IIFYM Beginner Advice

klgibso

Hi Everyone,

I just recently started reading about Flexible dieting and Macros. And I am having a very difficult time determining what my Macros should be to lose fat and gain lean muscle.

My Current Stats:
Age: 35 years old
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 134lbs
Activity Level: None

A little about me:

As I mention above I'm 35 years old, I have 2 small children, and after a several year hiatus from all things fitness related I am ready to make a life style change. I am what I like to call “skinny fat". People are always telling me how great I look, but really I just look decent in clothes... underneath it all is a whole different story. I want to be proud of my body, by losing the extra body fat and gaining lean muscle. Any recommendations on what my macros should be and the best workouts to achieve lean muscle?

deksgrl

Eat at TDEE - 10% OR set MFP to lose .5 pound per week.

Macros: carbs 40% / protein 30% / fat 30%

Lift Heavy with a progressive loading free weights program. Strong Lifts, Starting Strength, New Rules of Lifting for Women, Nia Shanks are some examples.

cwolfman13

I would personally suggest getting around 0.9 - 1 gram of protein per Lb of LBM and 0.3 - 0.4 grams of dietary fat per Lb of body weight and round out the rest with carbs. 40c/30p/30f % ratio is also pretty common and generally gets me in the ball park when I'm dieting, but too much protein when I'm in maintenance.

I would further suggest a full body lifting routine geared towards beginners...I am partial to Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, but Strong Lifts 5x5 is good (and pretty much the same thing save for the number of sets) and there are any number of other beginner routines out there. The key here is that the program you're doing needs to be one that has you progressively overloading your body. I am partial to full body routines for beginners as you will get the most bang for your buck. Your programing should emphasize those big, full body compound lifts (squats, dead lifts, bench press, overhead press, and rows which are often subbed for power cleans). Later on down the line you can move to a split if you like, but IMHO it can be more of a hindrance to your gains as a beginner lifter due to excessive volume and potential inability to recover.

No_Finish_Line

for me IIFMM is just get anywhere from .7 to 1 gram of protien per lbs bodyweight. Don't really care what the rest of the macros look like as long as i'm at or under cal

jayb0ne

Your BMR is around 1380. This is the number of calories you'd burn if you were in a coma and didn't move.

If you lift and do cardio at moderate intensity 3-5 days per week (which you'll need to do in order to lose fat and gain lean mass) your TDEE would be around 2135. This is the number of calories you'd need to eat to stay the same weight.

I'd recommend eating no lower than 1650 calories a day, possibly more like 1750. Too sharp a calorie cut and you won't be able to take advantage of the 'newbie' factor (more on that below).

Eat at least 135 grams of protein which would relate to 540 calories.

Get 20 - 25% of your calories from good fats which would be 37 to 46 grams on a 1650 daily goal.

Give the rest of your calories to carbs - so about 695 to 780 calories or roughly 175 to 195 grams.

If you're starting lifting for the first time, you're in the enviable position of being able to take advantage of the phenomena known as 'newbie gains'. This is your use once pass to be able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time and with regular training it'll last you between 6 months and a year. After this, you'll need to either gain weight to gain muscle (along with a bit of fat) or lose weight and try to keep as much muscle as you can.

Hope that helps a bit - all a bit 'back of a *kitten* packet' I'm afraid, but you can Google BMI, TDEE, Benedict Harris Equation etc if you fancy some further reading...

Jay

klgibso

Thank you everyone for the great information! This was all very helpful.