For the past few weeks or so, I’ve been trying this fitness philosophy called “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM). It’s a slightly controversial idea. People in the fitness industry love to argue and contest each other’s philosophies. I’m fairly open-minded and like to try new things. I did the whole strict clean-eating thing, did protein-shake only, fruit-only cleanses, and so forth. Strict bodybuilder clean-eaters don’t care for IIFYM. However, plenty of people adhere to IIFYM.
So, what is IIFYM? In this philosophy, you have a set number of calories you can intake based on if you want to cut (lose fat), maintain, or bulk (gain mass). From those total calories, your macros are split up. Macros (aka macronutrients) are your proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. You get a certain number of each (this site has a great calculator for it). For example, I have around 1930 calories per day, my designated protein intake is around 130g, fat is like 55g, and carbs hover around 230g.
In many fitness regimens, you are supposed to eat clean (no crap). However, in IIFYM, you can eat dirty IF it fits your macros. So if I eat cleanly and focus on high protein and medium fat/carbs, I can have a big ol’ bowl of ice cream later. Your diet revolves around “hitting your macros” in any way YOU choose. For some people, it’s great because it allows them to be flexible. For others, they can’t handle all the temptation. Some people don’t even believe it works because there’s “dirty” eating involved.
You can treat yourself every day if you budget for it!
For me, it has gone fairly well. I don’t always hit my macros, sometimes because I don’t get all my suggested calories and sometimes because I go over a few. So far, I’m kind of liking it. It allows me treats but also sets a limit. Gives me some moderation. I’m not sure how long I will keep doing this, but I will stick with it for a bit longer. Tracking your nutrients is vital, I use MyFitnessPal (add me! “nanathetiger“). We may go back to strict clean-eating soon. Who knows!
Gotta love brussel sprouts 🙂
It’s good to know all the fitness philosophies out there. Some (MANY) are fads, but it’s worth investigating to find out what works for YOU. There is no one-fits-all fitness regimen. Something could work perfectly for you, but completely fail for me. It’s important to try stuff out and see what your body and mind likes best. As always…stay hungry and fit!
BONUS PUPPY PIC
I wonder if it’s tough being so cute all the time
I have done this (without realizing what it “really” was) by using MyFitnessPal for over six years! It helped me realize the ridiculous amounts of calories I was taking in, and cut that to a reasonable amount. It helped me drop about 10 pounds, and keep it off!
I just added you on MFP! Great macro calculator, too. I’ve tried to manually figure out those numbers with a calculator but this is so much easier. The interesting thing is that MFP/FitBit tell me to eat way less than the IIFYM calculator. Maybe that’s why I’m so hungry this week, I don’t know.
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