so stuck!

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Hi everyone

Totally new to IIFYM! Sorry for the annoying questions as I'm sure they have been asked a bunch of times.

According to the IIFYM calculator my macros to lose weight are

197 C
98 P
43 F
1582cals.

My main question is, what happens if you meet your macros but have calories left over? Should you eat those calories, or leave them since you have already hit your macros? And on the flip, what if you have met your calories but still have some protein carbs or fat left...do you eat until you have met your macros or not and just stay at your calorie goal? I've read loads of people say that it's impossible to meet one but not the other but I have entered into MFP a few examples just as a test and it's happened almost every time. I wonder if this has something to do with the carbs on UK nutrition labels. I assume that the IIFYM calculator is calculating the carbs before fibre is subtracted, but in the UK our nutrition labels have already subtracted the carbs. Could this have something to do with it?

Also, I read this


"Seriously though, disregard ratios acquire common sense and hit your minimums for both fat and protein, fill the rest of your calories with any combination of the three macros and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and this is all you need.

The rest comes down to consistency."

But does that not totally take away the whole idea of IIFYM if you aren't actually hitting your macros? If you hit your fat and protein, then "fill the rest of your calories with any combination of the three macros"..could you not then just go way over on fat and protein and be very under on carbs? I'm just so lost about what to do with left over macros and carbs!

Replies

  • millsrobm
    millsrobm Posts: 62 Member
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    Focus on macros; there are errors in the MFP database that can cause the calories to not add up. Do check your entries to make sure they actually have to macro information in them. Try and hit +/- 5g on each macro. Not sure about your carb/fiber question - but do not subtract the fiber - count all the carbs. I'm not sure of your stats, but your protein and fats seem a tiny bit low.
  • KateyCoo
    KateyCoo Posts: 5
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    Thanks millsrobm

    the fibre/carbs thing, basically in the UK, the carbs labelled have already subtracted the fibre. So for example, in the US if something is listed as 12g, 3g fibre, to get the NET you'd do 12-3=9. In the UK, the label would already read 9 as it's done the maths for you. So basically using an american IIFYM calculator gives me 197c but I'm not sure if that's total or net carbs..and if it is total, then I don't actually know how much fibre is in the product as it has already been taken off if you see what I mean.

    and yes I thought the fat was a bit low too! My stats are 5ft5, 148lbs, exericse 3-4 times a week