IIFYM?

Thimbelinda

Is it more important for each meal and snack to have the correct ratio of carbs, protein and fat, or is it ok as long as at the end of the day all macros are met?

editorgrrl

I look at my nutrition for the past 7 days.

vjohn04

I attempt it on a daily basis, not on a meal basis. that way I can hit my targets and then eat a snack of whatever I want later in the evening.

3laine75

I just try to make it work for the day.

Don't get me wrong, I try to get a little of everything into all my meals but some days you just need some rubbish. Maybe top athletes need to be more specific but I'm happy with hitting it daily.

catsandtats

I'm not sure if there's an official answer to this or not, but certainly I couldn't imagine it being at all practical for me to make sure every meal and snack was perfectly balanced. Seems like it all has to work together for a bigger nutritional picture.

My understanding of the "IIFYM" principle is roughly this:

1) Do I want X food?
2) Will eating X food ruin my macro goal/target for the day? (i.e., does the food fit within your macro target/goal)
3) No ruining of goals? Then nom away!

So, it's totally conceivable that if a person was very low on their required "fat" goal for the day, the person could use the "IIFYM" to decide if ice cream will be a "permissible" food option (note that I didn't say "awesome" or "healthful" or "clean" or "ideal"...just is it "permissible) is if it fits the macro goal. If that person needs more fat and calories and has the macros to spare, then it's "ok" to go for the ice cream. If not, then don't.

Again, it's not a way to come up with what is most nutritionally optimal, but my understanding is that it's a good rule of thumb for deciding whether or not to go for certain foods on a given day.

AlwaysInMotion

I don't worry about trying to hit my macros perfectly per meal. That would take serious planning - and sometimes we want a meal that just isn't ideally balanced. For example, my breakfast is often a protein shake and coffee (so I start off way high on protein), but my lunch is often lower protein (ex: a salad, some fruit). So by dinner, I just have to balance things out for the day. Totally manageable.

Heck, even if I don't get the macro balance right on a particular day, I try to make it up the following few days so my macros look good for the week.

JoJo__Fit

Everyone Is different

Just focus on hitting your macros by the end of the day and you should be fine.

geebusuk

While there prbably is some benefit to meeting macro goals daily, unless you've got a specific need for a macro, I wouldn't stress it on a meal per meal basis. Protein (and some carbs) before a weights workout makes sense, carbs before a cardio work out and so on.

Ironically enough, on Friday when I had a tub full of ('light') ice cream, over half an apple pie, 4 treacle tarts and so on I was actually paying MORE attention to getting the right type of food in my macros than normal .
(Carb loading avoiding high-fructose where possible.)

dtimedwards

I sort of try to keep it balanced meal-to-meal so I don't let one macro (usually carbs) run away uncontrollably. My main concern though is how it looks at the end of the day.

I also base it a bit on what I just did, or what I'm about to do. If I'm going for a long run or getting ready to spend the whole day hiking, I'll lean more towards carbs. If I just finished lifting, I'll go heavy on the protein. Or if it's a day like today where I'm spending most of it at my desk or in the truck but I accidentally went to the breakroom, I'll go heavy on the donuts.