IIFYM. You can eat anything you want and still lose weight. Yep, anything. This is as long as, you know what I’m about to say, you’re in a calorie deficit.
Sorry but the reason I keep harping on with that fact is a lot of people still don’t understand the basics (which is why charlatans prey on that, trying to sell bullshit quick fixes). There was a famous experiment where Prof Mark Haub lost 27lb in 10 weeks on his Twinkie Diet (he also ate Doritos and Oreos), to prove that energy balance really is all that matters to lose weight. Please note when talking about weight loss this doesn’t always align with improved health.
IIFYM is just one type of flexible dieting. I’m a little biased here as I do find this preferable to a lot of other methods of creating an energy deficit. Personally I prefer a variety of foods, and do have a bit of a sweet tooth which you may have guessed from my home baking posts.
There are misconceptions with this type of diet. It doesn’t mean fitting in as much pizza, donuts and cookies as you can. I mean you could. But considering how calorie dense those items are it wouldn’t be sustainable as they’re unlikely to fill you up so you wouldn’t be able to stick to it.
You still want the majority of your diet to come from vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean protein. But there is no need to cut out entire food groups or have overly restrictive rules. Use the flexibility to keep in the foods you like and you’re much more likely to stay on track.
When dieting and in a deficit you probably want to keep an eye on your micronutrient intake, to avoid deficiencies. Another reason to keep the veggie content high. Eat the rainbow of fruits and veg to get a good spectrum of vitamins and minerals within your diet.
Do you need help working out your a calorie or macro target range? Shoot me a DM if you do.
References: Mac Nutrition Uni, Muele at al 2011
(Reposted from Instagram)
