Calories? Macros? Both?

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eelizabethk
eelizabethk Posts: 25
in Food and Nutrition
Hi everyone! So I am hearing more and more about IIFYM. I am not sure wether i should be counting my macros, or calories. I have been just tracking calories and not my macros. I almost always go over my sugar and sometimes carbs. Would this cause my weight loss to speed up? And what do i track?

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  • ZealousMissJJ
    ZealousMissJJ Posts: 454 Member
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    I can only speak for myself, but I track both. I try to keep my macro's 40/30/30 (protein, carbs, fat) and stay around or below my calorie goal.

    I used to only track calories, but my body really does look better if I balance my macro's. Healthier somehow. Also, I lost a lot of weight without watching my protein intake and lost a lot of musclemass. Result was a skinny look, but not pretty at all.

    I'd watch both if I were you! x
  • ellenvmelon
    ellenvmelon Posts: 11
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    I'm like ZealousMissJJ, I keep an eye on both especially my protein and I keep a keen eye on sugar intake. Fruit has sugar in it of course but say I have a high sugar day and I've not had much fruit it's time to reign it in the following days...and protein and fat is important for me for satiety and muscle mass :)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    both!

    theres no point watching your macros if you're not counting calories, as you wont lose weight!
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
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    If you have target macro's in mind you won't be suprassing your calorie intake anyway....

    Example:

    You're aiming for 200g Carbs, 200g Protein, 50g Fat... = 2,050 calories. Hit these macros everyday and you'll hit 2,050 calories.
  • yummy_
    yummy_ Posts: 248 Member
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    both!

    theres no point watching your macros if you're not counting calories, as you wont lose weight!

    not quite true.
    carbs, fat and protein have specific calories associated with each (4, 9 and 4 per gram, respectively), so you can easily set a goal for your macros and your calories will fall in line.

    i don't have a daily caloric goal, just macros.
  • silvernix2
    silvernix2 Posts: 13 Member
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    If you count your macros and hit those goals your calories will fall into place along with that. You can track both, but personally I would say the better option would be to hit your macro goals.
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
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    If you are already doing well consistently staying within your calories, start paying more attention to your macros. If you haven't gotten the first one down, the second one could become overwhelming.

    That said, make sure you set your macros properly. Try for a minimum of 1g proten per pound of LBM (not body weight, you can Google for LBM calculators), 0.35g fat per pound of LBM (crucial for hormonal function), and the rest you can fill in with carbs.
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
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    Hi everyone! So I am hearing more and more about IIFYM. I am not sure wether i should be counting my macros, or calories. I have been just tracking calories and not my macros. I almost always go over my sugar and sometimes carbs. Would this cause my weight loss to speed up? And what do i track?

    If you are following IIFYM then you are concerned with macros, but you still need to set a caloric goal first. Calories consist of macros, so once you have a caloric goal, you will need to set a macro goal. As long as you are hitting your protein, fats and carbs, you are, by default hitting your caloric goals. You will also need to focus on hitting your micros as well, namely fiber. IIFYM isn't just about eating anything as long as it fits your calories. At the end of the day, your protein, fats, carbs and fiber goals (or ranges) need to be met. Eating pizza because you have room in your calories isn't IIFYM if it throws off your macros.

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