IIFYM and your lifestyle?

[maXmood]

How do you apply IIFYM method on different food that you didn't cook?

i get back home and there's chicken macaroni, curry/white rice, beef spaghetti or even fettuccine made for lunch or dinner, and i don't think it's something i can measure or guesstimate what macros i'll be hitting.

How do you deal with dining out? not talking about fast food, but proper resturants with proper food? how do you get those macros from the different dishes? not all resturants has an online website with their meals nutrition.

i've been on a diet plan for 5 months that's mainly wheat cereal, skimmed milk, grilled chicken, brown rice, peanut butter and whole grain bread, which affected my social life because i always refused to be around tempting food. and tbh, my diet hasn't got the food i love, i just forced myself and still forcing myself everyday, and it's the only reason that might make me quit, which i don't wanna do. i wanna find a way to keep me headed towards my goal.

my week used to be 3 days out with the guys, 1 day out with the family, now it's down to 2 days only.. fk..

any advise would be appreciated.

[SuffolkPunch]

Guess

Experience will tell you how many calories are in something - and typical protein content.

My meals always seem to end up being between 700 and 1000 calories for example... I also know that if I eat meat in two meals and get a 45g protein shake then I easily meet my protein requirement for the day.

[JHarden]

You just have to give it your best guess. For foods at home, look at the ingredients and estimate the best you can. For restaurant foods, look on websites that have nutritional information (most chains do) and find a comparable food. As long as you are consistent that's all that really matters.

[Dwizzy]

Download Fat secret for a better guesstimate, helps me out daily and couldn't imagine not having it. Stop eating food that you didn't cook for better results....of course.

When someone makes food for you, politely ask them to keep the boxes and packages along with how much ingredients they used so it helps you count more accurately. This is what I do whenever someone else makes my food (not including restaurants of course). Restaurants nowadays normally give you a calorie count for each menu item.

Also, I count macros as well, and I will tell you that cutting out breads altogether will help significantly. When going to restaurants to eat, make it easier on yourself and get something that's easy to cook and easier to count. That means eliminating bbq sauce and crap like that because there's a very slim chance you will get even remotely close to the right numbers.

[maXmood]

unfortunately, that's what i was afraid of.. guessing.. it could make me starve or eat at a surplus.

i can check all ingredients at home, that's no problem, maybe use the food scale to weight and guess? and i think i can do portion control, but then i'm might as well be below my macros.

i downloaded the FatSecret app, seems to have alot of brand names and restaurants, thanks for that..

[hema94x]

guessing never worked for me its a total bull****.....when u are at a 500 calorie deficit,guessing can put u in a 500 calorie surplus without even realizing.
so if u go for guessing don't do it very often.

[AAOBob]

Guessing is just so you don't go too far over/under. After tracking for a long time I'm a pretty good guesser but I wouldn't rely on it for cutting, just to make sure I don't go full stupid eating out.

Protein is easy to guess in terms of hitting your number.

[justinmilne]

Once you've done it for a while, you get pretty good at guessing, that being said...a lot of companies like mcdonalds, applebees, chillis all have nutrition info available online...I sometimes question if these are always 100%, but it's usually close enough

[maXmood]

thanks for the input, all..

i've been tracking for 5months at least, i can guesstimate what i usually cook and mostly i'm a tiny bit less/more to the grams. now gonna try new food, so i've decided to do guess work for the next 2 weeks, since i don't have a target date to achieve my goal, i can only experiment to find out what works best for me.

cooking is time consuming and i'm cooking food that i don't love to eat anyways. So, since someone else at home cooks better than me and food that i love + is always available when i get back home, i guess that will ease the journey a bit.

[Domicron]

thanks for the input, all..

i've been tracking for 5months at least, i can guesstimate what i usually cook and mostly i'm a tiny bit less/more to the grams. now gonna try new food, so i've decided to do guess work for the next 2 weeks, since i don't have a target date to achieve my goal, i can only experiment to find out what works best for me.

cooking is time consuming and i'm cooking food that i don't love to eat anyways. So, since someone else at home cooks better than me and food that i love + is always available when i get back home, i guess that will ease the journey a bit.

if you eat food regularly at home that others are cooking, simply ask for the recipe sometime. 2 benefits:

1) you now know how to cook food you enjoy

2) you can enter the recipe onto MFP and track when you eat it (if you care, if you are good at estimating and keeping track, no need to get too obsessed)

[TJP33]

Eating out, great time to give yourself a cheat meal and not worry about it. I don't use these to eat whatever I want all the time, its really more about spending time with family and friends- the macro's don't stray to far from what I typical eat as I enjoy my foods. Many times Ill eat salmon or steak with greens. Know the nutrition of the cut and look at the serving size on menu or ask waitress- simple math from there.. Could always add in some shrimp if a little short on protein.
Carbs are more difficult to judge, when Im serious abt dieting- cutting for comp- I avoid when out to eat, cause trying to eye it up is a disaster waiting to happen (I don't count greens). BUT THATS FOR COMPETITION, for beach shape or anything alike- find a balance and enjoy it- otherwise its disorders waiting to happen.

[Dudeman258]

Totally feel you OP. I can relate. You feel comfortable and in control when you know exactly what you have on your plate. Going out to eat, eating with family or friends introduces a cluster fu*k of unknowns. My head would just start spinning and going in circles when I would try and dissect the meal and estimate the calories. I would spend hours thinking about if I had calculated the serving of sweet potato fries I had for lunch to the calorie.

In my humble opinion. Realize you have to try not to worry to much about it! GUESSTIMATE as best you can. Think it over for a minute or two after the meal and know that you have experience with calorie density and macro-nutrition. Just don't obsess over it, I think that can get really unhealthy. As mentioned above. Remember to take your mind off the food and enjoy the time with friends & family. That is much more important!

Learning to enjoy food and feel in control when out with friends is something I still struggle with on a weekly bases. I am finding the more I let it go and just keep portions as reasonable as I can is allowing me to feel much better about it. I have seen no adverse affects in my body composition due to it.

Good luck.

[packattack87]

If I can't find any information on the food I'm eating via website or myfitnesspal I order something easiest to count. Ex: soup and salad or chicken veg and potato. I usually add 100-200 cals just to be safe.