal delivery company.

1. Are these meals good for fat loss?

All 3 companies offer meals that have a low-calorie range while delivering a decent amount of protein, which is what we need to help us build muscles while in a calorie deficit. When you are trying to lose body fat, unfortunately, it’s easy to also tap into your muscle reserves which means muscle loss can occur or your muscles may not grow as much if the calories are low.

Protein helps us maintain or even build muscles during the shred aka fat loss phase, this is the time when I tell my female clients to increase their protein even more.

Many women struggle to hit enough protein for the day in order to achieve their goals so ready-made meals like My Muscle Chef, Youfoodz or Macros are a great help as they are generally well balance and focus on protein.

2. Taste, which one is best?

Taste is of course a personal preference and while some will swear by the flavor in My Muscle Chef over Youfoodz or Macros, others are quick to dispute it.

I will share my personal opinion combined with the opinion of my hubby and some of my clients.

I personally rate Macros the highest for how fresh and homemade they taste, I also find them not too heavy or saucy like My Muscle Chef meals.

Many of my female clients tend to lean towards Youfoodz and Macros while male clients seem to like My Muscle Chef more.

My suggestion is to start with one, try it for a week and pause it, then try another service and pause it again, and then the 3rd one, until you decide which one suits your taste buds best. The awesome thing about it you will score first-time customer discounts from all 3. Because they all offer 1st-time special discount codes.

This is exactly what I did, I will from here continue with Macros as I have chosen them to be the best for me.

PS; I am not biased towards Macros, as mentioned above I get the same commission from all 3 as an affiliate, so my opinions of the 3 meal delivery services are honest and based on my observation.

3. Are My Muscle Chef, Youfoodz & Macros healthy and balanced?

All three companies focus on making meals as high in protein as possible, My Muscle Chef seems to do a little bit better job at it, making many of their even lower calorie range meals up to 40g of protein per serve.

However, in the ingredients list of the meals I ordered, I found some flavor enhancers which I did not like the sound of.

Macros could do a little better on adding more vegetables in my opinion, but I love that they keep their ingredients as clean and natural as possible. There aren’t many numbers found on the list of ingredients I ordered. Most flavor comes from garlic, onion, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, chilies, soy sauce, and spices I know well which gives me confidence that health is a priority, not just macros and calories.

Youfoodz don’t seem to have any flavor enhancers on their ingredients list, but there seem to be some preservatives. The protein amount is good even for low-calorie meals ranging around 25-35g per meal. More protein in their FUEL’D range which is the range geared towards muscle building or weight gain or simply larger portions, I got those for my husband, as the low-calorie meals wouldn’t suffice for him.

4. Do the meals come fresh or frozen, and can you freeze them?

All 3 companies deliver meals fresh and well packaged and sealed for freshness with ice packs in the box, you can definitely freeze them all without any issues.

5. Can you track meals in My Fitness Pal?

Yes, they all have a barcode and so far all of them came up right away in MFP.

If you can’t use a scanner code you can always just search for the exact name in the search bar and it will come up.

6. How does it work when it comes to ordering?

Youfoodz

First, you’ll land on a page where you get to select your goal from 4 options, Low Calorie, Everyday Healthy, Vegetarian & Flexitarian.  Keep in mind there aren’t many vegetarian options and definitely not the best service for a Vegan diet.

You will also need to specify how many meals per week you wish to start with, you can change all of these things with every order very easily.

Tip; when I am shredding I select meals from Low-Calorie Menue, when I am trying to maintain and eat a little more I go for Everyday Healthy menu.

Regardless of which menu you select for your goals, there will be options of FUEL’D meals at the bottom of your menu in case you want to select larger meals for your partner and add to the delivery. This will be included in the total number of meals you selected at the start, so if you want 7 meals for yourself and 3 or 5 for your partners I suggest you go for a 10-12 meal package.

Once you decide and pick your meals you will see the meals you chose in your cart and can go ahead to place the order.

You will also be able to choose what day of the week you prefer to have it delivered and even a morning or evening time slot.

If you are not ready for another box the following week just skip a week or even 4 weeks maximum. If you want to pause it until further notice just Deactivate your Plan from your settings menu.

From there you can also change delivery days each week and change pretty much anything you like to suit you.

See Youfoodz Menu Here

Macros

Once you land on their main page you want to click on PLANS so you can sort your menu by your goal.

You will be prompted to create a free account so you can save your selections and start choosing your meals from there.

You will have 7 options to choose from.

 Balanced (great for someone who just wants to eat healthily and is not too concerned with loss or gain)

To save $200 off your first 10 orders use discount code BALANCED200 (valid till 30/6/23)

Family (large, double portions meals, suitable for 2), however, in my opinion, they are not large enough for 2. I chose those meals for my husband and he was able to eat the entire meal himself. For me personally, it would be a little too large. So I chose from Sculpt range.

To save $200 off your first 10 orders use discount code FAMILY200 (valid till 30/6/23)

Weight Loss (focus on low calorie and mostly low carb meals with moderate protein amounts ranging between 20-34g per serving).

To save $200 off your first 10 orders use discount code WEIGHTLOSS200 (valid till 30/6/23)

Plant Based (around 14 meals to choose from), making Macros a good option for a vegan diet.

Plant-based meals can be selected as a sub-category within any other plan so you can use the discount code for that plan, even if you select plant-based meals.

Sculpt (low calorie mostly under 400, and high protein meals ranging between 25- 37g per serving of protein).  This is the plan I recommend for women who want to shred and lean down while building muscles. 

To save $200 off your first 10 orders use discount code SCULPT200 (valid till 30/6/23)

Perform & Gain (plans designed to fuel muscle growth so they are a bit higher in calories and protein, also larger in size).

To save $200 off your first 10 orders use discount code PERFORM200 or GAIN200 (valid till 30/6/23)

Just like with Youfoodz you can skip weeks, only up to 2 weeks, or if you need a longer break or not sure if you want to continue with them yet, just PAUSE the subscription from your DASHBOARD. You can return to it whenever you decide you want to order again. 

When you select your preffered Menu you can then filter the meals within that menu or you can narrow it down by choosing Low-Carb, Paleo, Dairy-Free, No Added Wheat, No Nuts or even various Allergens.  Note; from my personal experience, I found this actually doesn’t remove meals from the menu selection that contain those allergens, (perhaps it’s a glitch). If you have allergies your best bet is to click on each individual meal you select and look at the ingredients section to make sure it doesn’t have something in it you can’t eat. So I would not trust the allergen filter. 

After you select your Menu, it will actually prepopulate your order with suggested meals, you can remove those if you don’t like the sound of them and add your own. You need to remove all the ones you don’t want first to make room for selecting the ones you do within your plan. 

The great thing is you can see all the Calorie and Macros for the meals at a glance without having to click on each meal. 

See Macros Menue Here

The downside of Macros is that there doensn’t seem to be a way to add meals from accross different plans, so if you want to order larger meals for your partner you may have to create a separate account for them. 

Alternatively you can order from the Family menu and split the portions.  

My Muscle Chef

The one cool thing about My Muscle Chef I must admit is they offer a lot of flexibility on how you want to order your meals. There are 2 ways you can order from them.

Option 1;

If you know exactly what calories and macros you want for your goal you just need to create a free account so you can start adding meals to your cart. From the main menu, you are free to order any meals or snacks you like from across all plans, mix and match low-calorie and high-calorie meals as long as the minimum order is $50 AUD.

With this option you are not signed up for a weekly subscription, it can just be a one-off order. So you don’t need to skip or pause anything.

The price per meal get’s cheaper the more you add to your cart.

Option 2;

If you are unsure and need some help choosing meals for your goal, they can guide you in the right direction and suggest meals with the calories and macros they believe will suit your needs. There is some flexibility within that as well so you are not stuck with meals you don’t like the sound of at all.

To do this you need to select either Calorie Control Option or Muscle Gain. There are only 2 main categories.

Once you select a category it will actually ask you some questions such as gender, workout frequency, number of meals you want etc. And whether you want to add breakfast and snacks to your meals or just stick with main meals for lunches and dinners.

It will then suggest a comprehensive meal plan outlining calories for each day and preselect meals for you. You can at this point change meal options by clicking the red circle on the bottom of that meal to swap it out for something else from the specific menu selected for your goal. So if you don’t like fish, you can remove all fish dishes from the plan and replace them with chicken or beef or vegetarian if you prefer.

See My Muscle Chef Menu Here

7. Quick points side by side, Youfoodz vs My Muscle Chef vs Macros.

Meals I recommend from Youfoodz Menu for shredding and muscle tone.

Images are sourced from the actual Youfoodz Menu.

Meals I recommend from Macros Menu for shredding and muscle tone.

Images are sourced from the actual Macros Menu.

Meals I recommend from My Muscle Chef Menu for shredding and muscle tone.

Images are sourced from the actual My Muscle Chef Menu.

Disclaimer: My recommendations in this review are honest and are not influenced by the companies who sell them. I may make a small commission on some of the linked products on this page. By clicking on the secure links of any of the products you will land on the official website where the seller sells their products or services.