Vegetable and Fruit Carbs (IIFYM)

RayahEllen

Hey, so question for the iifym-ers out there.

I love fruit and vegetables. However, since I started iifym, I had to cut down my vegetable and fruit intake significantly to hit my carb count. Before, I was just general calorie counting so I basically ate as many as I wanted. Any suggestions as to what I can do?
Perhaps just work on hitting my protein goal and then filling the rest of my calories with whatever I want in terms of carbs? Any negatives to this?

Thanks!

diannethegeek

The first thing I'd look at is how/why your numbers are set the way they are. Some sites give very high protein numbers if you use their default calculations (I think iifym.com tends to be one of them). Remember that the Y in IIFYM is important. Your macros.

Personally, I set my fat and protein numbers to my calculated minimum "must reach" numbers and fill in the rest of my calories with whatever I want, including fruit & veg. But there are a lot of ways you can setup your numbers, so play around and see what works for you.

kommodevaran

You can dump that stupid diet. The Y stands for "yours". This is obviously not your kind of diet. If you want to lose weight, the first rule is an appropriate calorie deficit, and the second rule is adhering to it. The third rule emerges from those two - eat food you like.

berolcolour

I just try to hit protein and fibre and not worry too much about carbs (and sugar) as I know they are from vegetables and fruit and not from starches (I don't eat bread/rice/pasta etc very much now). I find it really works for me! I raised my protein goal (based on what I'd read) on MFP which lowered carbs.

RayahEllen

I weigh 140 and am 5'2. I'm cutting right now. On workout days, my goals are 159p/119c/53f. On rest days, I'm at 137p/102c/46f. And kommodervan- I realize it's my macros, that's why I'm asking, is it okay for me to do this? Lol I also wasnt eating enough protein in general before to support muscle growth. I was eating maybe 4 oz of meat and then one protein drinks so maybe like 50 g of protein? I'm not having issues reaching my protein goal with iifym, I just wanted input on if there were negatives to doing primarily carbs after hitting my protein.

lynn_glenmont

RayahEllen wrote: »

I weigh 140 and am 5'2. I'm cutting right now. On workout days, my goals are 159p/119c/53f. On rest days, I'm at 137p/102c/46f. And kommodervan- I realize it's my macros, that's why I'm asking, is it okay for me to do this? Lol I also wasnt eating enough protein in general before to support muscle growth. I was eating maybe 4 oz of meat and then one protein drinks so maybe, and I mean maybe, like 50 g of protein? I'm not having issues reaching my protein goal with iifym, I just wanted input on if there were negatives to doing primarily carbs after hitting my protein.

Protein is in lots of foods besides meat and protein drinks, so unless you weren't eating any other food, your guess of 50 g is probably an underestimate.

If you're getting enough protein and fat (there are no hard-target fat RDAs, but I think 46 g fat is a little low to feel sure you're getting enough), of course you can fill up the balance with carbs.

RayahEllen

You are correct, now that I look, I was averaging more around 75 to 80 g of protein. Still not enough either way, I think.
What does fat levels look like? I know you said there's not a recommended level, but if I hit protein and fat, and leave the rest for carbs, I'm left with the same issue of not enough carbs for all the veggies and fruits I want to eat. Or even two to three servings of each a day.

cwolfman13

RayahEllen wrote: »

Hey, so question for the iifym-ers out there.

I love fruit and vegetables. However, since I started iifym, I had to cut down my vegetable and fruit intake significantly to hit my carb count. Before, I was just general calorie counting so I basically ate as many as I wanted. Any suggestions as to what I can do?
Perhaps just work on hitting my protein goal and then filling the rest of my calories with whatever I want in terms of carbs? Any negatives to this?

Thanks!

The "Y" in IIFYM is kind of important...there isn't some magically superior macro ratio...that's what drives me nuts about that website...it's not even IIFYM, is just capitalizing on a concept...there is no universally optimal macro ratio...it's a very individual thing.

RayahEllen wrote: »

I weigh 140 and am 5'2. I'm cutting right now. On workout days, my goals are 159p/119c/53f. On rest days, I'm at 137p/102c/46f. And kommodervan- I realize it's my macros, that's why I'm asking, is it okay for me to do this? Lol I also wasnt eating enough protein in general before to support muscle growth. I was eating maybe 4 oz of meat and then one protein drinks so maybe like 50 g of protein? I'm not having issues reaching my protein goal with iifym, I just wanted input on if there were negatives to doing primarily carbs after hitting my protein.

It's more protein than you need...you do not need 159 grams of protein or 137 grams of protein if you weigh 140 Lbs. Shooting for .6-.8 grams per Lb of body weight is about optimal...that would be 84 - 112 grams. .8 grams per Lb of body weight usually comes close to being 1 gram per Lb of LBM...and really any more than that is just really expensive glucose.

RayahEllen

Everything I have seen says 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb of body weight.

lemurcat12

RayahEllen wrote: »

Everything I have seen says 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb of body weight.

Here you go: http://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day/

Good source with studies that roughly .68-.85 g per lb of healthy body weight.

For me (at 5'3, 125), that means I aim for 100 (.8 g), and even that is probably more than necessary, so I don't worry if I fall a bit short.

It's ideal to base it on LBM (that's where the .8-1 g/lb normally comes from -- lb of LBM). But most of us don't know our LBM. (Mine's about 95 lbs, actually, so my sense that the 100 g is likely overkill is right, although it works fine.)

cwolfman13

RayahEllen wrote: »

Everything I have seen says 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb of body weight.

That's because it's really trendy right now to eat insane amounts of protein...your body can actually only utilize so much and just converts the rest to glucose...really expensive glucose. Beyond about 1 gram per Lb of LBM is a waste IMO.

RayahEllen

So looking at .8 for my protein, .4 for my fats, and the rest carbs... That leaves my numbers at 112p/56f/160c. Does that look more balanced...?

lemurcat12

It's .8 of goal weight, though.

But yeah, for me that would be a lot easier to get.

RayahEllen

Is that the same for fat then, do you know? .4 of current weight or goal weight? I eat at a 200 calorie deficit since I'm only about 5 to 10 pounds away from my goal weight.

I wasn't having issues reaching my protein goals really, just found that I was only eating like one or two servings of veggies and was lucky if I could squeeze 1 serving of fruit in. I would like to eat two to three servings of each and those new numbers seem to make it much more manageable. Thanks!