The IIFYM & Flexible Dieting Diet Plan That You Need

What is Flexible Dieting?

Flexible dieting means losing weight or gaining muscle mass by consuming the macronutrients your body needs per day without exceeding the body's needs for macros. This means a person can meet their weight loss or health goals if their macronutrient calculation for the body balances out.

IIFYM is not a traditional form of dieting but the simplest form of diet to follow. It doesn't implement food restrictions on you. Instead, it works on the food composition, such as what macronutrients, fibre and micronutrients should be there in the diet and in what proportion. It gives a practical solution to all those stuck with hard-to-follow diets.

In addition, you can also take fat burners with it to speed up the weight loss journey. They are highly effective and give positive results.

To begin this program, you must figure out the following things.

• You will need to calculate your macros. To meet your weight goals, it is necessary to determine how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat you need each day.
• You will have to meet your macros. Once you know your macros, you need to consume them by keeping in mind the daily requirements.

Once you figure out these two things, you will know in what proportion you can take the macronutrients. What makes this diet more flexible is that 80% of it is based on nutrient-dense, healthy and organic food, while 20% goes in your favour. You can add the 20% food of your choice to the diet.

Related Article: The Flexible Dieting: Lose Weight Without Feeling Deprived – DMoose

Calculating & Meeting Your Macros

As mentioned above, following this diet requires calculating and meeting your macros. Most people use online calculators to check their daily macro needs, but you can do it manually too.

Calculate Your Basal Metabolic Rate: It involves a bit of mathematics here. You have to use standardised equations to determine the energy requirements that the body uses at rest. These calculations are based on the individual's age, sex, weight and height. This is known as BMR or basal metabolic rate.

Here’s the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation for calculating BMR.

• Males: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age) + 5
• Females: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age) – 161

Multiply BMR With Activity Factor: Here, you will need to multiply BMR by an activity factor to increase your calorie intake according to your activity. This is known as total energy expenditure.

You can calculate your figure with one of the above equations and then multiply it by the number of activities you usually do.

• Sedentary (little or no exercise): x 1.2
• Lightly active (1–3 days per week): x 1.375
• Moderately active (6–7 days per week): x 1.55
• Very active (every day): x 1.725
• Extra active (twice or more per day, elite athletes): x 1.9

Adjust According to Weight Goals: Once you have done the calculation, and if your goal is to lose weight, reduce your calorie intake by 15-25% and if it is to gain weight, increase it by 5-15%.

So, if your daily calorie intake is 2000 calories, you will need to consume between 1500 to 1600 calories.

Know Your Macro Intake: Since macronutrients include fats, protein and carbs, you should determine their intake too. Your fat intake should be 0.25-0.4 grams per pound of body weight, and your protein intake should be 0.7-1.0 per pound—the least calories you have to take from is carbs.

If your main goal is to lose weight, you must reduce calories and increase your protein intake to protect your lean muscle mass during body fat loss.

Once you have done all the calculations for a flexible diet plan, it is time to track whether you meet your macro intake requirements or not. You can do that by following online applications or websites.

If not, you can buy a digital scale on which you can regularly weigh your food in grams for accurate calculations. Moreover, IIFYM is a diet based on more protein and fats and less intake of carbohydrates. Lastly, it tells you which food contains most of each macronutrient.

The table mentioned above guides you on several foods containing different macronutrients.

Benefits of Flexible Dieting

Following are the benefits of flexible dieting over other dieting methods.

It's Flexible & Easier to Follow

When you follow IIFYM, you can eat whatever you want, making it easy to follow. If you have to go out for dinner or lunch, you can calculate your daily nutrition needs and plan the meal for the day as required.

This flexibility in diet makes it easy for you to stick to it. Since there are no restrictions, any cooking style or cuisine can fit into this diet plan.

There Are No Restricted Foods

Following a flexible diet gives you a sense of freedom. You are not restricted to eating specific food items. Instead, you can eat whatever you want if they fit into macronutrients.

You only have to take them as much as the daily requirements are. Furthermore, this diet plan allows individuals to understand how to build sustainable, healthy meals based on their macros. Data suggests allowing all types of food into the diet makes it even more enjoyable.

Related Article: 15 Foods Every Serious Bodybuilder Should Include In Their Diet – DMoose

It Helps You Lose Weight

Several studies are conflicting on whether calculating your macros intake affects your weight.

According to a study, a higher protein intake in diets like IIFYM enhances metabolism and reduces weight. In another review, reduced intake of calories resulted in weight loss in the short term.

The great thing about this diet plan is that it can be used to gain, maintain, or lose weight. So no matter what your goal is IIFYM can fit your goals. Here is a review, that showed positive results from methods used when doing an IIFYM diet.

Diversity

With IIFYM, you have the option to have different food items each day, while with other diets you don't get this much flexibility. You have to follow the same routine every day. Having the same sort of breakfast or lunch every day makes you hate the diet.

But with flexible dieting, you can enjoy different food items once in a while, and you won't have to starve yourself of the food you like.

Conclusion

Flexible dieting is a better option for those who want to lose weight or gain muscle mass. It's not about self-control or following the restrictions for weight loss. IIFYM allows the dieter to eat all the macronutrients according to daily requirements and keep track of the intake. To put it in simpler words, you will never find this diet routine boring to follow because you won't have to eliminate food groups like other conventional diets, and still, you will obtain your fitness goals.

Reading List

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Ten Weight Loss Tips to Find Lasting Results | DMoose

Here are 15 Reasons Why Diets Fail During Weight Loss Journey – DMoose