If it fits your macros (or IIFYM, as lovingly deemed by those in the fitness world), is a structured approach to eating that involves tracking and controlling your total calorie intake, including the breakdown of macronutrients that you consume. Macronutrients are the nutrients that you consume that give you energy, the three main ones being protein carbs and fat.
Before I go any further, let's talk about the basic science behind weight loss (or weight gain). Fluctuations in weight occur when a person either consumes less calories than they expend, resulting in weight loss, or, consumes more calories than they expend, resulting in weight gain. It's really as simple as that. While it's not the most optimal approach to losing weight and being fit, it is 100% possible to lose weight without ever doing any form of exercise, providing that you are in a calorie deficit (i.e. consuming less calories than you expend). It follows on that you won't see any progress in terms of weight loss if you are not in a calorie deficit, no matter how much exercise you may do. Exercise will increase the number of calories that you expend, meaning that you can eat more calories than you would if you weren't exercising and still remain in a deficit, but exercise alone will not result in weight loss without having your diet in check.
This is where IIFYM comes in. IIFYM is based on the idea that you can be flexible with the foods that you eat, providing that you remain within your goal calorie and macronutrient intake, which has led to it also being referred to as 'flexible dieting'. In other words, you can have a few slices of pizza, or a donut, or some ice cream, a chocolate bar - anything that you might be craving, and as long as you have hit your macronutrient and calorie goals at the end of the day, you will still be in a calorie deficit and will still lose weight. This is the beauty of IIFYM - you don't have to restrict yourself and go without your favourite foods, which can lead to binge eating or going all out on your 'cheat day' and cancelling out any calorie deficit that you may have had for the previous few days.I can admit that I've experienced this first hand and it leaves you feeling horrible and like a failure. For some people, it really isn't feasible to 'eat clean' all the time - and really, who wants to? It can get boring and life is too short to go without the foods that you love. Obviously, it is important that the majority of the foods that you eat are good for you ('clean,' if you will) and that these foods comprise the majority of calories that you consume, but you really can treat yourself without affecting your progress.
'How do I know what my calorie and macronutrient intake should be?', you may ask. Well first, you begin by calculating your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) based upon your age, weight, height and activity level, and then you can add or subtract a sensible number of calories from this, depending on whether you want to gain or lose weight. Luckily, the IIFYM Calculator does all this for you once you provide the necessary parameters. The calculator also suggests a recommended macronutrient breakdown for you - i.e. recommends how many grams of protein, fat and carbs you should be consuming in order to optimally work towards your goal of fat loss or muscle gain. The recommended calorie intake is of course an estimation, and everyone is different, with some having a higher metabolism than others, and so you can manipulate your total calorie intake to be lower if you aren't seeing any progress in the weight loss department after a few weeks, or higher if you feel that the deficit you are in is too aggressive, and you're feeling hungry and losing weight too fast. This is the beauty of this approach to eating.
Now you might be wondering how you can possibly keep track of how many calories you consume, and the macronutrient breakdown of these. This is probably the biggest downfall of this approach to eating - you will have to weigh out everything that you eat (if it's not already packaged in portion sizes with the weight listed) and log the food in Myfitnesspal. This only takes a few minutes for each meal, but as you can imagine, the time adds up. This is where you have to make a decision about whether you're willing to make the trade off of investing this extra time in exchange for peace of mind regarding your diet, and the level of flexibility that you can achieve with the foods that you eat.
I personally don't track religiously, but over the years of tracking my food on and off, I've really become in tune with how many calories my body needs to maintain my weight, lose weight or gain muscle, and I've also become super aware of the calorie content of certain foods, and I'm now quite good at eyeballing it. This is one of the huge benefits of tracking your macros - over time you become aware of how many calories and carbs, protein and fats, are in certain foods and you can make wiser food choices because of it, without necessarily having to weigh everything, and this is why this approach can be fantastic to follow for a few months, without necessarily having to continue tracking so strictly forever.
There is so much more that could be said about IIFYM and flexible dieting, and I encourage you do do your own research and decide for yourself whether you like the idea. A great place for beginners to start that has loads of info is here. IIFYM is not for everyone, but works great for many.
Happy Dieting!
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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