Flexible Dieting (IIFYM)
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I guess you could say I am. I basically eat what I want, just adjusted to fit my calories. I actually DON'T pay a lot of attention to the macros here. I go by how I feel for the most part. I know if I don't get enough protein, I get cranky and rundown. If I don't get enough salt (which, for me, is higher than a normal person) that will be all I want to have at the end of the day and I'll usually pig out. I don't actually pay attention to the percentages on the site or anywhere else. I eat a mostly healthy diet, (usually short on veggies but doing better than I used to), and have made it a goal to eat my lunch salad and then a balanced meal for dinner, and whatever calories I have left, I eat what I want to fill it if I get hungry. I don't do 'clean' eating, I don't do low carb (garlic breadsticks FTW!!), I don't cut out refined sugar, I don't go buy organic or special foods (unless it's something I want that I can't get any other way because I'm not made of money), I don't have special drinks or anything like that. I realized a long time ago that if I'm going to lose weight and keep it off, I have to rework what I do in a way that I will stick with for the rest of my life. And I've worked out something that I can be happy with and have lost over 40lbs with it. My way isn't for everyone, but it works for me. Everyone has to find their own thing that works for them.0
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Be mindful of your micros. Skinny does not equal healthy. If you regularly eat junk but small enough portions to give you a calorie deficit, you are not likely getting nutrients you need.
wut?
I eat a serving of ice cream every day and I have no problem hitting my micros and macros.
Junk food tends to be macro (calorie) rich and micro poor. If you fill up your macros with junk you are likely to be deficient in some micro nutrient. I'm not talking about one serving of ice cream. I'm talking about IIFYM being used as an excuse to eat ONLY junk. Congratulations on your success.
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.
If It Fits Your Macros, you can eat it. No part of that acronym mentions micro nutrients. That is how it is interpreted. If you are mindful of anything beyond macros, it is just sound nutrition, not a catchy phrase.
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311snowwhite wrote: »mitchelsimps wrote: »its a big NO, should be eating to your macronutrients
umm IIFYM is eating to your macros = If it fits your macros...
protein is about .65 to .85 grams per pound of body weight; fats are .45 grams per pound of body weight; and you fill in the rest with carbs.
those numbers would be good for someone who doesn't lift. if you lift and follow IIFYM your protein should be at least 1g per pound of lean body weight (or all your weight if you don't know your lean body mass).
what?
Why would those numbers not work for someone that lifts?
Also, if you were bulking you would want more carbs than protein; and if you were cutting you would to increase protein, and back off carbs...
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311snowwhite wrote: »
http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/why-what-you-think-about-flexible-dieting-iifym-is-wrong
^As the above article points out, people eating clean or only eating x, y, or z follow iifym. The concept may come from people asking "can I eat x" and the response was sure, if it fits your macros. Just because you think x, y, or z aren't tasty doesn't mean the person is eating outside of the principles of iifym. At some point they may realize they can incorporate other foods into their goals and still hit those same macros, but that's the joy of flexible dieting. People can eat how they want to.
Yes, if those folks in said groups are tracking marcros and not just calories. Again, I find people still get the two often confused. CICO is a by product of IIFYM. Just following CICO will yield anyone successful results, it's my opinion that when you follow a specific macro breakdown to your goals, then you can acheive "better" results. (More aesthetic, better performance, more strength, etc......)
I agree, and I tend to follow the macro breakdown that @ndj1979 listed earlier. But I've also seen it stated that fat and protein goals should be minimums and then breakdown carbs specific to your goals. And there can be a lot of nuances to that. Many people put them all into carbs so that they have sufficient energy. Some people with thyroid issues do better on a little lower carb than others might do. Tuesdays, a large portion of mine gets spent on beers (clearly, not optimal for performance but great for mental sanity, and luckily Wednesday isn't a lifting day). :laugh:0 -
Be mindful of your micros. Skinny does not equal healthy. If you regularly eat junk but small enough portions to give you a calorie deficit, you are not likely getting nutrients you need.
wut?
I eat a serving of ice cream every day and I have no problem hitting my micros and macros.
Junk food tends to be macro (calorie) rich and micro poor. If you fill up your macros with junk you are likely to be deficient in some micro nutrient. I'm not talking about one serving of ice cream. I'm talking about IIFYM being used as an excuse to eat ONLY junk. Congratulations on your success.
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.
If It Fits Your Macros, you can eat it. No part of that acronym mentions micro nutrients. That is how it is interpreted. If you are mindful of anything beyond macros, it is just sound nutrition, not a catchy phrase.
You're not understanding it.............0 -
I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
That part is "false" because you wouldn't be able to hit your macro targets just eating those three alone all day. Again, refer back to my original post about the original core of IIFYM is.
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Be mindful of your micros. Skinny does not equal healthy. If you regularly eat junk but small enough portions to give you a calorie deficit, you are not likely getting nutrients you need.
wut?
I eat a serving of ice cream every day and I have no problem hitting my micros and macros.
Junk food tends to be macro (calorie) rich and micro poor. If you fill up your macros with junk you are likely to be deficient in some micro nutrient. I'm not talking about one serving of ice cream. I'm talking about IIFYM being used as an excuse to eat ONLY junk. Congratulations on your success.
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.
If It Fits Your Macros, you can eat it. No part of that acronym mentions micro nutrients. That is how it is interpreted. If you are mindful of anything beyond macros, it is just sound nutrition, not a catchy phrase.
Please find me a proponent of IIFYM that says not to hit your micros and eat nutrient dense foods.
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I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
That part is "false" because you wouldn't be able to hit your macro targets just eating those three alone all day. Again, refer back to my original post about the original core of IIFYM is.
I stand corrected. It still goes against against what I said in my original post.
RULE #1 - FOCUS ON NUTRIENT DENSE FOODS , fill in the rest to hit your macros.0 -
Be mindful of your micros. Skinny does not equal healthy. If you regularly eat junk but small enough portions to give you a calorie deficit, you are not likely getting nutrients you need.
wut?
I eat a serving of ice cream every day and I have no problem hitting my micros and macros.
Junk food tends to be macro (calorie) rich and micro poor. If you fill up your macros with junk you are likely to be deficient in some micro nutrient. I'm not talking about one serving of ice cream. I'm talking about IIFYM being used as an excuse to eat ONLY junk. Congratulations on your success.
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.
0 -
Be mindful of your micros. Skinny does not equal healthy. If you regularly eat junk but small enough portions to give you a calorie deficit, you are not likely getting nutrients you need.
wut?
I eat a serving of ice cream every day and I have no problem hitting my micros and macros.
Junk food tends to be macro (calorie) rich and micro poor. If you fill up your macros with junk you are likely to be deficient in some micro nutrient. I'm not talking about one serving of ice cream. I'm talking about IIFYM being used as an excuse to eat ONLY junk. Congratulations on your success.
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.
If It Fits Your Macros, you can eat it. No part of that acronym mentions micro nutrients. That is how it is interpreted. If you are mindful of anything beyond macros, it is just sound nutrition, not a catchy phrase.
God dayum. IIFYM revolves around 2 things....- Hitting your micros
- Hitting your macros
It's not like all IIFYMers just eat pop tarts and cake all day fgs. Think about it.0 -
I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
My understanding is that the assumption is that you eat a basically nutrient-dense diet that meets nutrition needs and the "if it fits your macros" was to apply to questions about "can I eat whatever" as part of that. (This is how it came out of the bodybuilding world.)
That's also my understanding re flexible dieting--I posted a link on the moderation thread that goes into this, and I see "moderation" and "flexible dieting" as about the same thing--with the main difference being how important meeting specific macros is to you. I am not that concerned about specific macro numbers (a broad range and minimums for protein and fat and enough carbs to feel energetic when exercising, yes), so I don't do IIFYM, but flexible dieting, but certainly am concerned about nutrition.0 -
I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
That part is "false" because you wouldn't be able to hit your macro targets just eating those three alone all day. Again, refer back to my original post about the original core of IIFYM is.
Well that's just taking the entire diet out of context and going by the name alone. It is seriously equivalent to saying "I'm going to follow the atkins diet. Where's Dr. Atkins, I need to roast him up for dinner."
Diets have a context; many have a book describing what they are. IIFYM is a little more convoluted because they derived from responses in online forums. These were mostly bodybuilders who were likely suffering from orthorexia and were terrified of eating anything not typically considered "healthy" according to show prep dieting (think lots of chicken and broccoli). So, someone introduced the concept of flexible dieting and incorporating some treats to help with adherence as long as people were in their macros and people could still meet their goals.
Again, context; these are body builders who realize that your above diet would lead to crap performance, hence they would not be able to meet their goals. You would also be hungry as F, and so I doubt you'd be able to stick to that all day everyday. These people understood that the majority of their foods should be whole foods that are nutrient dense. It literally stemmed from someone asking "can I have a snickers", and the response was "well sure, if it fits your macros".
Just because you don't understand a concept and don't care to understand what it actually means does not invalidate it.0 -
I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
That part is "false" because you wouldn't be able to hit your macro targets just eating those three alone all day. Again, refer back to my original post about the original core of IIFYM is.
Well that's just taking the entire diet out of context and going by the name alone. It is seriously equivalent to saying "I'm going to follow the atkins diet. Where's Dr. Atkins, I need to roast him up for dinner."
Diets have a context; many have a book describing what they are. IIFYM is a little more convoluted because they derived from responses in online forums. These were mostly bodybuilders who were likely suffering from orthorexia and were terrified of eating anything not typically considered "healthy" according to show prep dieting (think lots of chicken and broccoli). So, someone introduced the concept of flexible dieting and incorporating some treats to help with adherence as long as people were in their macros and people could still meet their goals.
Again, context; these are body builders who realize that your above diet would lead to crap performance, hence they would not be able to meet their goals. You would also be hungry as F, and so I doubt you'd be able to stick to that all day everyday. These people understood that the majority of their foods should be whole foods that are nutrient dense. It literally stemmed from someone asking "can I have a snickers", and the response was "well sure, if it fits your macros".
Just because you don't understand a concept and don't care to understand what it actually means does not invalidate it.
I simply posted that screen shot in direct response to the poster who said you couldn't hit macros eating just those three things. As you say, context.0 -
I take a modified approach. I try to get most of my calories from "clean" food, chicken, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc., but have no qualms about a bowl of ice cream or some doritos if they fit my macros.
See my *post* how is yours a "modified" approach? I just choose NOT to label food anything other than what it is..... FOOD.
Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?
That part is "false" because you wouldn't be able to hit your macro targets just eating those three alone all day. Again, refer back to my original post about the original core of IIFYM is.
Well that's just taking the entire diet out of context and going by the name alone. It is seriously equivalent to saying "I'm going to follow the atkins diet. Where's Dr. Atkins, I need to roast him up for dinner."
Diets have a context; many have a book describing what they are. IIFYM is a little more convoluted because they derived from responses in online forums. These were mostly bodybuilders who were likely suffering from orthorexia and were terrified of eating anything not typically considered "healthy" according to show prep dieting (think lots of chicken and broccoli). So, someone introduced the concept of flexible dieting and incorporating some treats to help with adherence as long as people were in their macros and people could still meet their goals.
Again, context; these are body builders who realize that your above diet would lead to crap performance, hence they would not be able to meet their goals. You would also be hungry as F, and so I doubt you'd be able to stick to that all day everyday. These people understood that the majority of their foods should be whole foods that are nutrient dense. It literally stemmed from someone asking "can I have a snickers", and the response was "well sure, if it fits your macros".
Just because you don't understand a concept and don't care to understand what it actually means does not invalidate it.
I simply posted that screen shot in direct response to the poster who said you couldn't hit macros eating just those three things. As you say, context.
Guess I should have quoted your other response below:
And yes, your understanding of iifym is wrong.Well, my understanding is that IIFYM means that you could eat skittles, bacon and fat free greek yogurt all day as long as it fits your macros. Am I wrong?0 -
[/quote]
If your diet is not nutrient dense then that is not IIFYM...
IIFYM is not eating ice cream and pop tarts all day.
for the record, there is no junk food, just junk diets.[/quote]
I don't want to, but I have to disagree
There is totally junk food (foods with no real nutritional value), but with IIFYM or Flexible Dieting you can just choose to eat them if you want and if they fit.0 -
yep! so much easier to follow and i have had great success with it thus far, but the key is to hit you macros, no more, or no less the 5 grams above or under!0
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I weigh my foods, and eat "clean" for breakfast and lunch. After that, it's anything I want.
I just make sure to hit my protein goal for the day.
And despite anything else, your body doesn't know the difference between carb sources. It's already been tested, and proven by both Layne Norton and Alan Aragon.0 -
Every single day, I first always focus on eating 0.8g protein (or more) per pound of lean body mass (my total weight minus my bodyfat weight)
On rest days, I keep carbs under 50g and eat more fat.
On workout days, I eat very little fat and eat higher carbs.
This is a common bodybuilder methodology.
IIFYM works great if you have >30 pounds to lose. But once you reach sub-12% bodyfat, you will find it challenging to get any leaner unless you focus more intently on what you're eating and when you eat it.
Losing weight via a calorie deficit is definitely possible via IIFYM, but building muscle while staying lean is, speaking frankly, not nearly as simple.0 -
DeeJayShank wrote: »Every single day, I first always focus on eating 0.8g protein (or more) per pound of lean body mass (my total weight minus my bodyfat weight)
On rest days, I keep carbs under 50g and eat more fat.
On workout days, I eat very little fat and eat higher carbs.
This is a common bodybuilder methodology.
IIFYM works great if you have >30 pounds to lose. But once you reach sub-12% bodyfat, you will find it challenging to get any leaner unless you focus more intently on what you're eating and when you eat it.
Losing weight via a calorie deficit is definitely possible via IIFYM, but building muscle while staying lean is, speaking frankly, not nearly as simple.
Tell that to Kane Sumabat or Layne Norton...
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martyqueen52 wrote: »I weigh my foods, and eat "clean" for breakfast and lunch. After that, it's anything I want.
I just make sure to hit my protein goal for the day.
And despite anything else, your body doesn't know the difference between carb sources. It's already been tested, and proven by both Layne Norton and Alan Aragon.
We are bro-brothers!!!!0
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