"Unclean" IIFYM Success Stories and Pics please?

SugaryLynx

Oooh I wanna play!

Eerm, before at 170 lbs. Had my second child May 16th 2013.


And now at like 119 lbs

jorralee

Im a firm believer in IIFYM and my results are in my profile pic

99clmsntgr

Add me to the IIFYM list, too. A couple comparisons, although the "recent" pictures are a little old...





(Make sure you view this one outside the thread, there's a third pane to the picture):

TarynAngeline

Ok I'm a believer! THANK YOU everyone! Now I just need to go ahead and give it a try. I have nothing to lose since I am not happy and not getting results with the way I'm doing things. And to the people who are saying it is for health reasons, I'm not talking about eating nothing but junk, I'm just saying I'd like to be more balanced and flexible. Wooo! While we're at it... Eating 6 small meals like every trainer and nutritionist has ever told me isn't necessary either is it? Hahah debunking to make my life easier!

WhoHa42

Around 3 months of eating pizza, fries, or burgers every single day (only way I could hit fats at college)

Serah87

<

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See photos.

SugaryLynx

Eating 6 small meals like every trainer and nutritionist has ever told me isn't necessary either is it? Hahah debunking to make my life easier!

Nope. Plan your meals around what makes you feel best and what you perform well with is the ultimate decider on when you want to eat.

_TastySnoBalls_

The thing about eating clean is that it's not just for your weight loss- processed foods contribute to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, bone disease, so much! You can be skinny and still be at risk for all of those things by eating a highly processed, unnatural diet.

:noway:

geebusuk

May to December 2012. 225lb to 160lb.
Was doing a fair bit of manual work initially, while eating mostly ready meals.

May:


December:



The thing about having an ACTIVE LIFESTYLE is that it's not just for your weight loss- being less active contributes to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, bone disease, so much! You can be skinny and still be at risk for all of those things by being less active.



As far as 'unnatural diet' - could someone describe a 'natural diet' and please explain why it is a natural diet to me?

TX_Rhon

<~~~Profile pic

Pizza - yup!
Starbucks - of course, and not a skinny whatever - the one with sugar :drinker:
Lasagna - you bet!!

waldo56

Been doing it about 2.5 years now.

Went from this:


To this:


To this:


Part of the ice cream every day crew.

Naturally07

Thanks for the post. I used the IIFYM site, and my carbs were insanely low. However, when I used macronutrient site, using the same information, in addition to wanting to lose 2lbs per week (to lower my caloric intake a bit), it stated my CPF percentages should be 40/40/20 (160,160,36), and should lose weight with those figures. What are you thoughts. or Anyone for that matter

waldo56

Thanks for the post. I used the IIFYM site, and my carbs were insanely low. However, when I used macronutrient site, using the same information, in addition to wanting to lose 2lbs per week (to lower my caloric intake a bit), it stated my CPF percentages should be 40/40/20 (160,160,36), and should lose weight with those figures. What are you thoughts. or Anyone for that matter

One issue with the IIFYM site is that it uses bodyweight, not lean mass, for calculating protein intake, and thus when overweight (overfat) it gives values that are big time overkill.

Using bodyweight is fine when lean, it makes the calc easier, but when overweight you should use LBM instead for protein intake, lest you be able to eat no carbs.

Instead of calculating your LBM, you could always eat your goal weight in g of protein a day, which is a much more reasonable number.

SezxyStef

Thanks for the post. I used the IIFYM site, and my carbs were insanely low. However, when I used macronutrient site, using the same information, in addition to wanting to lose 2lbs per week (to lower my caloric intake a bit), it stated my CPF percentages should be 40/40/20 (160,160,36), and should lose weight with those figures. What are you thoughts. or Anyone for that matter

with the amount of weight you want to lose 2lbs a week is a bit too much.

Aiming for 1lb a week is a good goal

As for the weight loss it's about a calorie deficet...the marcros (esp protien/fats) are min that should be hit.

My macros are set at 45%carb, 30% protien, 25% fats all based on my LBM and TDEE. I personally don't rely on a website to set them for me...I suspect most don't.

geebusuk

Thanks for the post. I used the IIFYM site, and my carbs were insanely low. However, when I used macronutrient site, using the same information, in addition to wanting to lose 2lbs per week (to lower my caloric intake a bit), it stated my CPF percentages should be 40/40/20 (160,160,36), and should lose weight with those figures. What are you thoughts. or Anyone for that matter

If It Meets Your Macros.
All it's saying is "I don't pretend that a if someone else makes my food instead of myself it suddenly turns in to a poison."
For weight loss calorie figure is the most important.
Then high protein. Then don't let your fat get TOO low.
But of course you want enough carbs that YOU can stick to it too.

morehealthymatt

Geez, didn't know my diet had a name, "IIFYM". I was just eating. I've lost over 100 pounds by making better food choices, but I also like the pizza, the occasional carne asada burrito, nachos, burger...etc., etc. It's all about portion contral and understanding that if you want 2 slices of pizza for dinner, you need to either watch what you eat during the day or excercise more to compensate.

But of course, you can't eat "junk" food for every meal, that is why you still need to eat better foods.

craig831

I just heard about IIFYM yesterday when a friend linked me to this article: www.trimmedandtoned.com/beginners-guide-to-iifym

I have been using MyFitnessPal for a while on and off and plan to continue but I can't find anywhere to increase my protein goal. Is there a way to do it?

Also, for those that have had success with IIFYM, do you find that most of your calories did come from cleaner eating or did you just stick to pizza, burgers, and stuff but eat less of them? I've noticed in the past when I have tracked my food that it's my proteins that seem to always be low and sodium is always high. Do you do protein shakes to supplement the amount of protein in your diet or do you just eat more lean meat?

Thanks! Looking forward to getting started.

Naturally07

Thanks, I don't know my LBM, I'm still very new to IIFYM. Actually my protein and carbs (40%), are my goal weight. So maybe lowering my carb intake would be best.

Naturally07

Thanks, I'll so some digging online to find a better tool to determine my macros. As mentioned, I'm fairly new to the process and still learning. I definitely used the two sites mentioned as guides.

mustgetmuscles1

I just heard about IIFYM yesterday when a friend linked me to this article: www.trimmedandtoned.com/beginners-guide-to-iifym

I have been using MyFitnessPal for a while on and off and plan to continue but I can't find anywhere to increase my protein goal. Is there a way to do it?

Also, for those that have had success with IIFYM, do you find that most of your calories did come from cleaner eating or did you just stick to pizza, burgers, and stuff but eat less of them? I've noticed in the past when I have tracked my food that it's my proteins that seem to always be low and sodium is always high. Do you do protein shakes to supplement the amount of protein in your diet or do you just eat more lean meat?

Thanks! Looking forward to getting started.

Customize you macro goals here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_custom

IIFYM is not meant to be an excuse to eat nothing but low nutrient snack foods all the time. You could certainly still see weight loss success doing that but there are other nutrient concerns that will eventually cause you problems.

A balanced diet where no food group or nutrient is off limits if it fits into you calorie and nutrition requirements.

craig831

Thank you for the link. Can't believe I wasn't able to locate that... lol

I agree about the diet. I just want something where I don't mark an entire group of food as completely off limits. Nutrition plans like that are impossible to keep up with in my humble opinion.

Celestialdome

Ok I'm a believer! THANK YOU everyone! Now I just need to go ahead and give it a try. I have nothing to lose since I am not happy and not getting results with the way I'm doing things. And to the people who are saying it is for health reasons, I'm not talking about eating nothing but junk, I'm just saying I'd like to be more balanced and flexible. Wooo! While we're at it... Eating 6 small meals like every trainer and nutritionist has ever told me isn't necessary either is it? Hahah debunking to make my life easier!

As someone who works at a health club, in their little cafe that only serves health foods, sometimes I have to look at the things we sell and laugh. Just because it has no artifical preservatives or sweeteners in it, doesn't make it healthy. They still tend to be high in sugar and carbs. As the daughter of a diabetic, I had to learn this the hard way. I will say, what one of the PTs said makes sense, no carb goes into your belly unescorted by protein or a healthy fat. That's why things like IIFYM tend to work, it focuses on balancing your diet rather than cleaning it.

As for "six small meals", you should modify that. Make sure your three main meals are of appropriate portions ( they teach you in diabetics class that a portion of red meat is roughly the size of a deck of cards) and snack healthily the rest of the day. Make little baggies of nuts and skim cheeses, stash them in your desk, car, or purse. Use them like nicorette gum. If you're hungry, snack! Just limit yourself to ONE bag at a time.

mreeves261

So many sexy men and women in the thread!!! You all look FAB!!!

cwolfman13

The thing about eating clean is that it's not just for your weight loss- processed foods contribute to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, bone disease, so much! You can be skinny and still be at risk for all of those things by eating a highly processed, unnatural diet.

yes, you can be skinny and still be at risk for all of those things...but living a sedentary lifestyle vs a relatively active lifestyle would be a greater contributing factor than whether or not you had a couple slices of pizza for dinner.

don't get me wrong, I believe in having a well balanced and nutrient dense diet...but you clean eaters and your fear mongering are unbelievable.

nikamar

I wasn't very overweight, and I was an active runner- but I lacked some insight as far as my nutrition goes, and I definitely lacked strength training. Started counting calories and eating by IIFYM method, and heavy lifting,about 8 months ago.

The before pic is not great, but you can see I'm a bit pudgy:



After 8 months of IIFYM (which included wendy's pretzel burgers, blizzards and lots of other delicious stuff :happy: ) and heavy lifting:







I'd like to point out that I do consider myself a healthy eater and I eat plenty of food that would be considered "clean" (whatever that means)- the difference is I don't feel guilty if I eat a burger or McFlurry or whatever I feel like if it's inside my calorie and macro goal.

waldo56

Also, for those that have had success with IIFYM, do you find that most of your calories did come from cleaner eating or did you just stick to pizza, burgers, and stuff but eat less of them?

Most people I think tend to forget that there is such a thing as "clean" or "bad" foods since the concept is of little use.

I think of food in terms of protein:calorie ratio, whether the food is "clean" or not doesn't cross my mind.

The only use for clean foods is that people who believe in the concept are good for arguing with, especially since they are almost always less successful than those that reject the concept.

geebusuk

^ that, presuming you mean NO such thing .

I have not found any 'clean eater' that can not come up with a description which is not contradictory to their own eating habits.

A rather lovely example from another thread:
'Clean food can't be processed or 'man made'.
But some butter on a baked, potato, that's ok.
So, err, butter comes out of a cow? Or was that from a butter tree?
Nope, butter is milk that has been 'processed', normally in a factory by an industrial system.

"No flavour enhancers."
But some salt is fine.
Salt, being one of the most often used flavour enhancers and also being quite demonised these days.

But I'm just being picky, apparently - despite that they couldn't offer me an ACTUAL definition.

nikamar

The only use for clean foods is that people who believe in the concept are good for arguing with, especially since they are almost always less successful than those that reject the concept.

Well put. :drinker:

Not to mention that very often menus of the people who claim to eat "clean" are so bleak and repetitive that they're not sustainable for a longer period of time, let alone a lifetime.
And then they go to their cousin's wedding, eat two slices of cake and start a topic here about how they slipped and sinned over the weekend. Sometimes they open a bag of Doritos to make themselves feel better about their sinful eating habits.

Bry_Fitness70

IIFYM and clean eating can be complementary and need not be mutually exclusive. I do daily calorie and macros tracking, but also try to eat food that is minimally processed, fewer ingredients, organic / natural, doesn’t have a shelf life into the next century, doesn’t glow in the dark, etc. I fail miserably at eating to these standards about 30-40% of the time, as time and resource constraints don't allow for it, but it is what I aspire to.

caraherch

The thing about eating clean is that it's not just for your weight loss- processed foods contribute to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, bone disease, so much! You can be skinny and still be at risk for all of those things by eating a highly processed, unnatural diet.

Care to back that up with some sort of scientific evidence?

Are you kidding? It's pretty universally known in the science and nutrition world that processed foods contain thousands of chemicals that destroy your body...

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9686/how-processed-foods-are-killing-you-one-bite-at-a-time.html

http://saveourbones.com/12-dangerous-ingredients/

http://www.health.com/health/m/gallery/0,,20588763,00.html

http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/3101043/

Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely totally lose weight and be much healthier than you are now, but my thought is if I'm doing all this hard work to lose weight and get healthy, why would I waste it by filling my body with foods it was not designed to eat? I still have a ways to go but the less processed I eat, the better I feel.