IIFYM..good or bad?

I am new to IIFYM too. I was looking for success stories because it still blows my mind that some people LOSE weight while eating 2k+ cals a day. That sounds lovely! I generally eat pretty healthy myself but haven't been seeing results and I've even gained recently! I am going to try IIFYM until Christmas and then reevaluate my levels for the new year.

I'm so done feeling starved and deprived and scared to eat a piece of pizza even if the rest of my day has been all veggies and chicken. I'm going to LOVE some greasy goodness every now and then! Or Buffalo Wild Wings with the boyfriend

IIFYM has nothing to do with your calorie goal...it is macro goals. As has been explained, IIFYM is all about hitting your macro goals and not labeling food "good" or "bad"...most will still eat, by and large, and diet chalk full of nutrient dense foods...but if they have room in their calorie budget and their macro budget they might have a brownie or something for desert.

I repeat, IIFYM has nothing to do with people eating 2000 calories and losing weight. Weight loss is all about calorie in/out....someone losing 1 Lb per week eating 2000 calories would theoretically have a TDEE then of about 2500 calories...this is the typical male. For a woman to have that kind of TDEE would require being pretty darned active.

I double posted, computer glitchy today.

bump for later

It's a balance, but I'm much happier getting my remaining carbs for the day by eating ice cream instead of my 4th serving of brown rice. My wife always complained that she had to 'give up' things like bread and chocolate to lose a few pounds. We did a few days of MFP tracking where she hit her macros on just 1500 cal/day and still had room for things like peanut butter, ice cream, or chocoate bars in moderation.

It is all about balance. Somedays you balance better than others. I didn't balance well today. I've already logged in my dinner and I'm looking at needing 562 calories out of 1492, 45 more grams of protein, and 30 grams of fat. I only have 2 more carbs!!!! Not to mention I'm starving hungry right now. It's 4 PM. Got to do better tomorrow.

Edited to say I might change my macros. These are what scooby told me I shoud do. 30% carbs, 40% protein, 30% fat. I might change it to higher carbs.....we'll see how long I can keep this up.

Here's a simple example of how IIFYM sorta works:

I set my macros at say, 50% carbs, 25% protein, 25% fat (hypothetical- lets not get all wound up over why you think it should be 40/30/30, or whatever. I want easy math)

I get done with dinner and have 180 cals left. I've hit my protein goal for the day, (for a 2000 cal diet, that'd be 500 cals, or 125g)

I look and see that only 49% of my calories came from carbs, and 22% from fats.
so I have 30g (120cal) of carbs and about 7g (60cal) of fat left that I can eat.

A 'clean eater' would say you can only have rice and some nuts because that's "healthy calories"
A IIFYM eater would say you can get some carbs and some fat, and a little extra protein by eating a brownie. or small slice of pie. Or some ice-cream. Or some chocolate milk. Or a Beer.

Because in the end, all you really care about is consuming 30g of carbs and 7g of fat to meet your goals.

Fuel is fuel is fuel.

Nicely said.

Just an observation but I see IIFYM as the way the majority of people who have always maintained a healthy body weight and have no food issues eat, although possibly paying more attention to percentage of protein etc. They eat generally "healthy" nutritionally balanced meals and don't beat themselves up if they have cake. Food is a fuel that can also give pleasure but it doesn't have power over them.

It's only a label but really it is an excellent way to learn to have a sensible relationship with food.

good observation. I haven't always maintained a healthy weight...largely due to slacking on my fitness but continuing to eat copious amounts of food...but yes, it does foster a healthier relationship with food. And as others have said, it's largely about balance.

I'm sure you can lose weight if you meet your calories, regardless if it fits your macros or not. The problem I see is that one piece of pizza and one piece of cake might fit your macros AND calories for the day, but can you live on that? I'd rather "spend" my calories on healthier foods (as a general rule) and eat a lot throughout the day. My blood sugar and cholesterol is going to be a lot better for it, too.

I say to each his own. For me, IIFYM is a relative term. Can you lose weight that way? Sure. Will my body be as healthy as it would be if I just occasionally indulged in those foods? Probably not.

Is IIFYM good or bad? Neither. It's all about what your goal is. If losing weight is your only goal, then go for it. If overall health (inside and out) is your goal, then I'm not convinced that pizza and cake is the way to go.

This is a common misconception about IIFYM. Most people do not live on pizza and cake. They have well balanced diets as I outlined above. They just don't deny themselves anything once their nutrition needs are met.

Someone doing IIFYM right, if they reached the end if their day with 80 calories left but deficient in protein, would not eat ice cream. They'd reach for a lean protein source. Same situation but deficient in micronutrients, they'd reach for veg or fruit.

IIFYM is about a balanced diet without food-fear.

This^

IMO, IIFYM is just a fancy acronym for what used to be called a "balanced diet" (ie not restrictive diet). It's the only way that makes sense for me. YMMV.

If you are doing IIFYM right you are not looking at just calories. You actually have to hit your MACROS! This is not done by eating cake and pizza all day because you would NOT hit your macros. IIFYM works and if done correctly the majority of you diet is probably going to be pretty nutritious.

"Eat whatever you want, if it fits your macros"

^^^^ this

it's a common misconception that people can just eat whatever doing IIFYM.... you can't. You can *include* whatever foods you like, but if you hit your calorie goal eating nothing but pizza you'll have failed by a long way to hit your macros, you'll be waaaaaaaay under on protein and way over on fats and carbs.

Hitting your macros requires eating lots of foods that give you plenty of protein without overdoing the fats or carbs.... i.e. a lot of the foods that "clean" eaters eat. Yes you can enjoy whatever so long as it fits your macros, but fitting it in your macros is trickier than it looks... as pizza is high fat, high carb low protein, you'll have to eat a lot of chicken breast salad (or other high protein low fat low carb food) for the rest of the day to get your protein high enough while your fats and carbs are low enough, that you can fit in the pizza. Yes it's worth doing this so you can eat the pizza. I just want to emphasise the point that IIFYM isn't just eating whatever you like all the time. It's planning your meals so you get just the right amount of fat, protein and carbs, while including whatever foods you want to eat in the process (and all the necessary adjustments to fit high fat high carb low protein foods into your day)

IIFYM is evil... All these cookies and Rice Krispies treats that I'm eating. And ice cream too... so evil...

*in moderation of course, while focused on a balanced diet and always hitting my macros and tracking my micros*