What is IIFYM/Flexible Dieting?

IIFYM and Flexible Dieting have been the talk of the town, in regards to whether it works and also the health benefits/implications associated with it. With the support of famous fitness icons with their instagram accounts such as DMJ3, MattOgus, NickCheadleFitness & TimbahWolf, many fitness enthusiasts started adopting IIFYM as their diet plan.s

 

What is IIFYM/Flexible Dieting (Portrayed)?

IIFYM is the short form of "If it fits your macros". Macro refers to the protein, carbohydrates and fats. So what IIFYM basically mean is that within your daily set caloric intake, let's put it at 200grams of protein, 300 grams of carbohydrates and 80 grams of fats (Often shown as 200p 300c 80f), you can eat WHATEVER YOU WANT as long as you hit your macros at the end of the day. This includes poptarts, non fat ice cream, waffles pancakes etc.... You get the idea!

Social Media have been promoting IIFYM as what I explained above telling everyone that " Yes you can lose weight by having fastfood everyday, you need not sacrifice your junk food during a cut! ". This stirred up an argument on IIFYM. 

With the same macros, can they be the same?

Does That Work?

Yes! Body Composition can be changed or altered by hitting your macros on a daily basis. The key to WEIGHT LOSS is a caloric deficit. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight! Simple enough??

Do note I am talking about weight loss but not fat loss. Weight can come from yes fat, but also water and muscles. So to to lose fat with minimal muscle loss, you have to hit a caloric deficit with a pre determined macro-nutrient split. ( on how to determine how much macros is it, I will explain in the next post :D ).

That meaning said, it is true that IIFYM works! IIFYM is optimal for changes in body composition but it does affects your health. It's possible to look really lean & aesthetic but at the same time being really unhealthy. Dozens of pop tarts a day may cause diabetes, constantly having fried chicken causes a build up blood cholesterol.

Flexible dieting does give results!

So What Do I Think IIFYM And Flexible Dieting Mean?

I prefer to call IIFYM Flexible Dieting. I typically follow the 80/20 rule, 80% clean and 20% dirty. So 80% of your diet will comprise of whole foods like poultry, beef, seafood, grains, vegetables, fruits etc. The 20% will be the foods that you crave for! All the fried and sugary foods. 

This is what I do on a daily basis by conducting flexible dieting (Please note that this is not proven to be the best way to do it but this is the way i like to do it). 

On a day to day basis, I cook my own meals and eat healthily. I pack my own meals to school and to work and everything is weighed, measured and accounted into my daily macros. That would be the 80% of my diet.

Meal Prep for school, work & eating home.

The 20% would be the occasions when I eat with either my friends or my family. Certainly at a social gathering you would not want to be eating out of your Tupperware and of course on a friday night out with your bros you wanna be enjoying your beer and have a good time with people around you! This way, you will see great progress in the gym without affecting on your quality of life. Do note that that being said, I am just an average gym goer who trains to look good and feel confident about myself. I am not by any means a hardcore bodybuilder who competes nor a personal trainer whose income purely depends on how they look.

Friday's night out with the boys!

Flexible dieting is great for amateurs and people like me, however it does not work for top level athletes. At the highest level of competition, everyone have the best genetics and sickest work ethnic. Having any food that causes inflammation or affects them from performing at the highest level are to be avoid. Let's just compare the Mr Olympias, everyone of them eats clean 100% and makes sure that they are at the top of the game! But if you are not at that level, Flexible Dieting is optimal for progress!

To look like this, you probably will need to eat really clean and also tons of Vitamin S :p

Conclusion

Don't be fooled by the Instagram of famous bodybuilders posting tons of waffles and pancakes for daily breakfast!  For example with the extreme low bodyfat levels, high muscularity and insane metabolic rate of Alberto Nunez from 3DMJ, 200 carbs for break might just be 30-40% off his daily carb intake because he eats like 500-700grams a day! For averafe gym goers like us, 200grams of carbs might already be close to the maximum amount of carbs that can be consumed.

I hope that through this post, any doubts of IIFYM/Flexible Dieting are all cleared up. If you have any questions, hit me up on the comments and i'll be happy to help!