Latest posts

Forum Statistics

Threads
27,576
Posts
541,624
Members
28,555
Latest Member
pbtom
What's New?

The “If It Fits Your Macros” Conundrum

F.I.S.T.

F.I.S.T.

MuscleHead
Sep 24, 2011
1,318
115
The “If It Fits Your Macros” Conundrum
By Fred DuncanPublished: September 27, 2014


If you lift weights and use any form of social media, you might, kind of, maybe, know what IIFYM is. My guess is that you probably see a picture of ice cream with a Pop-Tart® and #IIFYM at least 15 times a day. What does it all mean? Because it’s ambiguous in nature, everyone seems to have his own interpretation of IIFYM. Yet IIFYM is not a specific diet. It’s just a method for tracking and hitting your intake, so please shut up about it now.


If it fits your macros (macronutrients)…let’s not make this complicated. Find the daily calories you want to hit. Determine the amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats and fiber that you want each day. Now go eat, hit your numbers and you’re done. That’s all IIFYM technically is.



Whatever you do after that is your own plan. You can use fasting, carb cycling or a ketogenic diet…whatever the hell you like. You set the macronutrient/caloric intake appropriate to your current metabolic state and then you fill them in with certain foods. The foods that you choose should be based on your goals and your individual preferences.



The only difference is that IIFYM people dedicate a small percentage of their daily calories/macros to food that is normally considered “non-diet” food. Nothing novel here. It’s called practicing moderation. It really isn’t much different than the typical refeed or cheat meal that bodybuilders use except that this is technically more controlled. Most cheat meals turn into an all-out gorge fest.



What if you calculated out your cheat meal, divided it by seven and divvied it out throughout the week? What if your total calories, fats, protein, carbohydrates and fiber ended up being identical for both weeks? What would happen? As long as you stayed within your caloric and macronutrient guidelines for the days/week, I don’t imagine that there would be much of a difference, if any at all. But don’t take my word for it. The only way to know how something will work for you is to actually try it.


For whatever reason, this leads to arguments between the respective internet soldiers of each ideology. However, they haven’t quite realized that they pretty much all agree that natural whole foods should make up the majority of one’s diet. They also agree that some form of “cheating” or breaking the diet can be beneficial psychologically and possibly physiologically. Yet they continue to argue about the 1 percent they disagree on. At the end of the day, if the food isn’t harming you and you continue to progress, who cares?

[h=3]How did it start?[/h] For the last forty odd some years, people have been looking to bodybuilders for ideas on how to get really lean. Most tend to eat the same things—chicken, broccoli, tilapia, oats, and the like. For some reason, people like to call this “clean food.” Nothing wrong with that approach at all, but given how limited and monotonous it is, people started looking for other ways. Can you follow a more flexible approach and achieve the same results as a “clean” approach? This is where it gets messy.



The “clean” eating crowd has to fight against this. They can’t admit that the restrictive, bland torture they have been placing themselves under wasn’t necessary. It would be devastating. That’s like a Christian agreeing with an atheist that Jesus doesn’t exist. They believe in clean eating and they should. That is what works best for them. That is what helped them achieve their goals, so how can you possibly convince them that they are wrong? You can’t, so stop trying.



On the other end of the spectrum, IIFYM has built sort of a cult following of 17-year-old Facebook gurus with a few PubMed bookmarks.

These are the ones who give it a bad name because they try to call out successful bodybuilders and “save them” from clean eating. They eat 90–95 percent of their calories from calorically dense whole food sources but only make it a point to show off the 5–10 percent of “bad foods” that they eat. This is their attempt to say, “Look, I’m smarter than you.”



So bodybuilders feel offended that skinny, snobby gurus think they have outsmarted their years of experience while the IIFYM camp thinks they know it all because they’ve figured out how to eat normal food and not be fat. Nobody is wrong in this moronic argument, but both are certainly annoying.


[h=3]Clean eating versus flexible dieting[/h] Clean eating, albeit a stupid term, isn’t necessarily a bad thing to promote. Focusing on natural whole food sources is great. Everyone agrees there. The dogma that surrounds clean eating is another story. It isn’t necessary to demonize certain foods or act like GMOs are killing people. Personal preference is great but personal bias isn’t.



Flexible eating isn’t a bad thing to promote either. I believe that teaching people how to balance life with nutrition is important for long-term success. However, just like the clean eaters, there are IIFYM extremists. They generally believe that all macronutrient sources are the same and that nutrient timing is useless. To me, they grossly underestimate the complexity of human metabolism.



The first issue is context. Saying that a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate might not be the best advice for a diabetic, but it may not be bad for a skinny 16-year-old trying to put on weight. It’s important to understand the audience. There are nuances that IIFYM people overlook because it isn’t necessarily important for their goal.



So the clean versus dirty debate comes down to one’s definition of these terms. Is it based on foods being processed versus unprocessed?

GMO versus non-GMO? Organic versus conventional? To me, you should consume lean, quality protein; fiber; omega-3s; and complex carbohydrates and limit foods with an overwhelming amount of carbohydrates and fat. Ice cream is a good example. The fact that it’s processed isn’t why it’s a poor choice for body composition. Neither is the fact that it isn’t organic. The large fat and sugar content makes it high calorie and impairs the body’s ability to feel full. In turn, this makes it very easy to overeat and go past your allotted calories/carbohydrates/fat for the day.



I agree with the premise of IIFYM, but I’m not a proponent of it per se. I don’t like the elitist and know-it-all attitude that accompanies those who “follow” IIFYM. I do believe that things like nutrient timing, specifically peri-workout nutrition, can enhance or detract from your program. I do believe that certain food choices are more nutritious than others. I do believe that different macronutrients produce profoundly different hormonal reactions. Yet, I also believe that you can include flexibility in your food choices and still make great progress.


[h=3]Final thoughts[/h] Now that we have established that IIFYM isn’t a diet, just like clean eating isn’t a diet, what should you use? My advice—avoid extremes. Too much restriction or too much indulgence will produce sub-par results. Find a balance. In my previous article, I wrote about what I personally follow. This is based off my life, goals and trial and error. That doesn’t mean that I believe everyone should eat like I do. I don’t like the obsessive counting and tracking that comes along with IIFYM. However, this is only because I have been doing this for a long time and I really understand my body. Those prepping for shows, those looking for serious body composition changes and those just starting out can certainly benefit from periods of tracking intake.



In the meantime, stop looking for the latest and greatest fad diet or training system. No perfect program exists and it never will. If you have hit a plateau and are serious about improving, put the ego aside and hire someone to help. There is a reason why some people have been able to turn this into a career. It’s because they are great at what they do.
 
B

bossman

Member
Sep 26, 2014
42
4
i enjoy flexible dieting but i certainly get leaner (and probably lose muscle too) with clean eating. i guess i need balance.
 
F.I.S.T.

F.I.S.T.

MuscleHead
Sep 24, 2011
1,318
115
i enjoy flexible dieting but i certainly get leaner (and probably lose muscle too) with clean eating. i guess i need balance.

Absolutely man.Its all about finding "YOUR" perfect balance.No one person will need the same requirements so its about fine tuning your stimuli to suit your individual needs.Also,as you age,those needs and requirements will always change so its a lifetime venture of constant refinement.


Thanks for the reply.
 
B

bossman

Member
Sep 26, 2014
42
4
i feel like the whole bodybuilding process is an experiment for me, on me. lol
 
shortz

shortz

Beard of Knowledge VIP
May 6, 2013
3,107
897
i enjoy flexible dieting but i certainly get leaner (and probably lose muscle too) with clean eating. i guess i need balance.

I have to kind of laugh at this. I ate "clean" for years and never lost weight. As do most people. You get lean by eating in a caloric deficit, not by eating "clean". I am willing to bet, when you put in the FULL effort, the differences between IIFYM/flexible eating vs "clean", you won't even notice the difference. Lastly, for most people, it's good to get it right 90% of the time rather than 70% of the time because eating perfectly "clean" all of the time is a set up for failure.

I have converted several people from that mindset over the years, and each and every one of them that finally took the plunge and gave it a real chance, ended up losing more fat in the end because it was a diet they could stick with infinitely.

My progress from IIFYM. Then, what you see in the avatar, was a prep I was doing for a physique show, all while using IIFYM.

Transformation.jpg
 
Last edited:
B

bossman

Member
Sep 26, 2014
42
4
yea, i feel if i try to eat too "clean" i don't eat enough. so i'd rather eat pretty clean but not be too extreme about it. i find it's better for my gains/goals.
 
macgyver

macgyver

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 24, 2011
1,996
1,672
90% of the people who throw around 'diet' advice dont belong in the conversation. To those that say IIFYM does not work, I know that most all of these people have probably never used a food scale and if they did, they would not know how to do it properly.

They would not know that 2oz of pasta cooked aldente weighs 4.2 oz, or that chicken cooked to 160 is only 70% of it's raw weight. Steak can go from 75-90% depending on what level of doneness. They dont know that a 2oz serving of brown rice weights 130g cooked. I could go on and on....those are just off the top of my head. I spent over 2 years of my life weighing and portioning EVERY thing that I took in. (I no longer track and plan because frankly it is unlikely that I can get any bigger without taking things to a level I dont care to). I can now maintain 10-11% just by feel...

But enough on that. IIFYM works period! I cut eating icecream 3 times a week, pizza on friday and pasta. AND....no cardio. Yep... IIFYM. Portion control. Period.


And BTW.....what the hell is with all the copy/paste threads? Any real thoughts of your own?......
 
C

C T J

Crossfit VIP
Jan 24, 2013
2,483
741
It's just an easy way for people to understand how to effectively eat for their desired body comp, without worrying
so much about clean or dirty foods.
 
F.I.S.T.

F.I.S.T.

MuscleHead
Sep 24, 2011
1,318
115
i feel like the whole bodybuilding process is an experiment for me, on me. lol


Thats exactly what is is my friend.Not just bbing but life in general.Its always about trial and error.BBing,dieting,relationships,whatever.Always about learning and growing.
 
F.I.S.T.

F.I.S.T.

MuscleHead
Sep 24, 2011
1,318
115
yea, i feel if i try to eat too "clean" i don't eat enough. so i'd rather eat pretty clean but not be too extreme about it. i find it's better for my gains/goals.


The term "clean" is where many peoples have issues.Too many think eating clean means eating plain chicken breasts,plain tune,rice cakes,etc. ,when thats not the case at all.If you look through the recipes I post up you'll find some great healthy meals that will definitely help pack on the pounds while keeping you on a "clean" diet.Obviously many of these will not fit into a contest prep diet but thats a different topic entirely.We're talking about "EVERY DAY" eating year round vs that of trying to dial it in for a contest.

Check them out and give some a try and see how you like them.I'd love to hear youre review and any suggestions you'd have for them.

Thanks for the reply as always.
 
PillarofBalance

PillarofBalance

Strength Pimp
Feb 27, 2011
17,066
4,640
All the talk about eating clean makes me think of a word I was recently introduced to. Orthorexia.

Had no idea what it meant and had never heard it used. It's basically an eating disorder of varying magnitudes where people are almost crippled by their stringent food choices. A good example of someone who causes this is that idiot "food babe."

I ate clean by what most people can agree to. That being egg whites oats chicken titties brown rice sweet potatoes and green veg. Lookin back on it I made zero gains. Losing fat was difficult and I sure as shit wasn't gaining muscle. But I had developed this sort of neurotic thought pattern that had me trapped.

So to sort of echo what mac said, some people who don't know wtf they are talking about need to leave the conversation. If you don't have the requisite knowledge then shut the trap. I don't give cutting advice. Cause I am not an expert. Just learning now. So someday hopefully I will be more help there.

But for now if you want to know what to order at mcd hit me up
 
Who is viewing this thread?

There are currently 0 members watching this topic

Top