I’m sure you’ve seen me talking about IIFYM all the time and well, it’s an understatement to say that I’m pretty much obsessed with it. It’s changed my outlook on food and eating completely. I used to think eating 1,200 calories of only healthy foods was what I was supposed to do, but boy was I wrong. I am now eating almost 2,000 calories daily— and yep, that includes pop tarts, candy, ice cream and lots and lots of peanut butter. I’ve gotten a lot of questions (and “wow, you’re going to eat that?” stares) from friends, family members and complete strangers, so I figured, why not write about it?
The Basics:
IIFYM stands for “If It Fits Your Macros.” Macros, or macronutrients, consist of protein, carbs and fats. These are the only things you worry about tracking with IIFYM. As long as you meet the specific grams of protein, carbs and fats for your body, you can eat whatever your little heart desires. Of course this doesn’t mean fitting fast food into your macros every day and only eating “unhealthy foods.” You still have to keep a close eye on your micronutrients as well, such as fiber and vitamins. I know what you’re thinking, “I can eat ice cream and candy and still lose weight?” Yes you can! Our bodies have no idea what type of food you are putting into your mouth. It simply knows it as calories. So you could have 100 calories worth of ice cream or 100 calories worth of vegetables and it doesn’t know the difference. The one thing it does know is if you are taking in more calories than you are burning. This is what will make you gain weight, not carbs, not fats.
Why it Works:
Now, I’m no expert on all the scientific terms, but what IIFYM aims to do is build up your metabolic capacity. What does this mean? By building up your metabolic capacity you are simply building up how many calories you can eat and still maintain or lose weight. When I first started, I was eating 1,773 calories and I’ve built my metabolic capacity up to 1,963 calories in about 2 months. Over those two months I lost 12 pounds. So as I’m eating almost 2,000 calories I am still able to lose weight; what more could you want? This just shows that the whole “only eat 1,200 calories to lose weight” statement is completely false.
Still don’t trust me? Well another big reason why IIFYM can help you reach your goals is that it does away with the binges and snacking that happen with a strict clean eating diet. When you are only feeding your body healthy foods such as chicken, veggies and fruit, unless you’re superwoman with zero cravings, you tend to crave all the unhealthy foods. This can lead to binge eating which in turn leads to consuming more calories than you are burning. By following IIFYM you are able to have all these unhealthy foods. My cravings? Gone. Why? Because I can simply fit the foods I crave into my macros for the day.
How to Get Started:
Ready to jump on the IIFYM train yet? While learning what foods have a lot of carbs, proteins and fats can be challenging at first, practice makes perfect. You will soon be able to hit your macros every single day. To figure out the grams of carbs, proteins and fats to start out with, you can simply google IIFYM calculators and there are a bunch of sites out there that will guide you through the process. As a general guideline, you want to have 1 gram of protein for how much you weigh (if you are working out a lot you may want to eat anywhere between 1 gram to 1.5 grams per pound you weigh), your fats are 30 percent of your total calories and the carbs are the rest. (Another helpful hint is that 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of carbs are equal to 4 calories and 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.)
Once you have your macros calculated, you’ll want to download the My Fitness Pal app on your phone. This app allows you to search or scan your foods to make tracking your macros easier. You can put your custom macros into the app and track all your foods to hit those macros. I like to plan what I’m going to eat the night before. It saves time and allows me to know I am going to hit my goals. When I first started with IIFYM I initially gained about 3 pounds, but this was because I went from only eating 1,200 calories a day to eating over 1,700. The next week I lost those 3 pounds and continued to lose weight. If at my weekly weigh-in I had lost weight or was at a constant weight for a few weeks, I would up my carbs by 10 grams (40 calories).
Questions?
I know this all can be a little confusing; it was for me in the beginning. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!