IIFYM?? Opinions..

I just started, and there are quite a few people who know a lot more about it than I do, but I can tell you a little bit about my first few days:

The first thing I'll say is that according to everyone I've ever talked to, it works. My experience has backed this up in the first few days (though I'm also incorporating pretty vigorous exercise). It is pretty easy to follow since you have very clear goals for what you are supposed to be doing. You know what numbers to hit, and you hit them. There is also a lot of support out there for them.

People say that you get a lot of freedom to eat what you want, and that may be true for some. I've found that as someone who likes to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I have had to pull out a lot of the foods that I really liked to hit my goals. That may not be the case as I get better at putting my days together.

My diet was in a pretty interesting place prior to start IIFYM. I'm 6'2" 210lbs and moderately active, and I operated pretty comfortably at about 1,000 calories. Now, if you talk to anyone, they will tell you that's way too low. I'm now working really hard to get to 1,800 (of the recommended 2,500) calories in normal day for someone my size, and it's taken work. I've also upped my protein by a factor of 10 and am getting more fiber and fat in my diet. It takes a lot of my work for me to come close to hitting these new goals, but it's been really successful. I'm losing weight, have better energy, better digestion, and less soreness after workouts.

The other difficulty is planning and executing your day to hit your macros. Today, I hit them pretty perfectly for the first time (though under my calorie goal by about 600). People with more experience may have better ways of doing it, but I have a few staples on hand every day that I can use if I need to increase carbs, protein or fat. Tracking throughout the day really is the key. Forgetting an ingredient or two each meal can turn into a big difference by the end of the day.

Iifym.com has the info

perks are eating the stuff you have cravings for when you plan around them

downfall is having to track every macro all the time

don't forget the fiber

And the alternative is???

The two main schools of thought are IIFYM and Clean Eating. If you eat clean and don't track macros, then you may no even be eating healthy. If you're not getting enough protein, or you're not getting enough fat, then what's the point of even eating "clean"? So it makes you feel good about yourself? Macros are king

IIFYM = If It Fits Your Macros

It's a great way of eating because it helps you meet all of your nutritional requirements while hitting your calorie goal every day. There's nothing magical about it when it comes to weight loss. It just means that you can eat whatever foods you like in order to hit your carb, protein, and fat goals. Because of the way people often set up their macro requirements, this usually means that you end up eating a pretty balanced diet with room for some treats, which is awesome.

There really is no downfall that I can see except that if you want to do it right, you have to log your food accurately and consistently.
But you should probably do that anyway.

^Solid explanation and intro into IIFYM, just make sure you set up your macros properly because the default MFP macros are a joke

^Solid explanation and intro into IIFYM, just make sure you set up your macros properly because the default MFP macros are a joke

I don't know enough about it to say for sure, but the people I've come across who are really into it have all agreed to that. IIFYM.com is a great place to go to get started. If you get really into it, there are a lot of coaches out there who can tell you about the intricacies of refeeding, metabolic boosts, etc.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

IIFYM just flat out works - and allows tremendous flexibility - but it's not without cost as it requires very close attention, at least until new habits are formed.

Eat whatever you want to meet your calorie, protein, fat, carb, and fiber goals (protein, fiber, and fats goals are MINIMUMS) Nothing is off limits or considered bad.

Pluses: Flexible, realistic.

Minuses: ...? Some people misunderstand it and think it means you eat nothing but junk all day.

General idea yes - might however want to add a bit of knowledge to it and ensure you eat what ever you want at the right time of the day to maximize if in conjunction with a fitness plan. Your body needs certain macro nutrients and not others depending on the time of the day and what you are about to do or have just done!

At the end of it is is your choice - some people (me for example) swear by it some others only consider clean eating as the only way. I personally found it difficult to constantly eat brown rice - veggies - chicken - fish kind of meals. I wasn't mentally strong and the day I "cheated" I would feel guilty for the rest of the week. IIFYM gives you freedom to build the menu you want and to avoid the "cheating" pressure.

This is a good read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/817188-iifym

Indeed - and worth to be re-read every once in a while.

bump

I'm of a different school of thought. Once you get the minimum amount of each macro you need, the macros for most of your calories are irrelevant.

I don't see any downfalls, other than some people only watch macros, when they should also be monitoring micros (vitamins and minerals).

Everything everyone else said but adding that it may take some experimenting to get the right goals for your macros for your activity and lifestyle. Obviously setting macro goals like 20g protein and 400g carbs would be easy for some people to "fit" (especially if you like a lot of poptarts ) but doesnt mean they are the best for you. I think that iifym.com has a calculator to help you get started with decent levels, then tweak according to performance and satiety as needed. IIFYM assumes you set reasonable macro goals in the first place.

Iifym.com has the info

perks are eating the stuff you have cravings for when you plan around them

downfall is having to track every macro all the time

don't forget the fiber

And the alternative is???

The two main schools of thought are IIFYM and Clean Eating. If you eat clean and don't track macros, then you may no even be eating healthy. If you're not getting enough protein, or you're not getting enough fat, then what's the point of even eating "clean"? So it makes you feel good about yourself? Macros are king

Just as a quick addition to this comment, there is no real consistent definition of Clean Eating; one person may accept yoghurt but others not etc. This article is very interesting:
http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/#

Essentially, as I understand it IIFYM is basically what all the healthcare adverts tell you - eat sensibly, with enough protein, calories, carbs, fats etc. each day, and allow yourself some discretionary calories. Eating vegetables too is recommended as this gives you your micronutrients.

I've been following this for the past few months with 40/30/30 macros and it works great for me. It's made me much more conscious of nutrition and I'm eating better while still enjoying the food I love and finding new foods that I didnt think I would like. I now worry about my friends who use the MFP macro goals since I know what a low protein diet was doing to me before.

The biggest drawback for me is OTHER PEOPLE! :grumble:

I'm minding my own business, tending my macros, losing inches and BAM!

"WHY ARE YOU EATING THAT POTATO (rice, cup cake... Whatever the villainized food...)!?!?!? AREN'T YOU ON A DIET?!?! THAT _____ IS BAAAAD!"

And for the 10 zillionth time I explain that I actually CAN eat this food, as it is okay in moderation.

To be totally honest, I find this SO ANNOYING that I cringe when people discuss Atkins, Paleo, etc. I actually have to MAKE MYSELF think, "live and let live"

I don't see 'IIFYM' so much a method as just part of sensible evidence-based plan.

I see it as one step up for 'calorie counting' - you're counting 3 sets of calories (thankfully MFP makes it very easy, would get tiresome without such a tool.).

Most people doing it then accept that they do need to get some micronutrients too - I'm probably a bit lax on this, but so far generally seems to be working ok.

If anything, I'd see it more as the LACK of a method that isn't supported by decent evidence - as so many of the things people latch on to aren't really.