Macros, micros, TDEE, BMR, IIFYM. You may be sat there thinking what the hell does that mean, if so you, don’t panic, you are in good hands.
IIFYM stands for ‘If It Fits your Macros’.
First things first, what are macros?
Macronutrients are types of food necessary to your diet in large quantities, these are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Micronutrients- known as micros- are equally important substances needed in much smaller amounts, such as vitamins and minerals.
The IIFYM diet involves deciding how many calories you want to eat and what percentage of your diet will be protein, fat and carbs. This should add up to 100%. Some people also choose to set themselves micro goals, e.g. to stay under Xg of salt. As long as you fill these macros you can literally eat whatever you want.
Sounds too good to be true?
It isn’t as easy as it sounds. If you eat a load of rubbish you’re going to fill up your fat and carbs really quickly and not have enough calories left for your protein intake.
So how do you go about working out your macros?
To lose weight the amount of energy you burn must be more than the amount of energy you put into your body.
By the same token, if you’re wanting to gain weight, the amount of energy you consume must be more than the amount you burn.
Obviously everybody is different and whilst Sally could eat 1800 calories a week and gain weight, Jane could stuff herself with 3000 calories worth of share-size Doritos and not gain a pound (damn you Jane). This is because everybody has a different BMR- basal metabolic rate and therefore a different TDEE- total daily energy expenditure.
What’s my BMR and TDEE?
Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn literally doing nothing- i.e. when you’re asleep. Yes, that’s right you burn calories when you’re asleep, and, no, that does not mean you can power nap your way to a size 8. You must also take into account your activity level for the day, this is where your TDEE comes into it. If you have a very active lifestyle your TDEE will be much higher than that of someone with a sedentary lifestyle. So using your BMR and your TDEE you can work out the amount of calories you must eat to maintain your weight.
Thankfully there is a really easy online tool you can use to work out your BMR and TDEE by inputting your stats.
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
*please note this is just a guide and the only accurate way to find your TDEE is through trial and error.
But I don’t want to maintain weight, I want to lose/gain weight.
All you need to do is adjust the calories accordingly.
As a rule, a deficit of 3500 calories a week is one pound.
If your TDEE is 2000 calories you must either eat 1500 calories every day or burn 500 calories a day. By the same idea, if you want to gain 1 pound a week, up your food intake by 500 calories.
Let’s take Sally again. 
She is a 25-year-old, 5′ 5” female weighing 140 pounds. She currently does no exercise and has a full time job as a waitress.
Her TDEE is approximately 1866 calories. If she wanted to lose half a pound a week she would have to consume around 1600 calories or burn 250 calories per day.
How much protein, fat or carbohydrates should I be eating?
It is recommended to have at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. The rest will be split between carbohydrates and fat. If you- like myself- cannot live without a Warburton’s Seeded Batch, it would be sensible to set aside the majority of your calories for carbohydrates and the rest for fat.
Again the super handy IIFYM calculator will work all this out for you.
If we go back to Sally, we know she must eat say 1600 calories a day. Using the calculator around 35% of her diet is protein. 45% will be made up of carbohydrates and the remaining 20% will be made up of fat.
How do I track my macros?
Simply plug these percentages and your calorie intake into any calorie counter. I personally the website and app myfitnesspal. If you’re not familiar with it, it simply allows you to input what you eat and it tracks your macros for you. Alternatively you can use fatsecret to look at the macros in the food you eat and plan a food plan to fit with your macros.
IIFYM is favoured among many as it allows for flexibility. Gone are the days of drowning in brown rice and broccoli, some people manage to fit doughnuts into their macros. Yep, you can eat doughnuts and not gain weight…magical.
That is the end of this guide, I hope it was useful and not too confusing. If you have any questions feel free to write in the comments box or message me on Instagram @dionnelifts. Same goes for if you are struggling to work out your macros as I would be more than happy to help out.
Bye for now X
DIONNELIFTS 