In February of 2013, I was laid off from my job, thankfully I was able to find a new position in 4 months, but unfortunately, my eating suffered. The next thing I knew, I gained back about 12 pounds. I tried a few different things over the last year but those 12 pounds have stubbornly held on.
I do want to put out a disclaimer that I don't weigh myself anymore. The scale makes me crazy and I refuse to let a piece of metal dictate how I feel about myself. Instead I evaluate how my clothes fit. I know how they fit at my lowest and I know the weight I was when I bought most of them.
I've decided to change things up and try a new approach. I've read a lot about people counting their macros and using the IIFYM method (If it fits your macros). The idea is that there are 3 macro nutrients, carbs, protein and fat. Based on your activity level, age, and body fat you calculate the number of calories and the macro break down you need to lose weight.
I went to IIFYM.com to calculate what I need to eat.
I entered my age, height and weight, my level of exercise and my body fat. I guessed on my body fat the first time I did the calculation, then on Saturday when I went to the gym I asked to use their body fat calculator machine. Annnnd it was 32%. According to the site, I need to eat 1708 calories today to lose weight, 2135 to maintain and 2349 and up will cause me to gain weight.
I chose the IIFYM plan and opted for one of the highest protein and fat options. Reason being, I know that I have pretty results when I keep the carbs a little lower. You could go with less fat and get more carbs, it just depends on what works for you, as long as you meet your macro distribution.
A few key points to remember, you can't eat any calorie you've burned through exercise. The calculation already accounts for that. Also, if you're familiar with a low carb diet, you know that many people subtract the fiber from the carb counts. That doesn't work here. A carb is a carb. When Kev was helping me set my guidelines, he was used to to low carb rules, so we needed to up it a little.
I also went out and bought a new food scale and a measuring tape and I'm using myfitnesspal app to track my food. There's a a code that you can run on your PC that adapts the website to allow you to customize the macro percentages on the page and when you save the updates, it translates to the food app.
Here are my measurements as of 7/12/14:
Waist - 35
Hips - 42.2
Arm - 13
Thigh - 24.25
Body Fat - 32%
Me after a sweaty Body Pump class for the starting pictures.
Time to get started!
Have you ever counted macros?
How do you track your food?
Monday Link up!
Good for you for not weighing yourself. I get so upset when the numbers go up after I've been "good, " which I know is stupid. I think I'm just going to try to limit myself to a weigh in once a week.
ReplyDeleteInteresting... I've heard a little about IIFYM but haven't looked into it all that much. I'm going to look at the website now, so thanks for sharing! I use MFP and try to stay on track with that. Stopping by from the link up :)
ReplyDeleteI recently started reading up on IIFYM and seemed like a good option since I want to lose fat. Day 3 and so far so good!
DeleteI've never even heard of IIFYM or macros... I'm so intrigued now!!
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of people who've had great results. Hopefully me too!
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