IIFYM - What is this about!?

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  • Khatastrophic
    Khatastrophic Posts: 81 Member
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    Meal prepping saved me from pre-packaged/fast foods.. I cook a few days worth of chicken/beef/whatever-meatstuff-I'm-into-at-that-moment on Sunday nights, pop it into tupperware in the fridge, and dip into it until it's gone. And by "cook" I mean I put a tray of chicken in the oven and come back to it a few hours later to cut it up. So worst case scenario, toss it in to cook, go to the gym, come back and it's done. It turns out to be more convenient than hitting a drive through every time I want to eat, because I can slam some chicken into a tortilla or onto a salad and be done with it.

    Like other posters said, it comes down to priorities. Put your health higher on the list

    I still hit chicfila once a week, I just make it fit my macros
  • chriamaria
    chriamaria Posts: 76 Member
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    I think that IIFYM is not about eat whatever the crap you want, but that you can fit anything you want in moderation into your diet. So, if you really want ice cream, you can have it. Doesn't mean you should have a ton or everyday, but it can fit into your plan.

    When I first got on here, macros were really, really frustrating. It was too stressful. I had to take a step back and just focus on calories and try to get protein at every meal. Then, I started working on my fiber. Once I got my fiber in check the weight really started to come off. It wasn't until month 3 that I was able to start working on my macros more. Just get started with calories the best you can and try to eat a balanced diet as much as you can. You'll get the hang of it. I have to remind myself to take baby steps sometimes.

    Also, I use that same website, and in the calculator that helps you set up your macros, they let you pick whatever style of macro set up you prefer. You can research protein needs yourself and see that there are a lot of conflicting ideas out there. Just because that website says you have to eat x amount of protein, doesn't mean they are right.
  • drwaddy
    drwaddy Posts: 50 Member
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    Thanks for all the responses, I got the message I needed to hear, and I'll be a lot better off for it. Thanks all 8 )
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    IIFYM is all about setting your macros to optimize YOUR fitness and nutrition. There is no single ideal macros setting...someone who trains for endurance events is going to have a very different macro goal than a body builder or power lifter or whatever.

    Then you eat food to hit those macros and you can do that without demonizing foods and/or groups of foods and singling out certain macro nutrients as evil. Most people who follow this do so to optimize their fitness which requires an overall nutritious diet...but you can have some ice cream for desert or whatever so long as it fits your macros (and calorie goals). It's a pretty easy concept, I don't understand why so many people have such an issue grasping it....it's pretty much basic common sense.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    However, I have spent 2 hours trying very very hard to get a solid meal that involves ANY packaged or fast food that fits my macros, I would encourage you to provide one cause I'll follow it...

    This is what I think causes your problem--

    Your calories are pretty high, because you are a youngish big guy. That shouldn't make it tough to fit your macros, if that's what you want to do, since the total grams of each given to you by MFP or a website that figures it are generally a percentage, so based on your total calories. BUT, things like sodium and sugar, as calculated by MFP, are based on nutritional recommendations and do not change as your calories go up. What that's means is that if you eat low calories, you aren't going to have a hard time meeting them. If you don't, and lots of people like you shouldn't, then it's going to be more challenging, especially sodium if you eat prepared or processed food.

    It's worth keeping in mind a couple of things: (1) MFP's recommendations for sodium are probably on the low side, and matter mostly for those who have issues related to sodium or who routinely go way, way over, and (2) lowering your intake as you lower your calories is a healthy change and you can do this in steps, you don't have to do everything at once. It took me some time getting an understanding of how best to meet my calories before I started playing around with macros and watching sodium, etc.

    Also, this is probably clear from the links, but if you are having trouble meeting your macros you might want to reassess what they are and why you've set them that way. For example, a protein goal based on a percentage or total weight might be too high if you have a high body fat percentage or work out enough that your calorie goal is quite high. I base mine on my LBM and my goal without exercise and don't worry about meeting the percentage when my goal is higher due to exercise--I just want to meet my gram number. Same with carbs--I'd like to keep them below a certain number (works best for me) if I'm at my low calorie goal, but will raise them if I get more calories from working out. What I've found is that as I get used to eating a certain way you start meeting the macros without much effort, but it worked better for me to make it simpler to start.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    However, I have spent 2 hours trying very very hard to get a solid meal that involves ANY packaged or fast food that fits my macros, I would encourage you to provide one cause I'll follow it...

    This is what I think causes your problem--

    Your calories are pretty high, because you are a youngish big guy. That shouldn't make it tough to fit your macros, if that's what you want to do, since the total grams of each given to you by MFP or a website that figures it are generally a percentage, so based on your total calories. BUT, things like sodium and sugar, as calculated by MFP, are based on nutritional recommendations and do not change as your calories go up. What that's means is that if you eat low calories, you aren't going to have a hard time meeting them. If you don't, and lots of people like you shouldn't, then it's going to be more challenging, especially sodium if you eat prepared or processed food.

    It's worth keeping in mind a couple of things: (1) MFP's recommendations for sodium are probably on the low side, and matter mostly for those who have issues related to sodium or who routinely go way, way over, and (2) lowering your intake as you lower your calories is a healthy change and you can do this in steps, you don't have to do everything at once. It took me some time getting an understanding of how best to meet my calories before I started playing around with macros and watching sodium, etc.

    Also, this is probably clear from the links, but if you are having trouble meeting your macros you might want to reassess what they are and why you've set them that way. For example, a protein goal based on a percentage or total weight might be too high if you have a high body fat percentage or work out enough that your calorie goal is quite high. I base mine on my LBM and my goal without exercise and don't worry about meeting the percentage when my goal is higher due to exercise--I just want to meet my gram number. Same with carbs--I'd like to keep them below a certain number (works best for me) if I'm at my low calorie goal, but will raise them if I get more calories from working out. What I've found is that as I get used to eating a certain way you start meeting the macros without much effort, but it worked better for me to make it simpler to start.

    OP, the whole notion that macros have to be a fixed % of your calorie intake is wrong.

    there are only 2 macros that matter: fats and protein.

    if you don't have a medical condition requiring you to monitor carbs, then you can effectively ignore them. you can always figure out your carb intake by knowing your calories, protein, and fats anyway.

    you determine those based on your bodyweight and LBM (and to some extent your weight loss goals, lifting goals, etc.)

    once you determine those fixed numbers as goals, they are treated as minimums. once you get that much of each, you're good. the rest of your calories can be any mix of carbs, fats, and protein that you desire. this is fundamental to IIFYM. once you meet your macros, whatever is left is just for energy and can be anything... rice, broccoli, chicken, cookies, ice cream, etc.

    for example, let's say your TDEE is 3800 and your calorie goal is 2800.

    if your protein goal is 175g and your fats goal is 75g, then meeting those requirements adds up to 1375 calories. the remaining 1425 calories in your 2800 calorie goal can be whatever you want them to be.

    - sidebar -
    1g carbs = 1g protein = 4 calories
    1g fats = 9 calories
  • MelStren
    MelStren Posts: 457 Member
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    Meal prepping saved me from pre-packaged/fast foods.. I cook a few days worth of chicken/beef/whatever-meatstuff-I'm-into-at-that-moment on Sunday nights, pop it into tupperware in the fridge, and dip into it until it's gone. And by "cook" I mean I put a tray of chicken in the oven and come back to it a few hours later to cut it up. So worst case scenario, toss it in to cook, go to the gym, come back and it's done. It turns out to be more convenient than hitting a drive through every time I want to eat, because I can slam some chicken into a tortilla or onto a salad and be done with it.

    Like other posters said, it comes down to priorities. Put your health higher on the list

    I still hit chicfila once a week, I just make it fit my macros

    This^^^^^^^Crock pots and the microwave are my best friends! It takes no time at all to toss a pork chop and some rice, or chicken and rice into a crock pot and come back to it in a few hours. I also brown 2 or 3 pounds of ground beef at a time and store it in air tight tubs. I also make a large tub of rice each week. Toss the ground beef with rice, black beans and whole kernal corn and you've got a meal that will travel and doesn't taste too bad if you have to eat it cold.

    I make a week's worth of omlets on Sat. or Sun. and divide them up so I have breakfast every morning in the time it takes to reheat in the microwave. You can toss oatmeal together before bed, stick it in the fridge and heat it up in the morning.

    If you follow your calories and proteins and limit your carbs, your fat and sodium won't be a big health issue because your body will be better able to handle them.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I follow IIFYM...but not the site

    My goal is to hit or exceed protien then fats and stay within calories...

    I often (esp this week) have exceeded my 120grams a day of protien without using up my calories...and I am on 1800 a day.

    I eat sausage, eggs, bacon, egg whites for breakfast a lot...chicken, lean pork, beef for lunch and dinner along with seafood and my snacks are things like greek yogurt...

    My carbs I don't give a crap about, rarely hit them and if I do it's cause I have extra calories and I eat treats...like chocolate and ice cream...

    I eat packaged foods and home prepared foods...

    As for Fast food...try a grilled chicken sandwich from McDonalds with 2 single bacon cheese burgers, get rid of 2 of the buns make one giant sandwich and have a side salad with that...you will get lots of protien and the calories will surprise you.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
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    you're worried about eating too many carbs and sodium while living on pre packaged processed food, just think about what you're saying, there is nothing wrong with carbs or sodium, if you were eating a diet composed of mostly whole foods and don't salt the **** out of your food then sodium becomes a non issue

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