If it fits your Macros
When wanting to achieve weight loss, weight gain or weight maintenance, the main factors you need to look at are:
- Calorie intake (most important)
- Macronutrients Distribution
I’m telling you this because most times when you tell someone diet, they instantly think I can no longer eat anything I enjoy! In with the chicken, rice and broccoli and out with the chocolate, ice cream and crisps.
Whilst I would not in any way recommend eating too much of these junk foods, there is no reason you can’t consume them in moderation as part of your diet.
IIFYM (If it fits your Macros) – is basically a diet, where you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits your macros. Personally, I go by the 80/20 rule (80% of the time, I will eat food with an abundance of nutrients ‘wholefoods’ and is what most people would see as ‘healthy foods’. Then 20% of the time, I can have whatever I want (providing it fits into my macronutrient intake.)
I have just embarked on a 6 week cut to prove that it doesn’t matter what food you eat, as long as you are sticking to the macros. My aim is to decrease bodyfat % without being restrictive on the types of food I eat (therefore I am following the IIFYM diet). My calorie intake is 1900cal a day. My macro split is 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat. This equates to 234g Carb, 144g Protein and 43g Fat.
There are various ways you can calculate your macronutrient intake, to reach your goals, 2 easy ways are with www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ or using the my fitness pal app.
With my fitnesspal, it’s very easy to track the foods you are consuming and enter the quantities. You can then see if you are hitting the macro targets and they provide you with a breakdown of your macros consumed in a pie chart.
One of the great things about IIFYM is that it takes away the restrictive nature of most diets.
Basics
Calorie intake
Weight gain = calorie intake exceeding calorie expenditure (calorie surplus)
Weight loss = calorie intake less than calorie expenditure (calorie deficit)
Weight maintenance=calorie intake = calorie expenditure
Macronutrients Distribution
This is the amount of Carbohydrates, Protein and fats you are consuming.
The governments recommended Distribution of your total daily calorie intake:
- Protein: 10-35%
- Fat: 20-35%
- Carbohydrate: 45-65%
Macronutritent distribution is important as it helps determine body composition (the percentages of fat, bone, water and muscle we have).
So if someone is after weight loss they may increase their protein intake, decrease their carbohydrate intake and decrease fat intake.