THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR
FLEXIBLE DIETING
SANCTIONED BY
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR
FLEXIBLE DIETING
SANCTIONED BY
IIFYM.COM
IIFYM STANDS FOR: IF IT FITS YOUR MACROS.
In other words, your body requires a specific
amount of protein carbs and fat in order to function.
If you eat more than your body needs, you’ll gain fat.
If you eat less than your body needs, you’ll burn fat
If you are ready to throw out every diet plan you
have ever tried or heard of and learn how to eat all
the foods you love all while getting healthy, lean
and sexy, then congratulations, you have found the
right plan.
I AM ABOUT TO BLOW YOUR MIND!
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 2
CONTENT
Introduction
4
Chapter 1:
What Is Required For Fat Loss To Occur
12
Chapter 2:
Is It All Just About Calories?
24
Chapter 3:
Macronutrients 101
26
Chapter 4:
Introduction To If it Fits Your Macros
39
Conclusion
44
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 3
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to your guide to what
may just be one of the simplest,
most straightforward, and most
effective diet plans ever created.
IF IT FITS YOUR MACROS.
In this book, I’m going to
share with you the single most
overlooked nutrition concept that
dieters everywhere completely
neglect as they attempt to burn
fat. It is truly the only concept
that matters when it comes to
burning fat and losing weight.
We’re going to discuss the in’s and out’s of what’s required to turn your body
in to a fat burning furnace, while eating all the food you love, staying sane
and actually enjoying your diet. In fact, IIFYM is the only diet around that
encourages you to eat the same exact foods (within reason) that got you fat
and out of shape.
We’ll make it easy to comprehend and super easy to follow, so that you truly
understand how and why it works, rather than just following the rules of yet
another fad diet.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 4
You’re not alone. When most people hear the
word ‘diet’, they think restriction, they think
bland food, and they think hunger – along
with massive cravings for the foods they are no
longer allowed to eat.
They firmly believe that if they want to shed
excess body fat, they’re going to have to endure
some torture. Sound Familiar?
How often have you made the
decision to start up on a diet
plan only to find feelings of
anxiety and dread set in?
Every time?
And why will
you succeed?
Let’s stop for a moment and take a look at why
all of the other diets that you have tried in the
past have failed you.
And for those of you who claim that not all your
diets have failed you, I’d ask you to think again.
If those diet hadn’t failed you, you wouldn’t be
reading this right now with the desire to lose
weight, right? You are here for a reason and it’s
because those diets didn’t work – at least not
for the long term. They may have helped you
lose weight initially, but they have not helped
you keep it off. An effective diet helps you lose
weight and keep it off forever. It’s no good, after
all, to shed the weight only to gain it (and lots
more) back six months down the road.
I’m here to tell you that this line of thinking is
completely wrong. Not only do you NOT have to
suffer through another boring diet with boring
food choices only to get mediocre fat loss
results, but that you can actually have some fun
all while seeing the best results you’ve ever seen
before.
That’s right – the word ‘fun’ was just
associated with the word ‘diet’.
…Bet you never say that coming!
It’s a fact though and in this book, I am going to
prove it to you. I’m going to outline how IIFYM
is completely different from all diets you’ve
done in the past and why this is the diet that
you are finally going to succeed on.
What use is a diet if the results
are only temporary?
Would you invest your money or energy in a car,
a house or a relationship if you knew for a fact
that in 6 months, it would break down and you’d
be right back to square one?
Of course not, yet time after time, we sink our
trust, our emotions and our money in to a failing
diet plan all because we HOPE it will work or
because someone claimed it worked for them.
That is where IIFYM is different. It is permanent
because it’s so doable. In fact, I venture to say
this is one diet you will love being on.
Let’s look at some of the places where most
traditional diets go wrong so you can see
exactly why you haven’t seen success before.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 5
Where Most Diets Go Wrong
If you’re like most people and have yo-yo’d on and off multiple diets before, chances are high that you
already have a decent idea where most of these diets have gone wrong.
You’ve been there, done that, and know that you were miserable the entire time you were on them.
Low carb, low fat, high protein, HCG, cayenne honey and lemonade cleanse, water only detox, hours of
cardio, boot camps, core training, spin classes all for what?
Disappointment, that’s what!
PROBLEM #1 - RESTRICTIVENESS
The first problem with most diets is that they are highly restrictive. You’re given a list of six to
ten different foods that you’re ‘allowed’ to eat on that diet and all other foods immediately go
on your ‘hit list’. They’re banished from your food intake and you’re forced to succumb to dietary
boredom, eating the same meals over and over again.
We as humans crave variety. It doesn’t matter if
I told you to eat cake, cookies, and chocolate. If
after 20 days that’s all you were eating, you would
be mighty sick of cake, cookies, and chocolate.
It’s simply too much of only a few types of foods.
You need a wider variety than what most
fad diets allow you to eat, but yet, that’s the
approach most diets take. If the truth is told, if
we are going to limit ourselves to “health food”
there are plenty of healthy food options available
that there’s really no need to limit yourself so
extensively. In fact, there’s no need to limit
yourself at all (we’ll get to more on this later).
What’s worse is that along with this highly
restricted food intake that so many diets put you
on, you’re also setting yourself up for long-term
nutritional deficiencies.
It doesn’t matter if the five foods you’re allowed
to eat are 100% healthy and include broccoli,
20
DAYS
chicken breasts, egg whites, oatmeal, and
apples, you’re still going to miss out on a ton of
key nutrients that your body needs to function.
Vitamins, minerals & fibre.
If you only remember one thing about this book,
please remember this next paragraph:
Eating healthy does not equal fat loss. There is
nothing magical about “clean” or “healthy” food.
Not when it comes to losing weight. See, most
people associate fat loss with eating “clean”
either because of how brain washed they are, or
because they, or someone they know lost weight
eating egg whites, low fat cottage cheese, and
garden salads for months on end.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 6
Sure, they might have lost weight, but why? The reason is calorie reduction. Clean
foods generally have fewer calories than so called ‘dirty foods’. Look at it like this. On two
plates you have 1 pound of food:
PLATE #1
Contains grilled salmon
and broccoli
(total weight, 1 lb).
PLATE #2
Contains lasagne and
cheesy bread sticks
(total weight, 1 lb).
Which do you think is "clean"? Which is healthy? Which will help you stay lean?
Pretty obvious right? Does the plate #1 have
some sort of magical powers that the other
plate does not possess? Nope. It simply has
fewer calories.
Please note, I did not say, fewer grams of fat or
fewer grams of carbs. I said fewer calories!
suffering through mundane food options when
dieting. They think that eating clean food will
make them healthy and skinny. Not so. Eating
fewer calories will lead to increase fat loss and
that will make you a healthier person. Not the
other way around.
Now, which is more enjoyable?
The beauty of IIFYM is that it does not
restrict you to these boring and bland food
option. IIFYM allows you to eat the foods you
love, burn fat, and stay lean for the rest of
your life!
Yeah.. I agree.
That does not change the fact that the clean
foods have way fewer calories. This is why most
people associate fat loss with eating clean and
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 7
PROBLEM #2 - RIGIDITY
The second big problem with most diets is that they don’t allow freedom and flexibility for
your unique individual preferences, making them less sustainable.
When you look at most diet plans, they’re
going to give you a definite plan to follow.
At 8 am, you eat these foods.
At 10 am, you get this for a snack.
At 12 pm, you can select between
these two lunches.
…and on and on it goes.
What if you don’t want to eat at 10 am? What if you are working late and your
lunch doesn’t arrive until 1?
For some people who follow these rigid diets,
they feel that if they don’t follow it to the letter,
they’re essentially failing miserably. They get into
black and white thinking patterns and now that
they feel like a failure, they decide to just toss in
the towel altogether.
They’re simply not cut out for this dieting
business. As such, they go on to binge-eat,
consuming thousands of calories and now
they’re heavier than they’ve ever been.
A diet needs to be flexible. Life happens
whether you like it or not and any diet that
doesn’t account for this and have some
flexibility built into its structure is only going
to set you up to fail.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 8
PROBLEM #3 - COMPLICATED RULES
The third problem that most diets have going for them is that they just contain far too many rules.
Don’t eat carbs and fats together – that will
immediately cause fat gain. (WRONG!!!)
Make sure that you stay out of the kitchen past 6
pm – any food eaten at this time is going straight
towards your hips, especially carbs (WRONG!!!)*
Be sure to eat every two to three hours in ramp
up your metabolic furnace and burn fat all day
long! (WRONG!!!)
Make sure that you do 30 minutes of cardio prior
to your first meal to burn the most fat possible.
(WRONG!!!)*
Who can stick to such rules? And furthermore, why are rules that are not based
on proven scientific studies being spouted off by so-called professionals as fact?
If the diet that you’re following has so many rules you feel like understanding it
is like taking an advanced level biophysics class at Harvard, how likely do you
think it is that you are actually going to do that diet?
Let me tell you one thing right now.
The #1 secret to success on any diet plan is
consistency. Look, most diets out there work.
At first. How you feel during the diet will directly
determine how long you keep it up for.
As long as the diet is somewhat well formulated
and has some degree of calorie control, chances
are it is going to work well. It may not be
‘optimal’ from a nutritional point of view, but you
will still lose weight – if you stick with it.
lose the weight, you’ll gain it right back as soon
as you start up with your old eating habits again
(regardless of how good your intentions are).
Adherence is vital to success and this is why other
diets that have too many rules fail miserably. You
end up feeling overwhelmed, confused, and you
may not even know where to start. Even if you
do lose some weight, it all comes back with a
vengeance once you stop.
If you don’t? Well, you won’t be having
Simple, easy, and straightforward is what
you want. It is what you NEED.
So even if you had the perfect diet plan all
lined up, planned and ready to go, if the diet’s
impossible to do long term, it is going to fail
you. You might as well just stop before you start
because you won’t be lasting long. Once you
When a diet accomplishes this, it’s
going to be easy to not only follow in
the immediate future as you work to
lose the weight, but to also adopt as a
long-term eating strategy as well.
much success at all.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 9
PROBLEM #4 - LACK OF LONG TERM PLANS
Finally, the last major problem that you’re going to face when using most diets is the fact that
they only focus on the diet; not the recovery. Yes, I said recovery! Some diets may provide you
with an active plan but as soon as that weight is off, you’re given little to no guidance with how
to get back to living life again.
They don’t address that
hormonal shift that occurs
as a result of months of
dieting and they do nothing
to help restore your
metabolism and address
hunger pangs or cravings.
If you’ve been using a very strict and structured
approach, you’re likely going to feel incredibly lost
when coming off the plan and this may cause you
to gravitate back to the old eating habits you had
before. Even if they do offer some sort of structure,
you still have to follow their plan, their foods, their
restrictions and their ideology.
You’ll go back to eating how you used to eat and
before you know it, you’ll be right back searching
for another diet plan to use, or worse, giving up
entirely.
Instead, you need an approach that teaches you
how to eat properly for life. It needs to be a diet
that’s realistic to follow long-term so that once
you do lose the weight, you can actually eat MORE
food and still not gain back all the fat. This is
exactly what IIFYM offers. A scientifically backed
foolproof approach to burning fat and keeping it
off, all while eating the foods you love.
See, you shouldn’t feel like you have to re-learn
how to eat properly after coming off a diet plan.
The diet should be the learning curve period. It
should be a time when you try different things and
learn about what works for your body and your
body alone.
A good diet plan is a diet plan that you actually
want to continue on with even once you reach
your goal weight – not something that you have
to force yourself to keep at until you (God willing)
reach your dream weight.
IIFYM does just that. It gives you the exact
formula for your body and for your success.
All you have to do is implement it and you will
arrive at your goal body weight and stay there
for good! You will want to stick with it because
of how easy it is and how fun it can be.
So as you can see, there are many places
where diets go wrong.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 10
Also keep in mind that what might be a problem
for one person, won’t necessarily be a problem
for another.
For example, say you live a very varied
lifestyle and never know what your
day is going to bring. Are you going to
do well on a diet that has a high level
of structure and requires you to have
your meals at specific times each day?
Obviously you will not.
But, for someone who works an office job and
strives on keeping a regular schedule and being
highly organized and having everything planned
out, such a diet may give them a feeling of being
in control and make it much easier to stick with
while gaining a feeling of accomplishment.
Again, this is why flexibility is key. If a diet is good,
it will work for many different people who have
various needs and preferences, not one ‘cookiecutter’ type of person.
If you happen to stumble upon one of those
‘cookie cutter’ types of plans and it does work
for you – great, you’re probably one of the few
people who would do well on it. But if you don’t
have such luck, you won’t be seeing the success
that you deserve and want so badly.
So now that we’ve had the
chance to explain where all
the previous diets you’ve
done have gone wrong,
let’s now dig into how IIFYM
is going to change things
so that you end up on the
right path to success.
Want us to create a custom
macro program for you?
Click here to check out our:
Custom Macro Blueprint
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 11
Chapter 1:
What Is Required For
Fat Loss To Occur
What better place to start out discussion of IIFYM than explaining to you what you need to have
in place if you hope to see fat loss success.
Understanding how fat loss occurs in the body will make it easier to stick with the plan as you
understand the ‘why’ behind it.
If you don’t understand how a diet works, it can be hard to stay motivated to continue on with it.
You will feel like your actions are leading nowhere and will quickly drop off.
Once you understand how what you are doing is helping in the long-term scheme of things, that’s
when motivation will no longer be an issue for you. I will make this painless as possible - and get
right to the facts in easy to understand terms.
Let’s begin by talking about the most important aspect of IIFYM and for that matter EVERY
OTHER DIET IN THE WORLD; calorie deficit.
The Calorie Deficit
Requirement For Fat Loss
To lose weight, you really only have to do one
simple thing. Something you probably already
know, but until now have never really focused on in
the way you need to be.
To lose weight all you have to do is eat fewer
calories than your body needs. It really is that
simple. This is not about carb restriction, fat
reduction, or sodium manipulation. This is about
total calories required vs. total calories consumed.
See, your body requires a specific number of
calories to function. Yours requires a different
number of calories than mine and everyone else’s.
The more active you are, heavier you are and the
younger you are, the more calories your body
needs.
If you eat more calories than your
body needs, you gain weight.
If you eat less calories than your
body needs, you lose weight.
The amount of weight loss that comes from fat
vs muscle will depend on a few things (protein
consumption, exercise, genetics, etc.) but for our
example we are only talking about weight loss.
Ideally you want to preserve as much muscle as you
can, while burning as much fat as possible. More
about this later!
Before going any further, it’s important for you to let
this next section sink in. Read it a few times if you
need to.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 12
What is a calorie?
We all know what a calorie is, right? Sure. But do
you know what a calorie means?
See, when scientists want to find out how many
calories are in a certain type of food, they burn it.
Yup, they burn it with fire. A quick internet search
will give you a bunch of calorie testing videos that
show you how it is done but basically it goes like
this:
1. Take a potato chip and place it under a metal can
filled with 1 gram water.
2. Measure the temperature of the water
3. Set the potato chip on fire
4. Measure the temperature increase of the water
as the chip burns
5. The number of degrees (in celcius) the water
temperature increased over baseline is the
number of calories in the potato chip.
That number, that unit of energy is referred to as a
kilocalorie, or as we know it, a calorie.
The more energy stored in a given food, the hotter
and longer the water temperature increases, thus,
the more calories that food has.
When you consume calories through your food
intake, your body burns them, kind of like the fire,
only much slower and through a complex set of
events. First, your body breaks the calories down
and combines them with oxygen after which they
are released as energy to the body to fuel all the
cellular actions that are taking place.
In easier to understand terms, a
calorie is the amount of energy
needed to raise the temperature of
1 GRAM OF WATER by
1 DEGREE CELSIUS.
For fat loss to occur we have to consume fewer
calories than our body needs. Eat fewer calories
and you essentially are eating less energy. Thus in
turn you create energy deficit in your body. This is
referred to as a ‘calorie deficit’.
If you did the opposite and took in more calories
than you consumed, you would be in what’s
referred to as a ‘calorie surplus’.
Being in a calorie surplus would mean that you’d
be gaining additional weight rather than losing it.
Cool fact of the day:
Did you know that gasoline has about 31,000
calories per gallon?
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 13
To give you a more clear understanding of how this process occurs
I will compare it to something most of us are decently familiar
with: a truck.
Let’s say that every day you drive your truck 100
miles. You go to work, go shopping, visit friends,
and what not. 100 miles every day give or take a
few, for years on end. To drive this distance your
truck would need pretty much the same amount of
fuel every day. Let’s say 10 gallons of gas.
Your body is the same way. It needs a specific
amount of fuel every day to keep up with your daily
activities; work, sleep, playing, exercise, etc.
Before you know it, you’ll be driving
your truck around with 50 extra gallons
of gas that do nothing but weigh you
down, slow you down, and make your
gas mileage even worse than it was
when you started!
Now, what would happen if instead of pumping
10 gallons of gas in to your truck every day, you
pumped 11 gallons instead? Maybe you like
pumping gas, or maybe just never paid attention to
how much gas you were pumping in to your truck.
Well you would have too much fuel. The gas would
spill over, and you would store it in a gas can and
the back of the truck to use at a later day.
See, your car’s gas tank can only hold so much gas
(fuel) before it starts to overfill and spill outside of
the car onto the ground. Likewise, your body only
requires so much energy (fuel) each day before that
energy will ‘spill over’ and be stored as fat for use at
a later time.
X 50
So then how do we get rid of that extra fat that we have stored as a result of eating too many calories for so
long? Very easy! We use them in the exact manner for which our body intended them to be used. For energy!
The first, and only thing we need to do to get the ball rolling is to create an energy deficit, or as it’s often
called, a ‘caloric deficit’.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 14
If we look to our truck example we have 2 options:
1
We drive further than 100 miles every day, thus
increasing our truck’s need for fuel and creating an
energy deficit. When we run out of fuel (calories),
we simply pull a few gallons from the back of the
truck (stored fat) and use it rather than pumping
more (food & calories) into the tank. Eventually
we will burn through all of the stored fuel (fat) and
we will be lighter, faster and will get much better
gas mileage. The human version of this is called
exercise.
2
We can pump less gas every day (eat fewer
calories). If we only pump 8 gallons of fuel every
day, but still drive 100 miles, we will create a 2
gallon deficit and will have to use the fuel from the
back of the truck (fat) to finish our driving route.
The end result is the same as option 1. Eventually
we will burn through all of our stored fuel (fat) and
end up lighter and leaner.
It’s basic math, and simple science. Since energy cannot be
created nor destroyed (it can only transferred from one form or
another) when you take in too much calorie energy, the body
has to do something with that energy. Just like the gasoline.
Either it spills on to the ground or in to a container. Either
way it still exists. Unlike the gas however, our bodies are very
efficient and don’t allow us to waste precious energy. After all,
food = energy and our bodies know that food is not always
guaranteed. Our body has no choice BUT to store it for use at a
later date.
If you are highly active, some of the extra calories that were
stored as fat are going to get burned off. (The amount that gets
used depends on how much your body needs, how active you
are, and how much you eat.)
If you aren’t very active, the calories are going to get stored as a
usable form of energy for down the road when it might need it
(namely, as body fat stores).
Likewise, if you eat less food than your body requires then you
are going to find fuel elsewhere. The first place your body looks
for energy is the last place it hid it: in the fat stores.
The end result is that your body start burning body fat as fuel.
Think of it in extreme terms. If you eat absolutely nothing, for
10 days, you are essentially running on no gas. Your body still
has to function and still requires fuel to do so. Since food is not
an option, it will use the stored fat from your belly, your thighs,
your butt and everywhere else to create the energy it needs.
So your mission is
simple. Eat less and
move more.
Tilt the energy
balance scale in
your favor so that
you burn off more
each day than what
you consume. If
you accomplish this,
you’ll get the fat loss
results you want.
How IIFYM comes into
play is where it gets
fun. Keep on reading
and be ready to have
your mind blown!
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 15
Figuring Out Your Calorie Deficit
How much of a calorie deficit should you be using for optimal fat loss to occur?
The answer to this question depends on your own goals and preferences.
Every pound of fat has 3500 calories. This means that it
takes a 3500 reduction in calories (either by increasing
your exercise by 3500 calories, or by eating 3500 calories
less) to lose one pound of body fat. So if you have 10
pounds that you want to lose, this means you’ll have to
create a calorie deficit of 35,000 calories over time. (8-12
weeks would be a healthy and steady goal).
The faster you create that deficit, the faster your
weight loss will occur – within reason. I say within
reason because if you’re sitting there thinking that
you will just eat nothing (or as little as possible)
and create the calorie deficit rapidly to get that
weight off ASAP, this method is likely to backfire
on you. You’ll burn fat and muscle and might die
in the process. Remember IIFYM is all about eating
the foods you love. At no point will you be starving
yourself. Nor should you EVER!
Where most ‘calorie restrictive’ diets go wrong,
is that they are way too general. They tell men to
eat 1800 calories per day, and woman to eat 1200
calories. They make general assumptions and lump
everyone into the same 2 groups; men and woman,
without once taking into consideration how many
calories the individual needs for their own body.
You need something that is customized to your own
body.
Where most people go wrong is by thinking that
extreme dieting is the only thing that will work
for them. This is why IIFYM is so different.
What if I told you that you could lose weight,
burn fat and get healthy all while eating 3000
calories per day, rather than 1800?
We help you figure out your body’s caloric
needs based on gender, age, height, weight and
activity level. See, everyone is different so IIFYM
approaches everyone individually based on their
own needs (don’t worry, it is simple math, and
takes about 30 seconds to figure out with the help
of the TDEE calculator at iifym.com).
Well that very well may be your number. Once you
get through this book, you’ll know exactly where
you stand and won’t have to give up pizza or
lasagna to get fit. Most people can’t fathom the idea
of eating pizza while on a diet, so they rely on the
whole starvation approach and end up failing time
and time again.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 16
Why Starvation Doesn’t Work
If you create too large of a calorie
deficit in the body, the body will
start to fight you as it thinks that
starvation is beginning to occur.
Your body is much smarter than
you think and just because you
may have the preference and
desire to fit into a size 3, that
doesn’t mean that your body has
the same desire.
Your body’s main priority is survival and when
you go on an extremely low calorie diet, it feels as
though its survival is threatened. After all, you’re
consuming far less energy than you need. To help
reduce the risk that you do in fact starve to death,
the body will begin taking action.
First, it’s going to decrease your metabolic rate.
This is referred to as your BMR (Basal Metabolic
Rate) – You can see what your BMR is by using the
BMR Calculator at IIFYM.com.
Your metabolic rate is the number of calories
that your body requires to survive on a daily
basis without exerting any energy. No activity
whatsoever. Basically, if you sat in bed and didn’t
move – just lied there consciously, this is the
amount of calories you would burn. It’s when you
go under this amount, especially for extended
periods of time that the body is really going to
react.
You are, after all, feeding it less than it needs
to keep its organs functioning and your brain
running optimally (so if you wonder why you feel
so miserable on those ultra low calorie crash diets,
there is your answer).
Again, everyone is different. Everyone has a
different body that has different caloric needs
(gender, age, weight, height, activity level). The
higher your metabolic rate, the more calories you
burn each day and therefore the easier fat loss will
be. You won’t have to cut your food intake nearly
as low in order to achieve the calorie deficit you
desire.
Keep in mind that you don’t just lie in bed all day
without moving so your actual daily calorie burn
will be much higher than your basal metabolic rate
will be, but your basal metabolic rate (BMR) does
account for the greatest proportion of your calorie
burn for most people.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 17
The other calories you burn
throughout the day while working,
playing, eating & exercising get
added to your BMR to create your
Total Daily Energy Expenditure
(TDEE).
24
HOUR
TDEE is the true and total amount of calories your
body burns in a 24 hour period with all things
considered. It’s impossible to figure out this
number exactly (unless you were to sit in a calorie
chamber all day long), so the best thing you can do
is estimate your calorie burn based on a number of
formulas and equations.
So getting back to our topic of what happens when
you cut your calorie intake far too low, your body
will sense that starvation is occurring and will begin
to burn fewer and fewer calories each day.
This is thanks to a particular hormone in the body
called leptin, which is produced by the body fat
cells. When total body start starts decreasing or
your incoming energy level decreases, leptin shifts
downward.
The less energy your body burns off staying alive,
the longer your body fat stores are going to last.
Meaning, you outsmart death (starvation is not
something your body takes lightly!).
Sadly for you, this means weight loss comes to a
screeching halt. If your metabolic rate is moving
along so incredibly sluggish, this is not going to
bode well for helping you create that calorie deficit
we talked about earlier.
The longer you stay on that crash diet, the worse
this situation is going to get. Before long, you won’t
be making any progress, you’ll be eating so few
calories that you are almost driving yourself mad,
and you’ll be frustrated and ready to toss in the
towel. Sound familiar?
Even worse is that when you do come off these
crash diets, your metabolism will be so slow that
if you suddenly jack up your calorie intake (and
FINALLY give in to those food cravings), you’ll start
gaining body fat almost immediately. Chances are
you’ll not only re-gain all the weight you just lost,
but you will likely gain even more on top of that.
Sound familiar?
To top things off, when you reduce your calorie
intake far too low in the quest for survival, rather
than burning off any body fat as you normally
would, your body will actually begin to burn off
muscle.
The reason it does this is because at rest, muscle
is a metabolically active tissue. It’s going to burn a
huge amount of calories simply existing on the body
each day. Fat burns hardly any.
If your body wants to stay alive optimally, burning
off muscle is far wiser than burning off fat. Fat is
what keeps you alive, muscle is what sucks up all
the energy.
The good thing is that when we diet RIGHT, muscle
is our ally. The more muscle we have, the more
calories we burn at rest and the more we can get
away with eating, and still burn fat.
This is why weight lifting can be such a powerful
tool in the fight against fat. Weight lifting builds
muscle, raised our BMR and allows our bodies to
take in more calories without storing them as fat.
So the more muscle you have, the easier fat loss will
happen and the better you will look as you continue
to lose weight.
So as you can see, a very low calorie intake to create
a massive calorie deficit to speed up fat loss is
precisely what you don’t want to be doing.
It is not going to help you see results and it’s not
going to have you feeling very well either. Moderate
calorie reductions are far better.
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So how much is moderate? And, more
importantly, how much is too much?
Getting back to the idea that it takes 3500 calories
to burn off one pound of body fat, most people
will do best by aiming for a reduction of between
250-500 calories per day. At this rate, you would
be losing about half to one pound of body fat per
week, which is a good place to be.
250-500
1/2-1
PER DAY
PER WEEK
CALORIES
POUND OF BODY FAT
GOOD PLACE
TO BE
No, you won’t reach your goal weight in record
time, but you can be sure that you are making
ongoing progress and when you do finally reach
your goal weight and that you’re actually losing
body fat and not muscle. Furthermore, that fat will
be much more likely to stay off for good.
For those who are more overweight and who have
a higher amount of weight to lose, you can likely
utilize a higher calorie deficit without too much
worry. Your body will have a higher metabolic rate
due to the higher amount of total body weight and
since your fat stores are much higher, there is less
threat to your survival so the whole ‘metabolic
slow-down’ issue isn’t nearly as significant for you.
These individuals can utilize a calorie deficit of up
to 1000 calories per day, producing a rate of weight
loss equivalent to about 2 pounds per week.
I caution you from going above a 1000 calorie deficit
however as this would place you at risk for not
being able to get all the nutrients that your body
needs to stay healthy. It is the official position of
this books author that anyone practicing IIFYM
never exceeds a caloric deficit greater than 25%
of their TDEE, while 15-20% is an idea calorie
reduction.
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So to summarize all this calorie deficit business, let’s look at
the pros and cons of small versus larger calorie deficits.
Small Calorie Deficits
Larger Calorie Deficits
(250-500 calories per day)
(500-1000 calories per day)
PROS:
PROS:
Easier to manage from a diet point of view
since you’ll be taking in more food
Less likely to cause hunger, fatigue, feeling
generally quite weak
Will not pose quite the threat of slowing
down your metabolic rate
Will provide plenty of energy for intense
workout sessions (provided you eat the right
variety of macronutrients – more later on this
topic).
CONS:
Weight loss rates will be slower (but you’ll be
guaranteed to keep the weight off over the
long term!)
Will create a faster rate of weight loss
Some people will find planning the diet is
easier since there won’t be as many calories
to track
CONS:
Is more difficult to stick with and has a much
higher rate of failure
Is more likely to cause fatigue, lightheadedness, and low blood sugar
You’re more likely to lose muscle mass
instead of fat mass, thus stalling your weight
loss
Could reduce your metabolic rate, making
further fat loss more difficult and putting
you at a higher risk of weight re-gain while
making dieting in the future more difficult
Is typically only appropriate for those who
have more overall fat to lose (not suitable for
those who are already quite lean)
So there you have the basic run-down of how to properly structure your calorie deficit for optimal fat loss
results.
Keep in mind here that you don’t necessarily have to maintain a particular calorie deficit for a lengthy period
of time either. It’s perfectly alright to use a higher calorie deficit for a week or two and then move to a more
moderate calorie deficit after that.
Adjusting your calorie deficit based on the progress that you’re seeing as you go along with the program is
actually one of the best things that you can do to guarantee that you see success.
Constant evaluation and adjustment as time goes on is what will ensure that you keep progressing onwards.
If something stops working at some point or another and you aren’t continuing to see fat loss occur, this is
your first signal that something needs to be changed.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 20
As a rule, check your TDEE
every 2 weeks and adjust your
calories accordingly.
The final issue to discuss with regards to your
calorie deficit for fat loss is how you go about
creating that calorie deficit.
Up until now, you may be thinking that this is
achieved entirely through dietary means. You
simply reduce back your food intake until the deficit
you’re after has been established.
Not so.
There are two ways that you can go about creating
the deficit that you need for fat loss to occur.
The first method is through reducing your food
intake. This method does tend to work incredibly
well because with some simple changes, you can
easily slash 250-500 calories from your diet.
For example, if you typically start
your day with a large gourmet coffee
completed with whipped cream and
flavored syrup from your local coffee
shop, swap the syrup with stevia, and
use fat free milk in place of the cream
and you’ve just about completed the
deficit right there.
Some food choices will add up incredibly quickly so
small changes can yield massive results.
That said, not everyone wants to cut back on their
food intake too dramatically. In that case, there is
another way to achieve that deficit.
As you may have guessed, that way
is through increased activity levels.
If you are more active throughout
the day, you will increase your daily
calorie expenditure since moving
does burn off calories, increasing the
deficit on that side of the balance
scale.
For many people, a combination of both is ideal.
This way you don’t have to reduce your food intake
back quite as much and you also get all the added
health benefits that exercise brings as well.
Furthermore, it should be noted that those who
combine a diet plan with an exercise program are
more likely to maintain their lean muscle tissue
while losing weight than those who don’t.
This goes back to that notion that when faced
with a lower calorie intake, the body will be more
likely to get rid of muscle tissue, which only further
threatens its survival. If you are exercising however
as you use the lower calorie diet, that exercise
is sending the signal to the body that it needs to
maintain its muscle in order to get through the daily
activities it’s being asked to perform, therefore
you’ll be less likely to lose it.
Note that weight training is the most
effective form of exercise for sending
this signal, especially compared to
cardio training. While cardio training
is good, done excessively with a strict
diet plan, it could actually further
increase the risk of lean muscle mass
(which is yet another reason to stop
doing those hour-long, dreadful
treadmill sessions!).
If you are aiming for a 500 calorie deficit to lose
one pound per week, you could reduce your calorie
intake back by 250 calories and increase your
activity level so that you burn around 250 more.
Together these will get you to that 500 calorie
deficit that you’re targeting.
Like we talked about on the diet side of things,
don’t let this make you think that you can just
exercise for hours each day and burn off thousands
of calories. Again, this will back-fire.
The body can only tolerate so much exercise each
day – especially if you haven’t been doing all that
much exercise in the months leading up to the diet.
Do too much and you’ll quickly begin overtrain and
likely wind up injured. Then you won’t be doing any
exercise at all.
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Like diet, moderation is your best policy. Exercise
regularly, but don’t overdo it. Similar metabolic
problems can also happen with very high energy
expenditures as well as you’re still creating that
massive deficit that the body really does not like.
Remember with exercise that the calories you burn
due to exercise do not necessarily only encompass
what you burn off while you’re at the gym. Certain
forms of exercise – namely the more intense forms
such as weight lifting or interval sprint training,
will cause you to burn a considerable amount of
calories after the session is completed and while
your body moves into recovery, so that should be
factored in as well.
This boost to your metabolic rate will add up over
time and is just another thing that will progress you
onwards to your fat loss goals.
So now that you know the important information
about creating a calorie deficit, it’s time to learn
your own numbers so that you can prepare for your
journey ahead.
There are multiple equations and formulas that you
can use to approximate your daily calorie burn. You
should keep in mind at all times that these are only
approximations. Whatever you do, don’t take them
to be the absolute truth. Everyone is unique and
some of these formulas can be off by 10% or more.
It would be virtually impossible to know with exact
certainty how many calories you burn all day, every
day. Since each day also varies in terms of how
active you are, your day to day calorie burn will vary
slightly as well.
As long as you have a good estimation however,
that will help you get started on the right foot.
Another formula you can use if you don’t
know your body fat percentage and lean
body mass is the Harris Benedict Equation.
It is:
WOMEN:
The first formula that proves to be really
quite accurate if you know your lean body
weight is the Katch-McArdle Formula.
It is:
BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) +
(4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
MEN:
BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) +
(12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in year)
BMR = 370 + (21.6 X lean body mass in kg)
To save yourself the math, visit IIFYM.COM
and use the BMR calculator
It doesn’t matter if you are a male or female,
this one works well to determine about how
many calories you burn each day.
The primary difference between a man’s
BMR and a woman’s BMR comes because of
the increased amount of lean muscle mass
that most males possess. Since muscle is so
metabolically active as we mentioned before,
men tend to have higher daily calorie burns.
Since this one takes into account total body
weight and not lean body weight, it tends to
be slightly less accurate. For example, if you
have two people who each weigh 150 pounds,
but one person is 10% body fat and the other
person is 35% body fat, the 10% body fat
person is going to burn much more than the
35% body fat person would.
This is why this equation divides males and
females up – females have a higher amount of
essential fat, therefore their total daily calorie
expenditure needs to reflect that.
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Take some time right now to
choose the equation you will use
and work through it to get your
approximately basal metabolic
rate. Remember, this is the
number of calories that you
would burn each day if you sat in
bed and did nothing.
Now, since you are going to be
moving around, we need to
account for this.
You’re now going to multiple
the number that you got above
by something referred to as an
‘activity multiplier’.
This is an approximation of
how many additional calories
you will burn because of your
activity level. Again, keep in
Here are the activity multipliers
that you want to use:
If you are sedentary
(little or no exercise – ex. Desk job):
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active
(light exercise 1-3 days/week
or active job):
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderately active
(moderate exercise 3-5 days/week):
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active
(hard exercise 6-7 days a week):
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active
(very hard exercise & physical job):
Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9
mind that this, even more so
than the former equations, will
be approximations only. You may
burn slightly more or you may
burn slightly less.
This is why it’s important to
continually assess the progress
you’re making on your diet plan
and make adjustments as you go
based on those results.
Using these multipliers, take your BMR value that you
got and multiply it by wherever you happen to fall.
This is now your target maintenance calorie intake.
Basically, if you wanted to maintain your body
weight, this is about how many calories you would
need to take in each day.
Since your goal is not to maintain your weight but
rather lose weight, you need to now apply your
calorie deficit. So take whatever calorie deficit
you’ve decided you want to use (250-1000 calories)
and subtract that from the number you arrived at.
This is now your new target fat loss calorie intake.
If you can remember this number, you’re on your way
to success. This number is also a huge component of
what makes the If It Fits Your Macros diet such a huge
success. Diets that don’t hold any regard for calorie
intake are very likely to be successful.
While some people who naturally don’t have that
much of an appetite and who don’t really enjoy
eating all that much (as you can imagine, these
people are few and far between) may succeed on
them because naturally they keep their calorie intake
quite low, most people will not. They’ll simply eat too
many calories without any sort of tracking and this
will prevent the fat loss process from taking place.
This now concludes this chapter on what is required
for fat loss. Achieving success with fat loss really
isn’t all that difficult as long as you do have a good
grasp over your calorie requirements and how many
calories are in most of the foods you’re eating.
If you can learn this and tailor your diet accordingly,
you are going to be headed towards success.
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Chapter 2:
Is It All Just About
Calories?
Now that we’ve finished talking about calories, the question that begs to be asked
is, ‘But is it just about calories?’
Basically, is that all it takes – eating fewer calories than you burn?
Surely there must be more to it than that…
The answer to this question is YES and NO.
In all actuality, no, all it really does take to lose
weight is consuming fewer calories than you
burned off. If the truth is told, you could eat
nothing but cake, candy, and chocolate all day long
and provided you ate the same number of calories
that you figured out in the previous chapter for your
target fat loss calorie intake, you would see weight
loss take place.
What you must keep in mind with this however
is that the type of weight you lose may not be
favorable (you’d be more likely to lose lean muscle
mass as opposed to fat mass due to lack of protein),
and you likely won’t be feeling so hot on a diet
consisting of these foods either.
Remember that whenever you take in fewer
calories than your body desires, hunger does go
along with it. How much hunger you experience
however will be directly correlated with the foods
that you’re choosing.
To put this into perspective, which of the
following meals would you feel less hungry
after eating:
1. A medium bagel with two
tablespoons of full fat
cream cheese
2. A 3 oz. grilled chicken
breast with 1 cup cooked
wild rice and 2 cups
steamed broccoli along
with 1 ½ cups of sliced
strawberries for dessert
Hopefully you choose the second. If you eat the right foods, hunger control is far more manageable and
this makes sticking with your target calorie intake far easier. If you eat the wrong foods, you’ll likely end up
hungry only an hour after you eat them and this may cause you to eat more food overall, thus not hitting the
calorie deficit that you need for fat loss to take place.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 24
So while it is all about calories,
where those calories come from
will matter in terms of how easy
it is to stick to that diet plan.
Furthermore, if you choose proper foods, you’ll
also be getting a much better intake of all the
vitamins and minerals (collectively referred to as
micronutrients) that you need for optimal health. If
you’re healthy, you’ll feel better overall and this can
help you stick with your plan as well.
Finally, if you choose your food choices wisely for
the most part, your energy levels will stay more
stable and this means you’ll experience fewer highs
and lows throughout the day and have more quality
workout sessions.
All of these things are important
for making sure your diet is
livable and something that you
do want to stick with.
So while hitting your calorie intake is the most
important thing that you need to be focused on
to get results, getting those calories from good
sources is also going to help out tremendously with
your progress.
For example, fat rich foods will have far more
calories per gram of food as compared to protein
and carb rich foods. This is because for every gram
of dietary fat, you’ll take in nine calories, while with
protein and carbs, it’s just four calories.
If you load up on too much high fat food in your
diet, you won’t be getting much volume with
your food intake before hitting your calorie
requirements.
Likewise, fruits and vegetables will contain far less
calories per unit of measurement (cup, ounce, etc.)
compared with candy. These foods are considered
a high-volume, low energy density food, meaning
you’d have to eat a lot of them for them to amount
to many calories at all.
For someone on a fat loss diet plan, these are a
very good thing. You would literally have to eat
truckloads of vegetables before it would have any
impact on your body weight.
So it will be a combination of the right foods
along with the right calorie intake that will yield a
maximum amount of fat loss success.
Now let’s move on and take this
one step further, looking at the
macronutrients that make up
the calories that you eat.
As you go about researching up on the calorie
intakes of your various food choices, you’ll also
likely notice that different foods have different
calorie values.
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Chapter 3:
Macronutrients 101
When we speak about calories, we’re really talking about proteins, carbs, and fats. Each of
these is considered to be a ‘macronutrient’ and will contribute calories to your total daily calorie
intake.
As we mentioned earlier, proteins and carbs will each contribute around four calories per
gram. Fats, on the other hand, will contribute nine calories per gram. Most foods will contain
some type of mixture of two or three of the nutrients, arriving at their total calorie value. For
the record’s sake, alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and has no nutritional value. This is one
reason cutting out alcohol while dieting is so wise. The calories from it add up quickly!
Each of these types of macronutrients is going to have a different role in the body and impact
how you feel in a different way.
Let’s look closer at what each one has to offer.
Protein
The very first macronutrient to discuss is dietary
protein. Protein is responsible for a wide number
of roles in the body, including but not limited to
creating the raw materials your cells are made up
out of, generating hormones, neurotransmitters,
and enzymes, as well as for building and repairing
muscle tissues especially.
Protein is absolutely essential for life and without
enough of it, you would rapidly begin to lose your
lean muscle tissue, grow weaker, and eventually
death would take place.
Each gram of protein you consume is made up of
a number of different amino acids that are bound
together. There are 28 different amino acids and
these act as the building blocks in which your cells
are formed from.
Of these amino acids, there are three particular
amino acids that are referred to as branched chain
amino acids, which are especially important for
muscular repair during and after exercise, as well as
for repair from any other form of physical stress.
Often you will hear people supplementing with
branched chain amino acids and this is the primary
reason why.
Protein in the diet is going to primarily come
from animal based foods as well as low fat dairy
products.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 26
This means the healthiest choices of lean protein include:
Lean beef
Eggs and egg whites
Venison
Low fat cottage cheese
Turkey
Greek yogurt
Chicken breast
Skim milk
Fish
Low fat hard cheese
Seafood
Whey protein powder
Protein is especially important to be consuming
when on a fat loss diet for a number of different
reasons. First, those who are getting enough
protein daily will find their hunger level is
considerably lower. Protein takes a longer
amount of time to break down and digest than
carbohydrates do, so higher protein diets tend to
keep you feeling satisfied longer than diets that are
lower in protein.
In addition to that, protein has a higher thermic
effect of food. This refers to how many calories
your body will burn simply breaking down the food
that you’re eating. Digesting protein rich foods
takes quite a high amount of work for the body, so
this increased energy expenditure will therefore
increase your total daily calorie burn, increasing the
deficit that you create.
While obviously you can’t eat a diet that’s strictly
protein only, adding more protein than normal is
one of the best ways to boost your daily calorie
burn. Even if you burn off an additional 100 calories
per day because of a higher protein consumption
(which is quite a reasonable figure to obtain), this
would mean an additional pound of fat lost each
month simply because of that food choice – no
other changes made.
In all reality though, due to the appetite
suppressing effects of protein, you may find that
you take in even fewer calories each day naturally
because you’re less hungry, so the effect could be
even more pronounced.
Another important reason why getting sufficient
protein will be important while you’re on a fat loss
diet is because protein is what will ensure that you
maintain as much lean muscle mass as possible. If
you aren’t eating enough protein in the diet, you’re
going to be at risk for using some of the protein that
you do eat as an energy source. When this occurs,
that means less protein is left over to maintain your
muscle tissues (and rebuild them after exercise
takes place), meaning you may lose lean muscle
mass.
The more lean muscle mass you lose while on a fat
loss diet, the slower your basal metabolic rate will
get and the harder further fat loss will be.
The recommended protein requirements are set at
0..66-1 gram per pound of body weight for nonactive and active individuals respectively, as stated
by United States Department of Agriculture.
Keep in mind with these figures that this represents
those who are eating calorie sufficient diets, not
calorie deficient diets. Since you’re consuming
fewer calories than you burn, protein should be
elevated slightly beyond this amount.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 27
Carbohydrate
The next main macronutrient that we come to is the
carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are essentially your
primary source of fuel. Carbohydrates break down
into glucose in the body and this glucose is what
provides an immediate source of energy for the
muscles, brain, and all other body cells.
Most body cells can also use fat as a fuel source,
however the break-down of fat into a usable form
of fuel does take slightly longer than with glucose,
making fat not a usable form of fuel during intense
physical activity. Note that the only exception to
this is medium chain triglycerides, which can be
utilized much quicker, more like carbohydrates as
an energy source.
Otherwise, when exercising at intense levels,
glucose is required.
Carbohydrates can be divided up into complex
carbohydrates or simple carbohydrates. Complex
carbohydrates are those that are going to take
longest to break down as they are made from long
chains of sugar molecules that are linked together.
This is in contrast to simple carbohydrates, in
which the glucose molecules are not bound
together and digest much more rapidly in the body,
releasing their energy almost instantly. Simple
carbohydrates will cause an increase in blood sugar
levels faster than complex carbs do, which release
over time. This type of carb is most often found in
highly processed foods and ‘sweet treats’ and are
also found in fruit and dairy products.
It should be noted with these last two however
that eating them won’t have quite the same impact
on your hunger level as eating a bag of candy
would. With fruit, you’ll also be taking in some
additional dietary fiber with the simple carbs,
so this decreases the speed in which they hit the
bloodstream.
With dairy products, the carbohydrate found here
will be milk sugar, but since protein will also be
found in dairy products, this helps to control the
release of those sugars into the blood.
Both of these foods can be a smart addition to your
diet plan.
Complex carbohydrates can further be subdivided
down into fibrous and non-fibrous sources. Fibrous
sources consist of most vegetables and are very
low in calories and carbs, and will have minimal
impact on your blood sugar levels. These sources of
carbohydrates are excellent for dieters who want to
control hunger and their calorie intake and should
make up the bulk of their diet plan.
Non-fibrous carbohydrates, which are sometimes
referred to as starch based carbohydrates are those
that are found in whole grains as well as potatoes.
These carbohydrates will contain far more calories
so moderating your intake is important to stay
within your target calorie intake for the day.
As these sources do break down more slowly in the
body but provide a higher amount of energy, they
are the sources that will be best for times around
physical activity. By adding them to your day at this
point, you’ll help sustain higher energy levels.
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Let’s give you a summary list so that you can see for
yourself how these carbohydrates are classed.
Fibrous
Carbohydrates
Starch
Complex
Carbohydrates
Simple
Carbohydrates
that provide
nourishment
Simple
Carbohydrates
that are low in
nutrition
Asparagus
Brown rice
Apples
Candy
Green beans
Oatmeal
Oranges
Soda
Cabbage
Buckwheat
Bananas
Cakes
Cauliflower
Millet
Peaches
cookies
Celery
Potatoes
Pears
Muffins
Carrots*
Yams
Berries
Chocolate
Cucumber
Sweet potatoes
Melons
Ice cream
Broccoli
Quinoa
Grapes
Fruit spread
Peppers
Barley
Pineapple
Onions
Multi-grain bread
Kiwi
Baked goods
prepared
Mushrooms
Rye
Nectarines
Spinach
Beans – lima, kidney,
brown, black
Guava
Bok Choy
Romaine lettuce
Zucchini
…etc.
Lentils
Chickpeas
Corn
Bran cereals
Milk
Greek yogurt
Plain yogurt
Cottage cheese
with white flour
Honey
Fruit juice
White bread
Sugary cereals
Cereal bars
Energy bars (most)
…etc.
*These do contain more simple sugars/starch than the other vegetable choices do so should be eaten in moderation
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Unlike proteins, carbohydrates are not an absolute
necessity to stay alive. While they do help provide
energy, if you were to completely eliminate all
carbohydrates, your body would begin to shift over
to using fat as a fuel source and the brain would
begin to utilize ketone bodies (as the brain can only
use glucose or ketones for fuel).
It’s important to remember thought that removing
all carbohydrates completely would never be a
wise move as the body does require vegetables
for important micronutrients and vegetables do
contribute carbohydrates (although it’s a very low
amount).
As such, there are no direct requirements set
for the amount of carbohydrates you need to
consume. Some people will do better adding more
carbohydrates to their diet plan while others will do
better adding fewer carbohydrates to their day.
As a general guideline, to avoid moving into a state
of ketosis (where the brain does switch over to
using ketones as fuel), you should aim for no less
than about 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.
This is the amount the brain will require to function
optimally on glucose.
Those who are more athletic and participating in
rigorous workout programs will want to add more
carbs to their daily diet to fuel this activity.
While you’ll see many standard recommendations
for carbs set to 50-60% of your total calorie intake,
this is quite high for most people who are looking to
lose weight.
Since carbohydrates do tend to increase hunger
levels, using a lower level typically proves to make
sticking with the diet easier.
This choice is completely yours, however. Low carb
diets do not automatically cause fat loss to happen
at an accelerated rate, which has been proven time
and time again by numerous research studies.
In fact, some studies even show that replacing
some of the fat in your diet with carbohydrates can
help increase total rates of fat loss.
The more important thing with regards to your
carbohydrate intake is that you simply make sure
that it is keeping you within your target calorie
intake for the day.
You’ll want to subtract the number of calories you’ll
be consuming due to your protein consumption
from your target calorie intake (remember that
protein contains four calories per gram) and then
the remaining calories will be subdivided between
carbohydrates and dietary fats.
We’ll be talking about dietary fat next so you’ll get
an insight into how much you need to be eating
here as well. The more dietary fat you include in
your diet, the fewer carbs you will eat and vice
versa.
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Dietary Fat
Speaking of dietary fat, this is the last
macronutrient to consider on your diet. Dietary
fat is the most calorie dense nutrient at 9 calories
per gram and is used primarily as a long-term
fuel source. Unlike carbohydrates, which are
used almost instantly for energy, fats can be used
over the long haul once the energy from any
carbohydrates you’ve eaten has been utilized.
Additionally, fats also break down very slowly in the
body as well, so adding them to your meals tends
to make that meal ‘stick to your ribs’ better than
meals without them. In other words, dietary fat will
help to ensure that you don’t get hungry an hour
after you consume your last meal. This can come
in very helpful for those who are on fat loss diet
plans since it’ll mean that you have an easier time
controlling your total calorie intake.
your cholesterol rather than whether or not you are
eating dietary fat period.
One of the important roles that dietary fat plays in
the body is transporting the vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Each of these nutrients is vital for good health and
without enough fat coming into your meal plan,
you’ll likely fall deficient and some of the negative
side effects that can occur are issues with blood
clotting, proper kidney health, bone growth and
repair, as well as maintaining adequate energy
levels.
Eat healthy varieties of fat (more on this in a
second) and you’ll actually work to reduce your
overall cholesterol level.
Dietary fat is important for maintaining proper
brain function, especially the omega fats which play
a key role in mental health.
So which fats should you be eating?
The dietary fats that you consume will also help
out with the production of various hormones in the
body, which regulate various cellular activities as
well as the reproduction process. Those who aren’t
taken in enough dietary fat may not be producing
optimal levels of testosterone or estrogen, the two
primary male and female sex hormones.
When you consume dietary fat in the diet you’ll
also cause the production of bile to be stimulated
and this bile is important for eliminating the waste
products that occur as the body breaks down red
blood cells.
For those that think that eating fat will cause an
increase in cholesterol, you need to keep in mind
that it’s more the type of fat you eat that influences
Finally, there are certain fats known as essential
fatty acids (omega fats) that the body cannot
produce on its’ own so you absolutely must take
these in through dietary or supplementary sources.
They are imperative for good health so also cannot
be overlooked if you hope to stay feeling well.
Dietary fat can be divided up into a few
different kinds. This includes saturated fat,
monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, omega
fatty acids, as well as trans fats.
Saturated fat is a fat variety that you generally
should avoid and is found in high fat animal
products such as meat, cheese, and dairy. It’s also
found in most baked and processed foods such as
biscuits, cakes, tarts, pastries, chocolate, cookies,
granola bars, and so on.
This form of fat will increase your bad cholesterol
levels and increase your risk of heart disease.
As a general recommendation, no more than
10% of your dietary fat intake should come from
saturated sources (reference) http://www.health.
gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/
chapter6.htm
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Some saturated fat is important however, especially
for males, as it will help with the synthesis of
the hormone testosterone, which is vital for
reproduction, muscle building, and a number of
other functions.
The next type of fat is monounsaturated fat. This
is a healthy variety of fat that should be included in
the diet and will help to support good health. This
fat will increase the level of good cholesterol you
have in the body (HDL) while helping to lower the
amount of triglycerides present.
You’ll be most likely to find monounsaturated fats
in canola oil, peanut oil, olive oil, avocados, nuts, as
well as seeds.
The polyunsaturated fats are the next variety that
you’ll want to consume if you want to promote
optimal health. Like the unsaturated fats, these
will also improve your overall cholesterol profile,
increasing the good cholesterol in the body
while decreasing the bad, lowering your risk of
developing heart disease.
These fats are found in some vegetable oils such
as safflower oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, peanut
oil, along with nuts and seeds (these foods will
contain a mixture of fats). One thing to keep in
mind however is that because these fats are a rich
source of omega-6 fatty acids, which can become
inflammatory when taken in with larger doses, keep
your intake of these oils moderated.
Ideally, you’ll want to consume a ratio of 1:1 to 1:3
of omega-6 fatty acids to the omega-3 fatty acids
mentioned next.
The omega fatty acids are the essential fats that
you simply cannot do without. These fats provide
a wide number of benefits to the body, including
such roles as decreasing your risk of depression,
lowering your chances of cancer, reducing
the threat of diabetes, improving your insulin
sensitivity, strengthening the immune system, and
reducing free radical damage.
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All in all, you cannot miss out on these fats. You
don’t need a high amount of them, but you do
definitely require them. The top sources of omega
fats include cold-water fish such as mackerel,
salmon, and herring, along with ground flaxseeds,
flaxseed oil, and walnuts.
If you aren’t eating these foods on a regular basis,
then you would want to look at using a fish oil
supplement to get your needs met.
Finally, the last type of fat to touch upon is
trans fat. Trans fat is fat that is created during a
manufacturing process and is used mostly to help
prolong the shelf life of many foods. This form of fat
is incredibly harmful for the body and needs to be
eliminated entirely if at all possible. The body has
zero need for trans fats in the diet.
The primary sources of trans fats to note include
margarine, snack foods like granola bars, cookies,
cakes, and muffins, along with some meat and dairy
products as well.
Always get into the habit of reading label
information and if you see trans fat listed, avoid
that food.
In terms of how much dietary fat you should be
eating, again, there are no clear cut requirements
that you absolutely must follow. It’s recommended
that you don’t consume any less than 15% of your
total calorie intake from fat sources otherwise you
may start to become deficient in some of the fat
soluble vitamins that the body needs to sustain
good health.
Since your total dietary fat intake must balance
out with your carbohydrate intake so that you are
still consuming an appropriate amount of calories,
that’s the more important thing to worry about.
You can either set your fat or your carbohydrate
intake after you’ve figured out how much protein
you’ll be eating and once both of those are in place,
the third macronutrient will be established for you.
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Fiber
While not a major macronutrient, another element
of the diet that is important to discuss is that of
fiber. Fiber is found in foods that contain complex
carbohydrates and comes in two different varieties,
soluble fiber and insoluble fiber.
Soluble fiber is the type of fiber that will dissolve in
water and that will form a gel-like substance that
slows down the rate of movement of food through
the digestive track, increasing the satiety you feel
from that meal. This form of fiber is very important
for hunger control and is most commonly found in
whole grains such as oats, brown rice, and barley,
along with in beans, apples, citrus fruits, as well as
psyllium husk powder.
Insoluble fiber on the other hand is the type of
fiber that doesn’t dissolve in the digestive track but
rather increases the total volume of stool and helps
with the elimination process. If you want to stay
regular, this is the type of fiber to be eating.
This form of fiber will also decrease the amount
of hunger you feel as it is quite filling as well and
is most commonly found in high-volume, lowcalorie foods. Such foods containing insoluble fiber
include most vegetables, wheat bran, and whole
wheat.
Getting a good balance of both types of fiber
throughout the day will be important for weight
control and overall health.
Some of the primary benefits from eating fiber
include more regular bowel movements and
elimination health, decreased blood cholesterol
levels, stable blood sugar levels, and it may also
help to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer.
The recommendations for your
fiber intake are set at about 3038 grams per day for males and
21-25 grams per day for females.
If you are currently eating a
lower fiber diet, it would be a
wise move to add more fiber to
your diet slowly so as to avoid
digestive upset.
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If you go adding 10 grams or
more per day to your fiber intake,
you’re likely to find you feel quite
bloated, your stomach may begin
to feel upset, and more often than
not, gas will be present.
Add 3-5 grams every few days
until you get up to your target
fiber intake. Also keep in mind
that fiber intake does not need
to vary depending on whether
you are active or not, so this is
one nutrient that will stay fairly
constant throughout the diet.
Those who are using lower calorie
intakes may naturally eat more
fiber in their day however as
they are simply consuming more
foods high in this nutrient. If you
eat a very vegetable based diet
you’re going to be taking in a high
amount of fiber without making
much effort to.
Finally, some people believe
that fiber will not contribute any
calories to the diet because it
passes right through the system,
but this isn’t the case. These
individuals will often get into the
habit of subtracting their fiber
intake from the total grams of
carbohydrates in the food they’re
eating and omitting those calories
from their diet.
Instead, each gram of fiber
should be counted as around two
calories rather than the four that
the typical gram of carbohydrate
provides. This will give a better
approximation of how many
calories you’re consuming from
the foods that you eat.
Finally note that too much dietary
fiber, especially in men, can lead
to lower testosterone production,
so you can get too much of a good
thing here. You want enough fiber,
but not too much.
know in the diet. It’s important
that you get a firm handle over
which foods supply each type of
nutrient, so if you feel like you’re
still slightly overwhelmed by it
all, it would be well worth your
time and effort to begin looking
through a food database (or
alternatively visiting your grocery
store and reading food labels) to
see which foods are highest in
which nutrient.
Again remember that most will
provide a combination of the
three nutrients however you’ll
typically find they are much higher
in one nutrient over the others.
So now that we’ve covered
macronutrients, let’s touch upon
micronutrients.
So this covers the main
macronutrients that you need to
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Micronutrients In Your Diet
While macronutrients are the main nutrients
that are going to supply you with energy, the
micronutrients are those that are found within each
of the macronutrients. These are referred to as
vitamins and minerals and are required for a wide
variety of different processes in the body.
Let’s look at the main ones that you should note
and where you will get your intake from. Note
that many people will turn to a multi-vitamin
and mineral supplement for support with these
micronutrients. This can be a very good idea for
assurance sake as it is hard to make sure that
you’re getting 100% of your intake for each and
every micronutrient, but note that you should never
let this cause you to believe that it means you don’t
need to focus on eating the right foods.
Regardless of whether you’re using a supplement
or not, you should still be making sure that you are
always taking in nutrient dense foods as often as
possible so that you can provide your body these
nutrients in food form.
When on a calorie reduced diet, since you aren’t
going to be taking in quite as many calories, adding
a multi-vitamin does tend to be a very good idea as
the risk of deficiency is going to be higher, so make
sure to give it some strong consideration.
Here are the micronutrients to be aware of.
Vitamin A
(also referred to as Beta Carotene)
Vitamin is going to help assist with
the maintenance of healthy skin as
well as support proper bone growth.
In addition to that, it also plays a key
role in keeping your eye sight optimal
and can help to reduce the risk of
night blindness.
You’ll find vitamin A in foods such as
whole eggs, oranges, cantaloupes,
carrots, and green vegetables.
Vitamin B1(Thiamine)
This B vitamin is important for
converting the carbohydrates that
you consume to energy and is also
going to support healthy nervous
system functioning. In addition to
that, it will also ensure that your
muscles and heart contract optimally
and improve the digestion process.
You can find this vitamin in pork,
legumes, bananas, fish, nuts and
seeds, potatoes, watermelon,
avocado, and whole grains.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Vitamin B2 plays an important role
in the growth and development of
the body, improving the rate of cell
regeneration as well as making sure
that you are able to utilize the energy
from carbohydrates effectively as
well.
This vitamin is also critical for
maintenance of the skin, hair, and
nails and will help improve the
healing process the body goes
through.
It’s found in eggs, fish, fortified
cereals, dairy products, kiwis,
avocados, broccoli, turnip greens,
asparagus, as well as spinach.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
Niacin is important for maintenance
of energy levels and is also important
for improving the nervous system
function as well as for supporting
a healthy digestive system. When
deficiencies occur, some of the
negative side effects can include
depression, diarrhea, dizziness,
fatigue, headaches, indigestion,
insomnia, low blood sugar levels, a
feeling of weakness in the body, as
well as inflammation.
You can get this vitamin from beef
liver, peanuts, chicken, tuna, salmon,
almonds, mushrooms, and lentils.
Vitamin B9 (Folate)
Folate is a very essential nutrient for
proper growth and development of
babies, so anyone who is pregnant
will need to be making sure they
take it in regularly. It’s also essential
for the production of red blood cells
and for keeping the nervous system
functioning optimally. Vitamin B9 will
help to keep the brain healthy.
You can find folate in dark green
vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, some
cereals, liver, orange juice, and wheat
germ.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is important for
producing healthy nerve cells and for
keeping your red blood count where it
should be. In addition to this, vitamin
B12 will also help to manufacture
DNA in the body, so is vital for cell
replication and may help contribute
to optimal energy levels.
You can find this vitamin in dairy
products, eggs, cereals, liver, beef, as
well as claims.
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Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a vitamin that most
people will easily take in provided
they eat enough fresh fruits and
vitamins. This vitamin is important
for maintaining the level of collagen
in the body and for helping to
enhance your immune system. Those
who fall deficient in vitamin C may
notice that they are slow to heal from
wounds, injuries, or the common
cold, so getting enough is essential
for optimum well-being.
This vitamin also offers antioxidant
support, so will help to protect the
body against free radical damage.
You can find it in citrus fruits,
grapefruits, lemons, berries, melons,
tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers,
as well as leafy green vegetables.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is sometimes referred to
as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ and will be
produced naturally in the body any
time you’re in daylight. This vitamin
is important for increasing your
ability to absorb the calcium that
you consume as well as for helping to
maintain strong bones.
You can get vitamin D from liver,
fatty fish, whole eggs, as well as from
fortified milk. Most people who are
going outside on a regular basis
will not have to worry about falling
deficient in this vitamin.
Vitamin E
Another vitamin that offers antioxidant
protection for your body from free
radicals is vitamin E. This vitamin is
important for warding off disease. It
is found in highest concentrations in
nuts and seeds, peanuts and peanut
butter, vegetable oil, wheat germ, as
well as whole grains.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K is the vitamin that will be
primarily responsible for making
sure that your blood clots properly.
Those who don’t get in enough from
their diet may find they bleed almost
uncontrollably even when a small cut
occurs, so eating enough will help
maintain your red blood cell count.
Vitamin K is found in broccoli,
Brussels sprouts, cabbage, leafy
green vegetables, as well as soybean
and olive oil.
Now let’s switch our focus and look at
the main minerals that you should be
consuming.
Calcium
Calcium is the main mineral that
is going to help promote strong
bones and will also be important
for assisting with the regulation of
the heart beat along with muscular
contractions. It’s also vital for
maintaining healthy nerves and
supports strong teeth.
You can find calcium in milk and
other dairy products, as well as
leafy greens, in the bones of canned
salmon, in sardines, almonds, and
broccoli.
It should also be noted that those
who consume more calcium in their
diet will also experience a greater rate
of fat loss from the abdominal region,
proving to make this a very important
nutrient to take in when you’re on a
fat loss diet plan.
Chromium
The next mineral that you should
consider adding to your diet is
chromium. Chromium will be
essential for regulation of the
metabolism as well as sugar in the
blood and is also going to influence
the insulin-blood sugar control
system. Many of those who do have
poor blood sugar control supplement
with additional chromium to help
improve the state of this condition.
This nutrient is found in beans, cheese,
whole grains, peas, as well as many
different animal protein sources.
Copper
Copper is the next mineral that will
be essential to include in your diet.
This mineral is going to assist with red
blood cell formation and can help to
improve your uptake of iron through
the diet, maintaining adequate
energy levels. This mineral also
improves your immune system health
and can help to promote healthy and
strong bones as well.
You can find copper in beans, raisings,
chocolate, nuts, meat, as well as shellfish.
Iodine
Iodine is a mineral that most people
will naturally have no problem getting
enough as it’s found in table salt.
This mineral is important for proper
thyroid gland function so it will help
assist with maintaining a strong
metabolic rate.
Iodine can be found in seafood,
seaweed, dairy products, as well as in
table salt as mentioned.
Iron
Iron is an essential mineral to support
proper energy levels as those who
fall short will often suffer from fatigue
throughout the day and will not be
able to sustain endurance activity
very well.
Women lose some iron each month
with their menstrual cycle, so it’s
important for them to be especially
careful that they are taking in enough.
Iron is going to assist with the
carriage of oxygen through the blood,
delivering it to all the tissues in the
body. This mineral is found in liver,
red meat, whole eggs, legumes, as
well as in many dark leafy vegetables
such as spinach.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an important mineral
that will assist with proper muscle
function and can also improve the
metabolic rate and the amount of
bone growth that you experience.
Those who do not take in enough
magnesium in their diet may find they
suffer from high levels of fat, poor
memory abilities, as well as have a
rapid heartbeat.
This mineral is going to be found
most predominantly in whole grains,
nuts, legumes, apricots, bananas, and
soy beans.
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Manganese
Manganese is the mineral that is vital
for keeping your bones healthy and
improving the rate of cell production
in the body. It’s also important for
maintaining blood clotting ability
along with vitamin K. You can find
Manganese in foods such as whole
grains, fruit, vegetables, whole eggs,
as well as in tea.
Molybdenum
This mineral is important for your
nerve function, so will essentially
help assist with the regulation of
movement and muscular contraction.
This nutrient is found in dark green
vegetables, peas, milk, beans, as well
as whole grains. Beans are especially
high in this mineral, so adding them
to your diet would be a very wise
move.
Potassium
Potassium is a mineral that is
going to be important for anyone
maintaining an active lifestyle as it
will help with muscular contraction.
In addition to that, it’s also important
for helping with nerve function and
with maintaining the right amount of
blood pressure in the body.
Potassium is found in highest
concentrations in fruits and
vegetables as well as beans and
potatoes.
Selenium
Selenium is a mineral that will
provide antioxidant support, reducing
the damage to cells in the body while
also assisting the thyroid gland to
help maintain a healthy metabolic
rate.
This mineral is found in brazil nuts,
tuna, eggs, whole grains, chicken,
shellfish, as well as regular fish.
Sodium
Sodium is another mineral that is
important for regulating the amount
of water in the body and will also
help to reduce the amount of fatigue
you experience and prevent muscle
cramps during exercise.
You can find this mineral in table salt
and dairy products.
Zinc
Finally, the last mineral that you
should be adding to your diet plan is
zinc. Zinc is going to be an integral
part of wound healing and can also
help to assist with proper smell
and taste. In males, zinc can also
help to maintain adequate levels
of testosterone, which will be very
important for your muscle building
efforts as well as your recovery ability.
Zinc is found in whole wheat
products, peanuts, poultry, eggs,
legumes, beef, as well as shellfish.
So there you have a closer look at all the minerals in the body. Together with the vitamins these make up the
micronutrients that you need to be taking in on a daily basis.
By ensuring that you get enough of them, you can do your part to promote optimal health and well-being.
This now sums up our section on the basic nutritional needs of the human body. If you take care to ensure
that you’re eating a mixed and varied diet, you shouldn’t have any problem taking in the right mix of
nutrients to support good health and feel your best at all times.
Now let’s move forward and speak more about the set-up of the ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ diet
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 38
Chapter 4:
Introduction To If it
Fits Your Macros
By now you should have a very good idea of what a calorie is along with the different nutrients
that are found in foods that provide these calories.
At this point, it’s time to lay the foundation for what IIFYM is about.
Simply put, IIFYM is designed to allow you to eat whatever you like provided you stick with
your target calorie intake and macronutrient requirements.
This means that if you want to serve chicken as your main source of protein – go for it.
If you would prefer to eat Greek yogurt, that’s fine as well.
Likewise, if you tend to enjoy the taste of whole wheat pasta over brown rice, so be it – both
choices are an acceptable part of IIFYM plan.
On IIFYM, no food is off limits. Even if you wanted to
indulge in a slice of chocolate cake at dinner, you
are allowed to do so – as long as it fits your macros.
The take-home message that we’re trying to give
you with IIFYM is that it doesn’t necessarily matter,
from a weight loss perspective, exactly where the
macronutrients and calories you eat come from as
long as they satisfy the requirements that your
body needs.
When it comes right down to it, speaking strictly in
terms of weight loss, your body doesn’t really know
the difference between 10 grams of carbs coming
from brown rice versus 10 grams of carbs coming
from candy.
Both will supply you with 40 calories and be broken
down into glucose for the cells to use. If you want
to lose weight, you simply need to stay within your
target calorie requirement and make sure that you
do provide the right amount of each protein, carb,
and fat nutrient in order for your body to function.
Do that and the food choices you choose to make
those calories up with won’t influence the rate of
weight loss taking place.
Now, this is going to likely clash with just about
everything that you’ve read about diets before. In
previous times, you’ve likely heard that you need
to eat ‘clean’ in order to see fat loss success Or that
you need to eat these 10 super foods to help speed
up your metabolism. Maybe you read that you have
to stay away from carbs, fat, dairy, sweets, or diet
soda in order to lose weight. What about, not eating
carbs before bed? Or eating only certain kinds of
carbs? Portion control, fast food? What about all of
these gimmicks?
Clean eating here referring to the fact that all the
foods you consume should be as natural as possible
and come straight from the ground or directly from
the animal (as is the case with lean protein or eggs).
Now I’m sitting here telling you that it doesn’t
matter?
You might think something just doesn’t add up.
So let me back track for a second. Keep in mind that
when I say it doesn’t matter, I’m strictly speaking in
terms of weight loss.
THE OFFICIAL RESOURCE FOR FLEXIBLE DIETING | 39
I’m not speaking in terms of health, hunger, blood
sugar regulation, disease prevention, and so on.
some of the problems that other diets had that
caused you to be unsuccessful?
For all of those elements, it does matter. It also
matters in terms of what type of weight you lose –
body fat or lean muscle mass.
What was the general concept behind many of
these problems?
You simply won’t be as healthy feasting on a diet
of cookies, chocolate, and chicken, as you would
feasting on a diet of sweet potatoes, oatmeal,
vegetables, fruit, nuts, and chicken.
The latter food choices simply provide more of
those micronutrients that we identified in the
previous chapter. Since those micronutrients
are important for your overall well-being, I would
encourage you to eat these most of the time, and
at a bare minimum, take a gender specific multi
vitamin to help fill in the gaps of your missing
micronutrients.
…But, don’t get hung up if you want to pig out.
IIFYM allows you to eat all the
foods you love, provided you
can fit them in to your macros.
Lack of adherence. Simply, the diet was either too
difficult to follow or you simply hated being on it so
you came off it rapidly.
IIFYM attempts to change that. As soon as you put
a food no the ‘off limits’ list, it’s going to be the
food that you obsess about.
For example, let’s say that I tell you cannot, under
no circumstances have ice cream on your diet. If
you eat that, you have failed and your diet is over.
Ice cream is the ultimate ‘bad’ food to avoid.
What’s your mind going to do?
It’s going to fixate on ice cream. You may (and I
make no joke about this) even start dreaming about
it. We always want what we can’t have and food is
no different.
IIFYM removes that ‘can’t
have’ list.
Likewise with hunger, foods that are wholesome
and contain more fiber will fill you up far better
than processed foods that contain no volume and
don’t provide much satiety at all.
Want ice cream?
When you provide complex carbohydrate choices
over simple carbohydrate choices, you will
maintain more stable blood sugar levels which will
help to keep your energy level constant all day long.
By allowing all foods back onto your diet plan,
you’re going to find that you stress less about being
on the diet and that you have a much easier time
sticking with it.
When you provide simple carbohydrates, you will
notice you feel a rapid energy spike followed by a
crash leaving you hungry, tired, irritable, and just
feeling overall very unwell.
Again, food choices do matter in terms of how you
feel. They simply don’t matter when it comes to
the weight loss that you experience, assuming, of
course, that you do make sure you eat sufficient
calories and protein.
So if food choices contribute to how you feel,
function, and your overall health state, why aren’t
we giving you guidelines on what you must eat?
The reason is because of adherence.
Remember how we discussed in the beginning
That’s fine – have it after dinner – just make sure
that you account for the calories, carbs, and fats
that it provides.
Ironically enough, you may find yourself naturally
making smarter and healthier food choices simply
because you aren’t obsessed over all the foods you
can’t have. You know you can have them if you
wanted, so they tend to lose their appeal.
The more you ingrain it in your mind that you
can’t eat something, the more you will focus on it.
Instead, by making it allowable, you shift your focus
and it’s not on your mind 24/7.
That is the secret behind this diet’s success.
Adherence is easy while on this plan. You won’t
experience any food cravings because if you do,
you’re allowed to give in immediately. Just work
them into your totals – it’s that easy!
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No diet will ever be as fun
and enjoyable as this one is.
Plus, IIFYM will work for
everyone. Each person is
unique in their food choices
and that is a big reason why
so many people fail on
other programs as well.
They hate the foods they’re
being told to eat so even if
the diet is designed well,
they despise being on it.
You are in the driver’s seat with IIFYM. You get to
pick and choose which foods you will and will not
eat within the nutritional guidelines that are set.
Therefore, you will never have to eat a meal that
you truly do not enjoy. How great is that?
I would recommend that you try and follow the
80/20 formula. What this means is that 80% of the
time, try and eat nutritious food choices. This will
keep you healthy and feeling well. 20% of the time,
have some fun. Enjoy yourself – food is meant to be
enjoyed so treat yourself to whatever you desire.
And if you have an off day where it’s more like
50/50, relax. Just make sure that the food choices
you’re eating are fitting your macros and calorie
requirements and it will make no difference on the
rate of fat loss you see (keep in mind however that
certain foods may be higher in sodium than others,
so you may temporarily see an increase in the
scale due to excess water weight, but this does not
represent true fat gain).
So to get started, let’s go over some
important IIFYM rules you have to know.
Rule #1:
Use a Digital Scale to
Measure Your Food
The very first rule to get in place is to use a digital food
scale to measure everything you eat in grams.
Rule #2:
Use An Online Food Journal
(or phone application if preferred)
We suggest that you weight all of your food raw, and log
it raw on your online food journal (see Rule #2).
Second, after you’ve weighed and measured out your
food, the next important thing that you must make sure
you’re doing is using an online food journal to list these
foods out.
Online food journals make things incredibly easy as they
will provide you the complete calorie and macronutrient
breakdown of what you’re eating.
This way, you can quickly assess how you’re doing with
regards to achieving your daily target values.
Some people prefer to weigh food cooked, and this is
fine, as long as you pick one method and stick with it.
Consistency is far more important that accuracy over
the long term.
Some good online food journals to consider are:
www.macrotracker.com
www.getmymacros.com
www.myfitnesspal.com
That being said, we suggest that you are as accurate as
possible so that you give yourself the best chances are
rapid fat loss.
Do this daily and make sure that by the end of the day,
the food you’ve eaten is meeting your target intake. If
you go under or over by any degree (which you should try
very hard to avoid), add or subtract these calories to your
next day’s total.
Most digital scales allow you to use grams or ounces.
Since grams area a smaller unit, grams will always be
more accurate.
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Rule #3:
Mentally Take Note Of How
Various Foods Make You Feel
The next rule to make note of and follow as you go
about IIFYM is to start paying closer attention to how the
various foods you’re eating make you feel throughout
the day.
This will allow you to better learn your own body and
how the different foods you eat react to it. Over time,
this will then help you figure out the best foods to fit
your macros that will have you feeling and looking great.
Rule #4:
Hit Your Fiber and Eat At
Least 5 Servings of
Vegetables Every Day
The one recommendation that we are going to make
with IIFYM over and above making sure that you meet
your macro requirements is that you hit your fiber goal.
To do this we suggest you eat at least 5 servings of
vegetables each day.
Vegetables are an absolute necessity with IIFYM due
to the high volume of micronutrients they provide.
You can eat your cake, cookies, and ice cream, but you
also must get your vegetables in. If you only manage
three servings some days, don’t stress – just do your
absolute best for five (or more) each day.
Rule #5:
Don’t Allow Guilt To
Enter The Picture
Guilt is something that we need to banish from the
picture on IIFYM plan. If you often find yourself feeling
guilty, this could cause you to either start cutting back
your calories dramatically (which is not what you want)
or cause you to lose all self-control and eat a box of
cookies rather than the two that fit your macros.
Rule #6:
Remember IIFYM Is Not
An Excuse To Pig Out
At the same time though, keep in mind that this plan is
not an excuse to pig out all day long on junk food. While
you can treat yourself when you’re craving a particular
food, keep in mind that health is still important.
We haven’t designed IIFYM to give you the free pass to
eat junk and lose weight. We’ve designed it to teach you
that you can enjoy your diet and still see the results that
you’re looking for.
Maintain some self-control with the food choices
that you’re making because this is what will help you
maintain your weight long term.
You don’t want to develop bad habits where you start
binging on junk food and if you rely too much on these in
your diet, this could eventually happen.
Rule #7:
Weight Yourself and Take Pics
Once per Week to Track
Progress
The seventh rule to remember about IIFYM is that you
should monitor your progress regularly. To do this we
suggest that you take full body pictures and weigh
yourself once per week.
Take the pics in the same spot, in the same light,
wearing the same swim suit, first thing in the morning
before you eat or drink anything.
The more consistent you can be, the better you will be
able to tell what kind of progress you are making.
Remember, the scale is a dirty liar!! While it can be a
useful tool, don't use it as your only means of gauging
your progress.
Also try on your favorite pair of jeans , and ask a friend
how you look.
The whole point of IIFYM is to learn to enjoy food
without guilt. As long as you enjoy it sensibly and in
moderation, there is absolutely no reason to feel guilty
after eating a food you crave.
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Rule #8:
The Only Time You Will
Change Your Macros is
When Fat Loss Stalls
Once you start IIFYM you will never have to recalculate
your macros. Well, at least not until your goals change.
Regardless of how much weight you have lost, if you are
still burning fat, and losing weight, CHANGE NOTHING!
After 10 full days of ZERO fat loss then, and only then
should you make an adjustment.
We have our clients drop 10-15 grams of carbs the first
time they stall, then 5-10 grams of fat the next time they
stall. The third time, we add 10 minutes of cardio, then
repete the cycle the next time fat loss stalls.
Changes to your macros should be small and
infrequent.
Rule #9:
Have an IIFYM Diet Buddy
or Support Group
Having a friend or group of that are equally devoted to
achieving their goals as you are to yours can be a surefire
way to help you succeed.
Obviously we cannot lose sight of how important our
goals are, and we cannot rely on others to do the work
for us, but having a coach, a training partner, a friend or
a group to help us stay strong a remind us of why we
started is just one small way to stay focused and on
track .
In some cases, friends fall off and can in fact hurt our
progress (if we let it), so it is up to you to select your
support system wisely. For some people, your spouse
might be the perfect diet buddy to keep you encouraged
and on target. For other people.. not so much.
In some cases something as simple as a Facebook group
can get us through the difficult stick points.
We highly encourage you to check out the official IIFYM
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/groups/iifym
Having a diet buddy is not mandatory, but it certainly
can help!
Rule #10:
Have Fun!
Finally, the last rule is to have fun. Remember, IIFYM is
meant to be fun. It’s meant to show you that diet
doesn’t have to be associated with torture or something
that you must endure.
You want to make this as enjoyable as a process as you
can. Try new recipes – try new foods – eat out – just
make sure it fits your macros and you’ll be fine.
If you follow these ten rules as you progress along with
the IIFYM diet plan, you will achieve success.
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CONCLUSION
This wraps up everything that you need to know to
get started with the IIFYM approach immediately. Always
remember that calories are the single most important
determinant of success. Eating the right macros help
ensure that you lose fat mass as opposed to lean muscle
mass and have the energy to get through your workout
session.
Then, your food choices establish how healthy you are,
how you feel on a day to day basis, and how easy it is to
stick with that diet plan.
Choose wisely as you design a diet that you enjoy and you
will never find yourself seeking out another diet plan again.
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The American journal of clinical nutrition 75.1 (2002): 11-20.
Baggio, Giovannella, et al. “Olive-oil-enriched diet: effect on serum lipoprotein levels and biliary cholesterol saturation.”
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