When it comes to diet, my body is a laboratory.
Name a diet and Iâve probably experimented with some variation of it. Atkins, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegan⊠the list goes on. I try it out and I take what I like.
Itâs all about finding what works best, continually tweaking it and following a diet that keeps me happy and healthy.
Basically everything Iâve tried until now has led me to my current way of eating⊠and I am healthy and happy.
Macros, IIFYM, WTF?!
If you follow this blog youâll know that I like talking about nutrition and fitness and that Iâve written about the Paleo Diet (and why I donât follow it) andIntermittent Fasting (which I still love) and how I apply aspects of each to my eating habits.
Well, Iâve been experimenting with something else and I have to say that I simply love it the way it allows me to enjoy every type of food imaginable and still stay healthy and lean.
Iâm talking about âIf It Fits Your Macrosâ commonly known by its acronym, IIFYM.
In a nutshell, IIFYM is a way of eating that makes you focus on the macros that you eat everyday.
What the heckâs a Macro???
Macros or macronutrients is the umbrella term for Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates, the 3 main energy sources in our diet. Theyâre what make up the calories of food.
So if you follow IIFYM, you âTrack Macrosâ in your food, usually using one of the many apps available for smartphones such as âMy Fitness Palâ (which I absolutely love).
Basically, its a way of food journaling, keeping track of what your eating and trying to keep it within certain calorie/macro limits that you set based on your personal goals (weight loss/gain/maintenance). Food journaling, it turns out, is a really effective way of getting people to stick to their diets. When we write something down, weâre adding a level of responsibility to our food habits and this seems to really help us stick to our goals.
You can find out more about actually calculating your own macro targets here.
Hereâs a little secret⊠MOST DIETS WORK! Youâll hear of people (especially celebrities) trying out a new fad diet and losing loads of weight and youâll assume that diet must be the answer to your fat loss problems. Youâll get into it all gung-ho, lose weight but then probably gain some of it back. That doesnât mean the diet is ineffective, it probably means your just not following it as well anymore. Youâve lost compliance.
Tracking macros sounds like a pain in the a$$
For the first week or so, it is. Then, you get used to it and, just like any established habit, it becomes natural and automatic.
The app I recommended above, My Fitness Pal, while not entirely perfect is really easy to use and helps you track and plan your food intake on a daily basis. It also allows you to look back at how you were eating a few weeks ago and compare that to changes in your body weight over time. The best way to learn how to use it is to simply start using it. Best of all, itâs completely free to download to your phone.
Here’s a screenshot of a typical calorie/macro tracking app
But why bother?
Here’s the deal, most of the diets I mentioned above, work (somewhat indirectly) by limiting your calories by eliminating or restricting various foods. Restrictive diets, more often than not, result in reduced compliance over time.
For example, if someone told you to do Atkins (a very low carb diet) for a month, you’d lose weight but at the end of the month, you’d probably only have one thing on your mind: eating all the food you “weren’t allowed” during the diet. Bread, cakes, ice-cream, french fries, sugar-dipped deep-fried snickers… it would be a big free for all, that might last a few days or a week and would result in two things:
- you gaining back all the weight you lost and…
- you feeling guilty about what you ate
And so begins another restrictive weight-loss/binge cycle. This is pretty typical of “Clean Eating” type diets that work by eliminating various categories of “undesirable” foods. A good example would be Paleo (I’m not trying to demerit Paleo, I’m just saying that it’s a restrictive diet.
With IIFYM, you don’t eliminate any foods.
You can technically eat whatever you want as long as it fits your daily macro targets i.e. as long as you get it to fit your daily goals for calories, protein, fats and carbohydrate. In the case of IIFYM, you control portion size to fit your needs.
Here’s an example of meals I ate yesterday (a pretty typical gym-day of eating):
- Oat Porridge with Raisins and White Chocolate Whey Protein
- Kale Salad with Balsamic dressing
- A Banana
- Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken
- Over 1kg of Cajun-Spiced roasted Potato Wedges with tomato relish
- Olive Oil Sautéed Red Onion and Kale
- More Porridge with Raisins and Whey Protein
- Half a Passion Fruit and Mango Cheesecake (yeah you read right, half a whole cheesecake)
That added up to about 3,045 calories, 169 grams of protein, 82 grams of fat & 327 grams of carbs.
I actually needed the cheesecake to help me meet my macro targets for the day.
This is an example of how I eat now, and I love it. You can actually see other examples of my meals and macro breakdowns on my Instagram page.
The Problem with IIFYM
Nothing is perfect and there is one, “potentially” huge  problem with IIFYM. From what I’ve seen of other people that practice IIFYM is that there can be a tendency to eat absolutely whatever you want as long as you hit your macro goals. This means that you could technically hit your goals eating junk food and supplementing with a little protein.
THIS IS NOT HEALTHY!!!
IIFYM works when you follow a healthy diet filled with whole foods, vegetables and fruits etc and allowing yourself SOME relaxed (read not so healthy) food too.
If you look at my day of eating above, almost everything I ate was unprocessed apart from the whey protein and the cheesecake. I ate lots of fruit and vegetables and got plenty of protein, fibre and phytonutrients so I had no problem allowing myself the cheesecake at the end of the day.
Would it have been healthier to replace the cheesecake with whole foods? Absolutely! But then I’d also be left craving cheesecake and be more likely to binge on it in the future. This way, I fit it into my daily goals, don’t feel restricted and still woke up this morning with a six-pack. WIN WIN!!!!
The Importance of Whole Foods
The problem with the way we eat these days is pretty simple; we eat food too high in calories and too low in nutrients to maintain health.
The more calories you eat, the more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre we need to help our body deal with the excess energy load. Unfortunately we’ve managed to strip our foods, thanks to processing, so that these days most processed foods just provide us with easily consumed calories and not much else. If I have learned anything so far in all the lectures of this Masters degree in Nutrition that I’m doing, it’s this:
For our body to function optimally we need to provide it with the nutrients it needs while not not consuming more energy than we expend.Â
The best way I’ve found to do this is for us to eat a diet rich in vegetables and other unprocessed foods while tracking our macronutrients and allowing ourselves some of foods we love and crave in responsible portions… while exercising like a beast đ
A healthy diet should be based on healthy, whole foods with a little leeway for some of the good things in life!
I exercise (weight training and almost no cardio), I eat a lot to cover my energy needs and I eat enough vegetables to feed a small petting zoo. But on top of that I eat out with friends from time to time and I always make room for some ice-cream or cheesecake or whatever else I feel like. I track what I eat and this way I keep myself happy and healthy.
What about Christmas Dinner?
I track my macros daily and exercise hard to maintain my weight and it works because I do it consistently. The state of our body and health is the result of what we do most of the time!
So am I going to track my macros on Christmas day? F@âŹK NO! I plan on eating like a beast (and for a small guy I can really down a lot of food). I’ll eat to excess and it’s not going to bother me because it’s just one day.
This will all be mine!
However, the very next day I’ll be back in the gym and back counting macros (and enjoying it).
This article is really meant just as an introduction to the concept of something I have found to be very useful in my life. The best way to get into it yourself is to download the app and just start. If you do it right and if you do it consistently, it can help you achieve your diet goals in a way you never thought possible.
Merry Christmas Folks & Eat Well!
Tags: Diet, Fitness, If it fits your macros, IIFYM, Macros, Nutrition
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