So you’ve finally decided to dive into the world of Macros and IIFYM “If it fits your macros”, but don’t exactly know where to start. This guide is to help you further understand what you should expect and follow in order to achieve maximal results and success with this crazy style of dieting.
Now if you’re familiar with IIFYM at all, then you’ve probably come across individuals in person or on social media with insane physiques or aesthetic goals while also seeing them eat and post pictures of foods you typically wouldn’t associate with traditional dieting. Pizza, cookies, ice cream, beer, candy, you name it, and apparently you can eat it as long as, “it fits”.
This sounds amazing, but what does this mean, and how would this style of dieting be more effective than others? Well, while we know that not every diet is considered equal, we can see that all diets seem to have common theme amongst them. Creating healthy lifestyle habits while simultaneously restricting caloric intake to achieve weight/fat loss. Flexible Dieting is the proper name of the newly coined “IIFYM” dieting style. Regardless of what you call it, being flexible means that there are no food restrictions, no specific meal timing windows, and no exact amounts to eat per meal. Ultimately, this flexibility helps each individual lead to a much healthier mindset while dieting, an increase in consistency, and total longevity of the dieting process. Now that doesn’t mean it’s time to stock up on beer and brownies! Everything eaten must be taken into account towards your macros, which is sort of a daily budget. From there, it’s up to you what you want to use your budget on.
Macros: What Are They and Why Should I Follow Them?
There are three macronutrients which we consume every single day and these are easily referred to as your “macros”:
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
IIFYM utilizes a method of tracking your key macronutrients throughout the day by following a specific set of numbers or “macros” to stick to. If it fits your macros, then you can track it, eat it, and keep on with your day.
What’s The Most Important Macro?
First, I’ve listed them in this specific order because I want you to understand their importance in regards to dieting. You should be familiar with what each macronutrient does for us in the body, where to find good sources in our diet, and what this means in terms of macro counting and setting.
Proteins: In proper amounts will build and preserve lean muscle mass, as well as repair and recover muscle tissue. Unlike carbohydrates and fat, our bodies do not store protein to be utilized as an energy source. Therefore, we must consume it steadily throughout the day for healthy functioning. Taking the longest to digest out of the macros, protein expends the most internal energy; calorie burn. By doing so, it controls appetite by having a higher sense of satiety. Feeling fuller, longer makes protein a key macro for fat loss! Meat, fish, eggs, dairy and protein supplements are all good sources.
Carbohydrates: Carbs are what our bodies use as a primary energy source. We store carbohydrates in the liver, brain, blood, and muscles as glucose or glycogen. Carbohydrates allow our central nervous system and muscular system function adequately throughout daily life. I like to see carbs as either sugars or starches; simple vs complex carbohydrates. Simple sugars will bring up the glucose level rapidly, allowing for a quick release of energy, but typically have little to no nutritional value and digest quickly, leaving you hungry for more. Complex carbohydrates take longer to break down and provide longer sustaining energy and beneficial nutrients. With all being said, traditional carb cutting is typically a no-no, and in to achieve fat loss safely, total energy balance is key. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and starches are all good sources.
Fats: Fats are considered our secondary, concentrated energy source. They are stored throughout the body as a means of energy when carbs are not present or readily available for use, making it hard to get rid of! Fats allow our bodies to absorb and transport key vitamins, regulate hormone production, and overall brain development. They provide our internal organs with support against damage, and helps with the insulation of our core body temperature. Meat, fatty fish, nuts, butters, oils and avocados, are all good sources.
Macro Values and Calories
Each macronutrient yields a certain number of calories. Given that your macros have been set, you can then figure out daily caloric intake through basic calculation. You should not ever track calories alone since they don’t specify percentages of each macronutrient consumed, however, knowing and tracking your specific macros will always give you exact calories consumed. So, calories and macros are one in the same.
- Protein yields 4 calories per gram.
- Carbohydrate yields 4 calories per gram.
- Fat yields 9 calories per gram.
Ex: 20P/35C/5F = 20P(4cal/g) + 35C(4 cal/g) + 5F(9 cal/g) = 80cal + 140cal + 45cal = 265 total calories
Tracking Your Food
Now that you know how to calculate calories based on macros, it is still much easier to work smarter, not harder. When it comes to tracking food intake, ease and accuracy are key. To make your life simpler while dieting and counting macros, download the app“MyNetDiaryPro” as your daily food tracker, it should be a one-time purchase of $4. While there are many different apps which you may choose to use, I’ve found this one to be the smoothest to operate with many enhanced functions over the other on the market.
Food Scales and Measurement
The number one kitchen essential during your goal should be your food scale. They’re inexpensive, highly reliable, and your go-to gadget for meal prep. Now it may seem tedious to weigh and measure out every little thing that you eat, but this process ensures accuracy as well as consistency. When you take the time to weigh out and portion your meals, you’re more likely to stay on track and prevent slip ups from happening. Yes, you can also use measuring cups and spoons, however, most people are really terrible at measurement by hand. Also, nobody wants to remove peanut butter from the inside of a tablespoon!
Food With and Without Labels
Boxes, bottles, canned, and bagged food will always have nutrition facts and labels printed them which makes tracking with the app a whole lot easier. With the use of the barcode scanner option, you can simply scan the food and track the amount needed. Always, double check to make sure that what you scanned in the app is actually the product you are looking to track. If it links up, then you’re good to go! If not, then you can update the label in the app or simply create a new listing to track. With the use of the app, you have the choice to track food by exact quantities instead of serving sizes. So if you want to track 27.5 goldfish or 2 jelly beans, you can!
If no label exists, don’t panic! You can always look up the raw food in the app or online through google nutrition. Simply type in the name of what food you’re trying to find, “zucchini…potato….top sirloin….shrimp” then enter in the amount needed. To double check the app, just compare it to what you find online for the same serving. For meals more complex, think about breaking it down into single trackable components. Ex: bacon cheeseburger = buns, cheese, meat, bacon (no need to track trace veggies). But in order to be accurate, think! What size bun was it, what type of cheese, what kind of meat, what kind of bacon? Get specific! Sesame whole wheat bun, reduced fat provolone cheese, extra lean ground beef 96/4, center cut bacon. The more you track, the more comfortable you will get. It’s sort of like a diet puzzle, making sure it all fits together for your day.
Alcohol: The 4th Macro!
After reading all this, you’re probably going to want a drink huh? Well you can! Tracking alcohol is no different than tracking your food. What you should understand is the role alcohol plays in the body while dieting. Alcohol isn’t essential to what our body needs in order to survive, however it does have caloric value, so it needs to be accounted for.
- One gram of alcohol yields 7 calories.
Alcohol is unique in the fact that it takes precedence over any other nutrient once it enters the body. That means, that your body will slow digestion and absorption of every other macronutrient and begin to solely focus on alcohol metabolism first in order to rid the toxin from the body. The issue arises, because when everything else gets placed to the back of the line, digestion rates slow down and ultimately ends up converting those excess, protein, carbs, and fats into bodyfat! And let’s face it, drinking and food go hand in hand, so keep the alcohol to a minimum while trying to lose fat. Work hard now, celebrate later!
Restaurants and Eating Out
As much as I’d like to say that all of my meals are homemade and full of nutritious clean foods, I can’t. We all live in a fast paced environment and sometimes convenience is key. Whether you haven’t prepared anything for the day, you’re running short on time, or you’re simply going out to enjoy a meal with friends, eating out is a part of our lives. I want you to succeed in whatever it is your goal may be, and part of that is maintaining a healthy relationship with food as well as having a social life. Nobody wants to be that guy who doesn’t eat out with friends because of his diet or when he does, ends up eating his Tupperware of chicken and veggies. So, think before you order! I would say that about 9/10 restaurants nowadays have a nutritional information menu either at the place or online. If you know which place you will be going to, look up what to order ahead of time and see if you can make it fit. To track it, simply take the macros listed from the restaurant and custom enter it as a new food if it isn’t already listed. If no macros are available at all, for instance, let’s say you decided to try out a new taco truck, then estimate to your best ability how much of each single ingredient you had or find a similar equivalent listed in the app.
Tips
- Try and plan ahead of what proteins you will eat for the day, more often than not, protein is going to be the hardest of your macros to hit. Incorporate protein shakes and bars in order to hit your target.
- Keep saturated fats down and start buying lean sources of meat. A ribeye steak typically has about 2-3x the amount of fat as top sirloin, and Chicken thighs have about 3-4x the amount of fat as chicken breasts.
- Keep total sugar intake to a minimum, less than 50g/day is ideal. Buy Splenda or Stevia to sweeten things on your own, and NO, artificial sweeteners are not dangerous contrary to popular belief.
- Be creative! Discover fun ways to enjoy similar foods you’re craving but make them “macro friendly”. There are many recipes online for diet friendly ways to create things like ice cream, pizza, and brownies. Many of which are with the use of protein powder which also helps to hit those totals!
- Understand that “good source of protein” is usually not! Although compared to other similar products, foods with this label may have a higher amount of protein, I wouldn’t consider them protein sources. Beans and nuts are the most common culprits. Nuts are mainly fat with a slight amount of carbs and protein, and beans are mainly comprised of carbohydrates with a slight amount of protein.
- Don’t track every single veggie! Of course everything has a value, but don’t feel the need to track the single slice of tomato and lettuce in your homemade burger. You totally can if you want to be as accurate as possible, but I still like to maintain my sanity. This is a bit time consuming and the amount of carbs would be so minute in comparison to your total.
- Get some water flavor enhancers, diet sodas, sugar free teas, and lemonades. These are a great addition to getting that craving of sugar off your mind while also giving your increased water intake a different flavor once in a while. Everything is fine in moderation, and even though there are no calories in a diet soda, I wouldn’t suggest drinking a 2 liter per day.
- Just because it is considered “healthy” doesn’t mean its macro friendly. A large banana has about 30 grams of sugar/carbs, a low fat pop tart has about 15grams of sugar and 35grams of carbs. Fruits of course will provide you with more vitamins and minerals than a pop tart would, but essentially will metabolize the same.
- Non-fat or low-fat everything, trust me. When you begin tracking, you will be over on fat so fast, you won’t even understand how. Try and purchase low/non-fat milk, plain Greek yogurt, and cottage cheese.
- Buy your go-to foods and keep them readily available at home. Non-fat milk, reduced fat cheese, egg whites, turkey bacon, chicken breast, fish, rice, potatoes, and whole wheat bread/tortillas.
RESOURCES:
Muth, Natalie Digate. Sports Nutrition for Health Professionals. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Vella, Luke D., and David Cameron-Smith. “Alcohol, Athletic Performance and Recovery.”Nutrients. MDPI, 2010. Web. 13 July 2016.
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