The Only IIFYM Guide You’ll Ever Need
Take the guesswork out of tracking macros and set yourself up for success in your fitness goals with the science-backed, result-oriented method — IIFYM
What is IIFYM?
Before we delve into how to use IIFYM to transform your health and fitness, and get the number on the scale to be where you want it, let’s talk about what it entails.
IIFYM stands for ‘If It Fits Your Macros’
And it is exactly that, a lifestyle centered around your body’s specific needs which will always work, because it’s based on science.
It’s actually simple math — for example, based on your height, weight and physical activity levels, let’s say your body needs 1800 calories a day to function normally, that’s your maintenance caloric intake.
More than that in a day puts you in a surplus — which means you’ll gain weight
Lower than that will create a calorie deficit which is the key to healthy, sustainable weight loss.
Why it rocks
I think it’s obvious to anyone who’s dabbled with weight loss before, why this approach is the only one worth pursuing in a sea of fad diets out there.
Because it lets you live your life without restrictions yet gives you the results you want.
Unlike Keto, IF, Paleo, Whole30, you are not forbidden from eating anything — as long as, you guessed it — it fits your macros.
Which means you can eat ALL the foods you love, with planning and some simple math.
In fact, this lifestyle encourages you to eat foods you love so you don’t feel restricted and are more likely to be consistent with hitting your macros daily.
You’re also not restricted from eating out, or having alcohol — anything you consume, you track, that’s it.
Tracking takes the guesswork out of wondering if you’re eating the appropriate amount, getting the macronutrients you need for your specific fitness goals, and making sure you’re optimizing your diet to suit your lifestyle and needs.
IIFYM puts YOU in control of your nutrition and how much you’re putting in your body.
How to get started:
First things first, you need to get an estimate of your TDEE — Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
That’s how many calories your body burns in a day simply to survive and do its thing.
Tdeecalculator.net is a great resource to get this estimate, although keep in mind that this number is only an estimate and is likely to fluctuate based on differences in your physical activity levels, weight changes, etc.
Alternatively, you can also track your food intake and weight for 2 weeks to get a sense of whether you’re eating above or below your TDEE.
This will give you an idea of whether you are in a deficit or surplus for your body’s maintenance needs depending on whether you lose or gain weight in those 2 weeks.
To lose about 0.5–1/lb. per week, a deficit of 500 calories per day is the rule of thumb
Once you have this number, you just need to eat 500 calories below your TDEE.
500 calories less each day * 7 days a week = 3500 calories — which is approximately equivalent to 1 lb. of fat.
So, if you are consistent with eating at a deficit/surplus you will lose/gain one pound per week. This is ideal, healthy, and sustainable. And it works!
Let’s say your TDEE is 2000 calories per day — subtract 500 from it to get your deficit caloric intake for each day.
Now, I know this seems like you’d be eating quite a bit less than what you’re used to, but being in deficit is only a temporary phase in your weight loss journey. You will not always be in a deficit, or a surplus for that matter.
Because the human body is an incredibly adaptive machine, if you keep eating in a deficit for a prolonged period of time, your metabolism, and your TDEE will adapt and decrease. Which means you will no longer lose weight.
You need to switch it up with different cycles of cutting (being in a deficit), maintaining, and/or bulking depending on your fitness goals.
How to calculate your macros:
When you have that number of calories you need to eat daily to lose or gain weight — you need to use the following formula to determine how much of each macronutrient — Fat, Carbohydrates, and Protein, you should be eating each day.
You need these numbers to fuel your body appropriately based on your unique goals — someone else’s formula will not give you results so it’s imperative you calculate your own.
Protein
Hands down the most important macro-nutrient to help build muscle mass which boosts metabolism and burns more calories, you need to make sure to hit your protein counts each day, even if you may not hit the others.
If your goal is weight loss/cutting — multiply your body weight in lbs. with 0.7–1 — that’s how much protein you need each day.
Maintenance: 1g/lb. of bodyweight
Bulking: 1.2–1.5g/lb. of bodyweight
Fat
Depending on your current body fat levels, your fat intake needs will differ.
For those that have a higher bodyfat percent, the fat intake should be on the lower side — 0.25–0.35 multiplied by bodyweight
If your bodyfat percent is above 30%, you should aim for the lower end of that range (0.25–0.3) multiplied by your body weight to get your fat grams for the day. This is a range and you will need to experiment to figure out what works best while also keeping you full and satiated throughout the day. Fat is an important macronutrient necessary for cell growth, absorption of essential nutrients, and for daily energy. Over-restricting this nutrient might make you lose weight in the short term but will only cause your body harm in the long run.
To maintain your current weight — 0.35–0.45 * bodyweight = daily fat grams
When you have this number, multiplying it by 9 will give you the number of calories that will come from fat.
For bulking, fat should be 0.4–0.5 multiplied by bodyweight to give you your fat counts.
Carbohydrate
Add both protein and fat calories and subtract this total from the daily caloric allowance you calculated before (your TDEE- 500) to get your carbohydrate calories.
Then divide the carbohydrate calories by 4 to get the grams of carbohydrates you need to eat daily.
Example:
Adding it all together — for example, say someone’s daily caloric goal is 1500 calories and they weigh 120 lbs., goal is cutting (losing weight)
1g/lb. of bodyweight = 120 g of protein/day
1g of protein = 4 calories
480 calories come from protein
Next is fat — multiplied 0.35 with bodyweight gives 38.5g of fat, rounding to 40g — to make it easier to track as well as eat enough to feel full.
1 g of fat is 9 calls, so 40 * 9 = 360 calories from fat
Adding fat and protein calories — 360 + 480 = 840
To get carbs — 1500–840 = 660 calories
Each gram of carbohydrate is equivalent to 4 calories, so dividing the above calories we get — 660/4 = 165 g of carbs
If you’re someone who prefers to eat more fat than carbs, you can adjust the range above for fats to eat more and reduce your carb intake accordingly.
That’s it!
Notice something?
Each gram of fat, protein, carbs, amounts to the same number of calories no matter where it comes from.
So, you could be eating French fries, or fruit, to hit your macros, and you’d still lose weight.
Nourishing your body with nutrient-dense and whole foods will of course make you feel better and perform at the most optimum levels, but if you adopt the IIFYM lifestyle, the occasional unhealthy food won’t make all your hard work go down the drain. No more dreading holiday treats and vacation meals!
If that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is.
How to start tracking:
Now that you have your numbers, let’s put them into action.
Download MyFitnessPal or tracking app of your choice, MFP is my go-to given it’s easy to use interface, large food inventory, and easy tools to track customized meal options.
Buy a kitchen scale — this is the one I’ve had for 3years and still works great.
Start weighing everything you eat and tracking it in the app.
Setting up the app:
Here’s how you should set up the app —
Goals — try to get it as close as your carb, fat and protein counts from macros calculated before.
Physical Activity — set your physical activity levels to ‘not very active’ in settings since adding your actual physical activity levels makes the app add your calories burned each day to your food calories.
This defeats the purpose of trying to be in a deficit, since your daily caloric allowance already accounts for your physical activity.
Even if you have a fitness tracker synced to your MyFitnessPal, do not eat back the calories you burn each day. Fitness trackers aren’t entirely accurate so the calories burned estimate on yours might not be true and will keep you from being in a calorie deficit.
Tips and tricks
· Calculate your current weight as an average of 7 days or more to account for fluctuations that may occur during the week due to salt intake, sleep, daily physical activity etc.
· Cook your own meals, meal prep, or eat from restaurants that have meals on MFP
·Always have pre-cooked ingredients always available to meet your macros when you’re short on any single macronutrient
·Save frequently eaten meals in the meals section of the app to make tracking easier
· Use the copy option to copy meals from previous days
· If you eat the same thing for breakfast/lunch/dinner, add any non-routine foods to snacks so you can still copy your routine meals to other days
· Weigh all your food storage containers and save this info somewhere so you can weigh food easily when you add it to your usual containers
· For oils, sauces and other small quantity foods, measure the container they’re in on the scale before and after use to get the quantity consumed with each use.
· Scan all packaged foods for easy access
· For restaurant food, deconstruct a dish and eyeball measurements to track as accurately as possible
That’s all folks! This is everything you need to get started on your IIFYM journey and enjoy your favorite foods while crushing your fitness goals! Let’s get it!
These guidelines are not meant to replace the advice of a professional, and must be adjusted based on individual needs and hunger cues.
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