IIFYM

SideSteel
SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
edited April 2022 in Social Groups
Probably one of the most amazing but misunderstood concepts circulating among bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts in general, is IIFYM.

What started as a phrase from a user named Erik Stevens on bodybuilding.com, quickly caught on and proceeded to cause an uproar of internet stupidity everywhere.


IIFYM stands for "If It Fits Your Macros" and it was originally phrased on the bb.com forums as a fast way to respond to the overwhelming number of questions about whether or not someone could eat a particular food item without having to worry about getting fat, or not gaining muscle, or (insert other negative effect).

Here are some examples of the questions that would come up: "Hey can I eat fruit on a cut?" "Hey is it okay for me to have oatmeal?" "Hey I had a cookie but I still stayed at my calorie and macro goals, is that okay or will that hurt my progress?" (The answer being "Yes, you can eat it if it fits your macros").

IIFYM literally means to hit your calorie and macronutrient targets by end of day choosing foods that you enjoy eating. The concept is completely bastardized because idiots across the internet continually come up with scenarios that don't exist in real life, to try and blow a hole in the idea that IIFYM is a sound practice.

Here are some examples of the strawmen arguments that show up in an attempt to discredit IIFYM: "You're telling me you can just eat straight table sugar for your carbs, and drink olive oil for your fat, and use whey protein and you'll have a good physique?". "Hey have fun eating pizza and donuts all day". "Brb just eating cake, IIFYM".

Good luck with that. (You'll note that you typically can't hit your macros eating chips and donuts all day and if you CAN, your macros are probably horsesh*t to begin with and you've then got bigger problems. The point here is that IIFYM most certainly isn't a disregard for health or nutrient sufficiency, but people will often create and knock down that strawman).

What IIFYM is not:

1) It is not eating cake and chips all day.
2) It is not disregarding micronutrients and fiber and general intelligence with regards to food choice.
3) It is not a specific macro setting. There is a website out there that has the IIFYM label that includes a calorie calculation tool and unfortunately several people on MFP believe that doing "IIFYM" means eating those specific macros. This is false.

IIFYM is a philosophy about food selection with the belief that body composition changes are primarily a function of nutrient intake and energy balance rather than a function of individual food sources.


When practicing IIFYM, it is recommended that you choose mostly whole and nutrient dense foods to comprise the majority of your intake. Fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, etc, and at the same time, leaving some room for a discretionary intake. A common and very reasonable recommendation would be about 80/20. That is to say, that if you've got a calorie target of 2500, you'd eat approximately 2000 calories of whole and nutrient dense foods with a calorie bank of 500 to eat whatever you would like while still hitting your calorie and macronutrient targets by end of day .


It's a flexible approach, and it works.

Layne Norton on IIFYM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMfaYy2m-iQ


See here for an example of how it could be done: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/925464-fitting-it-in-giggity
Tagged:
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Replies

  • ECA67
    ECA67 Posts: 806 Member
    I love this approach as I hate following a specific diet. I will watch my macros more carefully. Thanks !
  • jacquerd
    jacquerd Posts: 121 Member
    Okay, so how domindetermine what the correct macros are for me?
  • jacquerd
    jacquerd Posts: 121 Member
    Oh....never mind. I see Sara's post. Duh!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Just realized that I had not tagged this one yet.
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
    guess that means i will put back 10 of these 15 cookies...oops
  • willow_rb
    willow_rb Posts: 69 Member
    Saving thread for future! great explanation.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
    Layne Norton's Vlog "clean" vs IIFYM is up. Very interesting :smile:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6H2edyPLU8&list=WL36825C9108E5F7AF
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Layne Norton's Vlog "clean" vs IIFYM is up. Very interesting :smile:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6H2edyPLU8&list=WL36825C9108E5F7AF

    I just listened to it - going to add it to the clean eating thread.
  • Babeskeez
    Babeskeez Posts: 606 Member
    bumparoo
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
    Nice post. I think people are all too keen to over complicate things, perhaps partly to make themselves seem more elite that they have succeeded, or as an excuse for why they can/have failed. It is such a simple, well balanced concept.

    btw, I enjoy acronyms.

    IIFYM FTW!

    lol

    :bigsmile:
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,937 Member
    Nice post. I think people are all too keen to over complicate things, perhaps partly to make themselves seem more elite that they have succeeded, or as an excuse for why they can/have failed. It is such a simple, well balanced concept.

    btw, I enjoy acronyms.

    IIFYM FTW!

    lol

    :bigsmile:

    Tagging to follow.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    Nice post. I think people are all too keen to over complicate things, perhaps partly to make themselves seem more elite that they have succeeded, or as an excuse for why they can/have failed. It is such a simple, well balanced concept.

    btw, I enjoy acronyms.

    IIFYM FTW!

    lol

    :bigsmile:

    Tagging to follow.

    :smile:
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Layne Norton's Vlog "clean" vs IIFYM is up. Very interesting :smile:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6H2edyPLU8&list=WL36825C9108E5F7AF

    I just listened to it - going to add it to the clean eating thread.

    I can't open you tube from my phone, but is it worth me copying it to the Help Please thread where the new guy was telling everyine they will fail if they drink even a single soda, eat a single candy bar, or eat ice-cream?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Layne Norton's Vlog "clean" vs IIFYM is up. Very interesting :smile:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6H2edyPLU8&list=WL36825C9108E5F7AF

    I just listened to it - going to add it to the clean eating thread.

    I can't open you tube from my phone, but is it worth me copying it to the Help Please thread where the new guy was telling everyine they will fail if they drink even a single soda, eat a single candy bar, or eat ice-cream?

    I would say yes.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Nice post. I think people are all too keen to over complicate things, perhaps partly to make themselves seem more elite that they have succeeded, or as an excuse for why they can/have failed. It is such a simple, well balanced concept.

    btw, I enjoy acronyms.

    IIFYM FTW!

    lol

    :bigsmile:

    QFT!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    Article from Tom Venuto's blog about IIFYM:

    http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2012/10/the-if-it-fits-your-macros-iifym-diet.php

    I think he frames it pretty sensibly - even discusses the "excluding the middle" crowd.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Article from Tom Venuto's blog about IIFYM:

    http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2012/10/the-if-it-fits-your-macros-iifym-diet.php

    I think he frames it pretty sensibly - even discusses the "excluding the middle" crowd.

    Thanks for posting this.

    In some ways I think Tom is attacking a straw-man but at the same time I don't blame him because with anything, there are people who will take a philosophy and bastardize it into something way sh1ttier than it originally was =)
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    ...In some ways I think Tom is attacking a straw-man but at the same time I don't blame him because with anything, there are people who will take a philosophy and bastardize it into something way sh1ttier than it originally was =)
    Agreed.
  • msliu7911
    msliu7911 Posts: 639 Member
    guess that means i will put back 10 of these 15 cookies...oops

    LOL....

    and tagging this for later.