IIFYM question??

fontenotR

Hey guys.. I am new to the IIFYM lifestyle and have a question. When following IIFYM, is it most important to stay under you calorie limit or all macros? I am stuggling to find the balance.

fontenotR

Also, is there a IIFYM group i can join?

rageginger

Here's the group - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/13462-iifym and your main goal is to hit the macros. When the macros are perfectly hit, your calories will be in line as well. There's a learning curve, so give yourself grace, but aim for hitting those macros.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

How are you getting your macro goals? If you are doing a certain exact percentage of your calories, yeah, that's hard to balance. I just set a minimum protien goal, and a minimum fat goal. Protein minimum should be 0.8 to 1gram per pound of lean body mass. Fat minimum is 0.3 per pound of total body mass. Once I hit those minimums I can fill in my calories with whatever else I want, carbs or more protein and fat.

If you are using iifym.com, keep in mind that is not the ONLY way to use this method. In fact I find the guidelines on that site to be rather restrictive and too heavy on protein.

fontenotR

How do you determine lean body mass?

diannethegeek

fontenotR wrote: »

How do you determine lean body mass?

For most people, it's enough to use .6-.8 grams of protein per pound of your total weight as a basic estimate for protein.

To determine your lean body mass you'll need an estimate of your body fat percentage. And then we do some math. Since i have no idea what your stats might be, I'll use some random numbers and you can plug in your own.

Let's take a person who weighs 150 pounds and is 20% body fat. 150 x .2 = 30 pounds of fat on that person. 150 pounds of total weight - 30 pounds of fat means their lean body mass is 120 pounds and they'd want 96-120 grams of protein per day.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

diannethegeek wrote: »

fontenotR wrote: »

How do you determine lean body mass?

For most people, it's enough to use .6-.8 grams of protein per pound of your total weight as a basic estimate for protein.

To determine your lean body mass you'll need an estimate of your body fat percentage. And then we do some math. Since i have no idea what your stats might be, I'll use some random numbers and you can plug in your own.

Let's take a person who weighs 150 pounds and is 20% body fat. 150 x .2 = 30 pounds of fat on that person. 150 pounds of total weight - 30 pounds of fat means their lean body mass is 120 pounds and they'd want 96-120 grams of protein per day.

Yup. And a really rough estimate will do just fine. No reason to go get a body pod test just to estimate a protein macro. Look here, see about where you fit and go from there.