A nutrition technique that will help
you look and feel good while eating the foods you love.
Tired of trying
different diets that seem to be too complicated so you end up getting bored and
quitting? Yeah, me too! Even as a personal trainer I found myself having trouble
staying consistent and following instructions that seemed so boring and
demanding. I don’t know about you, but I hate being told what to do with my
life, especially when it comes to eating. If you’re like me and want results
without the hassle, well, today might be your lucky day. I’ve done the research
so you don’t have to.
After doing a
great deal of research I had found the answer! A solution that allows you to
plan your own healthy lifestyle that fits your personal schedule and still gets
you the results you’re looking for. It’s neither easy nor an overnight process,
but it is something that anyone can do because it is flexible and FUN! Join me
on my journey on breaking down the concept of flexible dieting and how it can
work for you.
What The Heck Is Flexible Dieting?
With years of
experience in the fitness industry, I understand how difficult and stressful
dieting can be. With this article I hope to break down flexible dieting for you
so it is very simple to understand. No hidden messages or claims. Just the
simple facts and truth about dieting and how you can use it to finally get your
dream body. While many diets are fussy about which foods you can and can’t
eat, how much you can have, and even when you consume it, for some people, the
extreme limitations can be a formula for failure (Matthew). Instead, the
“If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) diet targets to get away from that,
focusing on the three most important energy sources needed for our bodies to
function properly. We’re talking about protein, carbohydrates and fat (aka macronutrients,
or macros).
Why IIFYM Works.
Counting
your macronutrients (calm down, I’ll show you how in a bit) allows you to lose
weight and have a much easier time keeping all that weight off by building a
strong physical and nutritional foundation. One essential base of the IIFYM
approach is to stop thinking about eliminating foods or choosing foods based on
their supernatural powers and instead being mindful of the amount of food you
are eating.
You’ll
notice that when you integrate flexible dieting into your lifestyle, so many
dieting worries disappear.
§ You will have fewer urges
to cheat on your diet.
§ You’ll stop worrying about
when each meal comes.
§ You won’t obsess over the
piece of pizza that you ate last night while drunk.
§
You can have that donut after dinner if it fits your calorie and
macronutrient goals for the day- you just can’t have the whole box.
How Does IIFYM Work?
In order to lose weight and fat, all you simply need
to do is burn more energy than what you’ve consumed. Don't get me wrong,
though. Food choices do matter, and when dieting, it should be extremely
important to focus on eating a wide range of foods and making sure you get all
your micronutrients. Meats, vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts all contain a
extensive range of vitamins, minerals and fiber, which can all have a positive
effect on one’s long-term health (Gutman). But it's not the primary reason you'll gain weight or lose
weight. Even eating “healthy” or “low calorie” foods can still make you put on
weight. Chicken and broccoli is healthy but too much of it will get you fat- I’ve
done it, trust me. In the same manner you can eat chocolate cake, be incredibly
controlled in how much you eat, and lose ridiculous amounts of weight safely
and effectively- I’ve done that too. Don't overcomplicate things. Practice
balance, don't fear food, and instead, focus on how much you're eating.
The Magic Equation
To
keep things simple, I’ll step you through the process by outlining how I
calculate my own macronutrients for one of my personal goals, which is losing
weight while maintaining muscle mass.
Step 1:
Calculate your baseline.
The
first thing you need to establish is your baseline total daily energy expenditure.
This is simply how many calories you burn in a 24-hour period. A simple online
calculator (like http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator) will do the trick. This
number is calculated using your gender, age, height, weight, workout routines
(if any), and daily activity level/intensity. For me it’s 2,700.
Step 2: Set your
goals and calculate how many calories you need to eat to achieve them.
The
next step is to figure out what your goals are. Is it to lose weight? Great! Is
it to maintain? Cool. OR you can challenge yourself and play with the numbers
to lose weight and gain muscle. Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) from
step one will now be used to calculate your new goal numbers. To lose weight:
Simply subtract between 300 - 600 calories each day from your TDEE. For most
people, this seems to be a safe figure for losing 1lb or 500g/week (Brown). I
suggest reducing no more than 900 calories/day.
Using
myself as an example, if I wanted to lose 1lb of bodyweight a week, I just eat
around 2,200 calories per day (2,700-500). If weight stays at the same place
for longer than two weeks, I drop by 100 calories.
Step 3:
Calculate your macronutrient breakdown.
This
final step is optional, as you can simply see results simply following steps
one and two. In step 3 you need to do a little bit of math of your macros
(simple stuff) in order to figure out your personal goals.
Personally
I like losing weight but maintaining my muscle size. For that reason, I’ll eat
high protein, moderate carbs, and low fats. Here’s the breakdown!
§
For protein, a rough guideline is 1 - 1.5lb per lean pound of
bodyweight. For me, weighing in at 200lbs that's 200g of protein.
§
For fat, a rough guideline is 20% - 30% of total calories. For
me, this equates to 2,200 x 0.2 / 9 = ~49g.
§
For carbohydrates, I put the rest of my calories into here. So,
that's 2200 calories minus fat (49g * 9) minus protein (200g * 4) which totals
959 calories = 238g of carbohydrates (959 / 4).
Final
figures:
§
I must eat 200g of protein each day.
§
I must eat 49g of fat each day.
§
I must eat 238g of carbohydrates.
IT’S THAT SIMPLE!
Just Incase You’re Still Confused
To
help you out, here are some accurate IIFM calculators I found online. It’ll do
the math for you; all you need is your goal numbers. Remember that your macronutrients
are personal to you, so mix them up and see which combination works best. If
you find yourself needing more carbs in the day, increase it and decrease the
others. Here are the links:
Final Take.
Many of my
clients find diets to be boring, demanding, discouraging, and costly. With
flexible dieting, also know as “If It Fits Your Macros” (IITFM), these factors
are eliminated because it is personalized to fit each persons goals and
lifestyle. There is no doubt that changes need to be made in order for you to
see results. But it does not need to be crazy changes; simple things as
changing your junk food habits can go along way. This makes it fun because you
get to play around with your personal goals and numbers, so it becomes almost
like a game. If you play the game right, you win by feeling and looking great.
It is not demanding at all because you are in full control. You decide on the
types of food you want to eat and the only requirement is not to pass your
daily budget. When you do all this, it does not seem discouraging because you
start seeing results so it motivates you to keep going. And as far as cost, you
can actually save money because this technique requires only simple grocery
items and nothing extra that you would normally waist money on.
Work Cited
Brown, Billy. “If It Fits Your
Macros: The IIFYM Diet, Made Simple.” The
Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/16/if-it-fits-your-macros-the-iifym-diet-made-simple.html (16 January 2015).
Farr, Mike. “IIFYM And Flexible Nutrition Interview With
Dr. Layne Norton!” Bodybuilding. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/iifym-and-flexible-nutrition-interview-with-dr-layne-norton.html
(18 December 2014).
Gutman, Andrew. “Everything you Need To Know About IIFYM”
Muscle and Fitness. http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/lose-fat/everything-you-need-know-about-iifym
Harper, Devin. “Eat What You Want: Your Macros and the
Truth About Carbs.” Breaking Muscle. http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/eat-what-you-want-your-macros-and-the-truth-about-carbs
Mathews, Michael. “How to Make the “If It Fits Your Macros” Diet
Work For You.” Muscle For Life. http://www.muscleforlife.com/what-is-if-it-fits-your-macros-and-does-it-work/
Taylor, Russell.
“IIFYM Vs Meal Plans.” IIFYM. http://www.iifym.com/iifym-vs-meal-plans/
(14 March 2015).
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