How did you start IIFYM?

MrsSchimmy

I have done a bit of research on this and must say that I am intrigued. HOWEVER, I do notice that I gain weight when I eat over about 1400-1500 calories.

A little background:
27 years old, 5'9" and CW is 157. Thinnest (and far TOO thin) was 142. I eat a fairly "clean" diet, workout 5-6 days a week where I lift about 85% of the time. I run races here and there but nothing more than 10Ks... so far. I am a mother to 3 young ones, work full-time, go to school 3/4-time. I used to be a slave to food until the beginning of July where I had enough. I stopped eating 6 times a day, gave myself a little wiggle room and gained about 5-7 pounds and now feel fluffy.

For those of you that are part of the flexible dieting/IIFYM, did you jump in with both feet or gradually increase your calories and macros? Do you still eat fairly "clean" foods? If any women who do this, could shed some light, that would help SO MUCH! ANY advice would help TONS! I can read read read read but nothing explains how to get started.

LolBroScience

The purpose isn't to eat simply whatever... eat mostly nutrient dense foods and then fill in your remaining macros with whatever else. Still aim to hit fiber and your other macros and you'll be fine.

Are you worried because the IIFYM calculator is telling you to eat more then 1400-1500 cals?

SideSteel

I have done a bit of research on this and must say that I am intrigued. HOWEVER, I do notice that I gain weight when I eat over about 1400-1500 calories.

You can do IIFYM at any calorie level for the most part. It's not a specific calorie or macronutrient setting, it is a philosophy about food selection.

songbyrdsweet

I didn't know IIFYM was a 'thing' until a couple days ago, but I have been eating like this for a while now. Probably a couple of years. Integrating 'unclean' foods into my diet in a healthy way was the end of my disordered eating which lasted a couple years. It was a gradual transition to get the right amount of 'fun' foods along with my nutrient-dense foods and dissociate the guilt I felt. Now I do about 80/20 of more nutrient-dense foods and less nutrient-dense foods. Nutrient dense foods are usually less processed, although meal-replacement products are usually very nutrient-dense, meaning there are many micronutrients for the caloric load. Then there are things like 'junk food' and alcohol which are low in micronutrients but totally removing them from your intake forever just isn't sustainable.

You can check out my diet. I eat ice cream almost every day, but it is a little 100-calorie treat, and I get 1700 other calories from nutrient-dense foods. Some days I have no superfluous calories, and other days I have many. I haven't been 123 lbs for about 10 years, so I would say this way of living works for me. I exercise 6x a week and eat about 1800 cals a day, which is a fair amount since I am 5 feet tall.

MrsSchimmy

Are you worried because the IIFYM calculator is telling you to eat more then 1400-1500 cals?

Sort of. Any calculator that I look at tells me that I am not eating enough. I don't NET 1400-1500 cals a day. I'm afraid that if I jump in with both feet and gain any sort of "extra" that I will become extremely discouraged and fall back onto bad habits. By that, I mean my eating disorder.

MrsSchimmy

You can do IIFYM at any calorie level for the most part. It's not a specific calorie or macronutrient setting, it is a philosophy about food selection.

How do you figure out your macros on a calorie deficit for your weight? What I have read is that you want about 1g protein per lb of bodyweight, .45g of fat per lb and the rest carbs. How do I figure that in with a calorie count that they say is too low for my body and activity level?

MrsSchimmy

You can check out my diet. I eat ice cream almost every day, but it is a little 100-calorie treat, and I get 1700 other calories from nutrient-dense foods. Some days I have no superfluous calories, and other days I have many. I haven't been 123 lbs for about 10 years, so I would say this way of living works for me. I exercise 6x a week and eat about 1800 cals a day, which is a fair amount since I am 5 feet tall.

Do you ever feel like you have a hard time getting in enough cals? For example, when I fuel my body for max performance, I notice that I have a lot of cals leftover for a day. Some days, I had so much that I would shove my face with whatever just to "get in the cals"... I know that isn't healthy but that's the honest truth. Today, I was scrambling to try and get in ENOUGH food...

SideSteel

You can do IIFYM at any calorie level for the most part. It's not a specific calorie or macronutrient setting, it is a philosophy about food selection.

How do you figure out your macros on a calorie deficit for your weight? What I have read is that you want about 1g protein per lb of bodyweight, .45g of fat per lb and the rest carbs. How do I figure that in with a calorie count that they say is too low for my body and activity level?

For starters:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

SideSteel

And for a total eyeball-job of your macros, assuming a ceiling of 1500 calories, I'd probably begin around here, with calories and carbohydrates as maximums and fat/protein values as minimums.

1500 cals
135 protein
50f
125-130carbs

Now having said that, I would make sure you're logging everything accurately and using a food scale. If you gain by eating over 1500 I suspect you are not using a food scale to weigh and measure things accurately.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

LolBroScience

And for a total eyeball-job of your macros, assuming a ceiling of 1500 calories, I'd probably begin around here, with calories and carbohydrates as maximums and fat/protein values as minimums.

1500 cals
135 protein
50f
125-130carbs

Now having said that, I would make sure you're logging everything accurately and using a food scale. If you gain by eating over 1500 I suspect you are not using a food scale to weigh and measure things accurately.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

Yup. Spot on. I would second this.

songbyrdsweet

You can check out my diet. I eat ice cream almost every day, but it is a little 100-calorie treat, and I get 1700 other calories from nutrient-dense foods. Some days I have no superfluous calories, and other days I have many. I haven't been 123 lbs for about 10 years, so I would say this way of living works for me. I exercise 6x a week and eat about 1800 cals a day, which is a fair amount since I am 5 feet tall.

Do you ever feel like you have a hard time getting in enough cals? For example, when I fuel my body for max performance, I notice that I have a lot of cals leftover for a day. Some days, I had so much that I would shove my face with whatever just to "get in the cals"... I know that isn't healthy but that's the honest truth. Today, I was scrambling to try and get in ENOUGH food...

Not usually, but I know what is in pretty much everything these days. I have been tracking food for 7 years! Hah I tend to plan ahead. I eat the same breakfast and some form of the same lunch every day. Dinner I know ahead of time because I thaw the meat ahead of time. If I have extra at the end of the day, I just have ice cream.

MrsSchimmy

Now having said that, I would make sure you're logging everything accurately and using a food scale. If you gain by eating over 1500 I suspect you are not using a food scale to weigh and measure things accurately.

Thank you for your input!
I do actually use a scale. That is the one thing I am religious with. My husband scoffs at me at times because I take so long to get my food ready because I do want to know exactly what I'm putting in my body and how much.

MrsSchimmy

You can check out my diet. I eat ice cream almost every day, but it is a little 100-calorie treat, and I get 1700 other calories from nutrient-dense foods. Some days I have no superfluous calories, and other days I have many. I haven't been 123 lbs for about 10 years, so I would say this way of living works for me. I exercise 6x a week and eat about 1800 cals a day, which is a fair amount since I am 5 feet tall.

Do you ever feel like you have a hard time getting in enough cals? For example, when I fuel my body for max performance, I notice that I have a lot of cals leftover for a day. Some days, I had so much that I would shove my face with whatever just to "get in the cals"... I know that isn't healthy but that's the honest truth. Today, I was scrambling to try and get in ENOUGH food...

Not usually, but I know what is in pretty much everything these days. I have been tracking food for 7 years! Hah I tend to plan ahead. I eat the same breakfast and some form of the same lunch every day. Dinner I know ahead of time because I thaw the meat ahead of time. If I have extra at the end of the day, I just have ice cream.

I've been watching what I eat for 2.5 years now but I have a hard time getting in enough food when I get full off vegetables quickly...

I guess one of the hardest parts is I used to do spin for 60 min a day, 5 days a week after I had my baby. Then I found lifting. I'm gaining muscles and my arms and legs aren't twigs anymore, but my stomach is also getting bigger from the decrease in cardio. It's very discouraging. I have moments where I want to go back to my all cardio days but I also enjoy the gains I've put on

ryry_

For me I jumped from one diet to the next to lose weight. Atkins, South Beach, Abs Diet, TNT, Protein Power, Metabolism Advantage. You name it I tried it.

All of them worked! I lost weight on all of them. None of them however taught me how to manage it unless i followed the restrictions for life, which I couldn't do. All had a common thread, I ate less I lost weight. So i gradually came to learn that I could have some foods I would never even dream of eating on a diet and still lose weight.

It's a learning process, sometimes I have too much junk and feel crappy (energy level wise) or don't enough protein in.

Sometimes I say F&^% it and eat pasta, a hamburger, popcorn, and cheesecake even though it doesn't fit my macros. I want to die afterwards, but if I did die they would say as its said in the Last Samurai "It was a good death".

Not sure where I'm going with that, but good luck to you in your goals and I encourage in your own time to give a more flexible approach a try! :drinker: