IIFYM or Clean Eating - Why Not Both
IIFYM or Clean Eating - Why Not Both
IIFYM is short for “If It Fits Your Macro’s”. Firstly I will explain what a macro is for those of you who don’t know. Macro is a short for “Macronutrient”. There are 3 main macronutrients that we are going to talk about today:
Proteins - Proteins are important for repair and growth of tissues, building muscle, enzymes, hormones, amino acids and our immune system.
Carbohydrates - Carbs are the main source of energy for our bodies. The most simple form of carbohydrate is glucose, the only substance our brains use for energy. Our kidneys, heart and nervous system also use glucose to function properly.
Fats - fats are essential in our diet. Fats are important for protecting our organs, maintaining cell membranes, promoting growth and development and absorbing essential vitamins.
IIFYM is predominantly a fat loss or maintenance protocol whilst sticking to the amount of macro nutrition needs is purely a means to improve body composition. IIFYM does not address health concerns of the heart, brain or other organs and does not put an emphasis on so called ‘healthy eating’.
Regardless if you like to eat pizza, or boiled chicken breasts, IIFYM teaches us that if you eat less calories than your body requires (while getting adequate protein, carbs, fat and fibre based on your goals and the energy needs of your body) you will lose weight at a steady and predictable rate. IIFYM makes fat loss that easy.All you have to do is stay within your daily macros and the fat will start melting off!
This sounds brilliant doesn’t it?
Clean Eating is what it is. It is foods that are as natural as possible. Clean eating has more of an emphasis on health and restricts processed foods that you can eat on IIFYM. Clean eating includes the following:
• Chicken & turkey breast
• White fish (grilled)
• Steamed vegetables
• Brown rice
• Rice cakes
• Oats
• Protein Shakes
• Egg whites
This is great for health and will allow you to stay within your calorie requirements with ease. some people can follow clean eating week in week out whilst others really struggle.
There is usually a big divide between the “IIFYM” gang vs the “Clean Eating” crew. On one side you have IIFYM saying it doesn’t matter what you eat as long as your within your macros whilst the on the other side you have the clean eaters saying you must eat clean to get shredded. Both sides are right to to an extent however there is no reason why you can’t have the best of both worlds.
Why not follow a 90/10 or 80/20 rule where you eat clean 90 or 80% of the time followed by IIFYM for the rest. At the end of the day if you don’t go over your calorie consumption you won’t gain weight “Period”. This way not only are you getting the health benefits of clean eating but you will also have the freedom to have a treat.