Hi Megan! I'm sure there are others on here that could help you out better than I can, but I'll give it a go! Your protein macro needs to be around your body weight or slightly less. Your lean body mass. Fitness Frog has a calculator to help you figure that out. Your fat macros need to be about half your weight (or slightly less). The rest can be carbs. In order to lose weight, you cannot go over your calories. It's okay not to hit your carb macros, but you must hit your protein macros. Otherwise (I believe) you start burning into your muscle. Try to hit your fat macros, too. Just try not to go over in your calories. It's perfectly fine to go over in proteins and fats, just not calories. If you only have 2 cals left and you didn't hit your macros, you need to call it a day. Start fresh tomorrow and work at getting your protein in. I hope this makes sense. I know it's frustrating in the beginning.

Hey Megan! I would suggest getting your numbers from a coach, or using the calculators on IIFYM.com. I agree with what Lori said about protein being 1-1.2g/weight. I weigh 121 and set my protein to 1g/lb so I eat 121 per day. Next is fats at .4/lb. the rest I fill with carbs. Do not be afraid of carbs!!! Your body needs plenty of carbs to effectively burn fat and build muscle.

As far as balancing it all out, try to have a serving of carbs and protein with each meal. That makes it a lot easier to stay on track during the day. I always use my last meal to fill in the blanks and usually do not go over or under by more than 2grams. It does take creativity sometimes but the better you become at reading labels and intuitively knowing what nutrients are in the foods you eat, the easier it becomes. Don't give up! It takes time but is worth it

HI megan

I've been doing IIFYM for a little over 20 days and I love it!!! This is the best thing I've done for myself mentally and physically. My current stats are

5'3
Start weight : 137.6 lbs
workout 5-6x


Calories: 1868
Carbs: 220.4
Protein: 138.7
Fat: 47.9
Fibre: 27-34

I'm doing the suggested ratios, When i started I wish I could of checked my bodyfat. Last time I checked I was at 20% in July weighing 144. I managed to go down to 140 in August. I started August 26 with IIFYM, I checked my bodyfat on Saturday Sep 7th and I'm at 16.4% weighing 137.4. Within 2 weeks of tracking all my macros and sticking to the plan I was seeing changes, my body composition was changing big time. I have much more definition and I can lift a lot heavier now. I only 2 HIIT session a week that it's for 20 mins. I will continue to stick with my ratio for 10-15 more days then start to increase my carb intake by 5gs.

You have to play with your macros, try to stay no more or less then 10g from your grams of protein, carbs and fat. & keep your fibre at no more then 50g.

Are you doing 1.5g of protein for your bodyweight?

A good way to hit the fat is with omega's, I make sure I take 4-8 caps a day that helps me hit my fats or oils & almond butters too.

How do you know what ratios to use??

Hi, I'm new to this too.
I'm going to go through and add all of you.

If you login to MFP through the web you can change your macro's in 5% increments under the Goals area... mine are only like 1-2g's off on each category for protein/fat/carbs... just make sure you don't log you calorie burn into MFP because otherwise it re-adjusts your total allotted calories allowed. Macros already include your exercise...

Also- MFP will not let me add my exact grams for my macros which is super frustrating lol.

Yep, this frustrates me too. I just keep a note on my phone with what my actual target numbers are and use it as a reference throughout the day.

Ahhh excellent idea. I wrote mine down in a journal but I know I'm never going to look at it.

I am new as well to IIFYM and macros. I have been having a hard time meeting protein as well. Its a lot lol!
I have reaching for more protein bars, Fage yogurt and just ordered some protein powder to make some shakes with. My carbs are right on just about but I need to reduce my fats and increase protein. A lot of my fat was coming from nut butters ( I LOVE ) so I am going to reduce that a bit and increase protein. It is like a juggling act but I think once we figure it out it will be easier.

I am going to add you guys too! I would love to have more encouragment on MFP!

If your a big nut butter fan like me but need to decrease your fats, I recommend PB2! If you haven't tried its its pretty great! Dehydrated peanut butter that is a powder. You can mix with water to give a creamy consistency or sprinkle on ice cream or add to shakes! Lots of recipes!!! It comes in chocolate too! Only 1 gram of fat per serving!!!

Her is a script that I got from another IIFYM friend that changes goals in 1% increments, hope this help everyone!

http://karoshiethos.com/2013/08/13/javascript-bookmarklet-for-enhanced-macro-goals-in-myfitnesspal/

Hey guys!

Also new to flexible dieting/IIFYM for the last 2-3 months & absolutely loving the mental relief. I feel saved. Coming from someone with past eating disorders & most recently binge eating, this is the first time in my life that I can actually honestly believe myself when I say that food no longer causes anxiety & that I'm LOVING cooking & creating. No more 'meal plans' or 'clean eating'!! It gets easier to track and organize as well, don't worry. You'll get the hang really quickly.

I'm looking for friends though, so add me!!!

I am super frustrated. I went to the IIFYM caculator I am 4' 10, 49 and weigh 163 workout 4x a wk my breakdown is:

Carbs - 46.5
Protein - 163
Fat - 65.2
Calories - 1425

Why is are my carbs so low compared to others I see?

You asked this 1.5 months ago so might not be looking for an answer still, but if you're feeling deprived of carbs, I'd recommend possibly cutting back a little bit on protein in order to budget more calories for carbs. Some suggest that .82g/lb is sufficient and you could go with that if helpful. That would bump your carbs up to ~76. Or, you could go on a less aggressive cut. If you are 15% below TDEE (instead of 20%) you will definitely see results but have more calories to play with.

Ok so I'm added all of you lol I need all the help I can get

Fairly new to IIFYM. Been doing this for a couple of months now. Feel free to add me

I'm new to IIFYM but I'm not new to calorie counting and macro counting in the past I just never knew the optimal way to split C/F/P. The method of choosing protein and fat first based on weight and leaving the rest to carbs makes more sense.

I'm looking forward to learning more about healthy eating, it's definitely something I love learning about. Sad how many people out there are so ill-informed because this info is not always easy to find and so many people have conflicting messages. It's difficult to sort out the bull**** and hype from truth!

Hi I'm new to this and need all the help I can get please, I'm 5,2 exercise 5 times a week, just doing home workouts such as body revolution egg, so nothing major.

I don't know my body fat at the moment, but want to build muscle, rather than loose weight, I got given 176 carbs, 103 protein and 36 fat. Using the iifym calculator

I don't know if someone could do a quick meal plan based on that and calories 1500, but I will be aiming to build them up slowly if that makes sense