The purpose of this post is to try to lay out an example of how you can get a balanced diet full of micronutrients, hit your calorie and macro targets and still fit in a treat. In other words…IIFYM (see here for an explanation of IIFYM: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/817188-iifym ).

It also will hopefully dispel a rumor that it is impossible to eat ice-cream every day while cutting and if you say you do, and have abs, you must be a liar

I am using the example of someone on relatively low calories as an example of how you do not need to have a large calorie allowance to do this. I am also using a sample vegetarian diet as that is what I am used to, however, if you eat meat, it is even easier to fit treats into your calorie and macro targets as meat is not as carb heavy as meat alternatives. It also shows that it really is not that hard to hit a protein target as I have not assumed any protein powder, and again, it is a vegetarian example. So, let’s use the following:

120lb female with a BF% of 20% and a calorie target of 1,400.
Protein target: 96g
Fat target: 42g



The above day is not that adventurous but it lays out how easy it is to fit treats into your macros and calorie target and still get a good balanced diet, especially as I was using an example with a pretty low calorie target. If you want more volume of non-treat foods or snacks, then just pick a less calorie dense ice-cream, or up your calorie target. The ice-cream I have used in the example is a mid-range full fat one (and totally delish). There are lots out there with half the calories (such as Edy’s Slow Churn) that also taste good.

Just to be clear, I am not saying you *should* do this, just that you *can* if you want to and still achieve your goals.