Flexible Dieting and IIFYM

Flexible Dieting and IIFYM

Pretty much 2 in the same thing – an approach to dieting.

Hearing either term can immediately conjur up images of bowls full of cereal, chocolate chips and covered in hot fudge sauce. An instagram feed full of poptarts & ice cream. Not to forget the bowls of oatmeal laden with reeses peanut butter cups, chocolate buttons, nut butters and chocolate syrup.

And that’s it. Case closed. Eat like that and get show ready. Right?

Hmmmm, not quite.

This is typically the action of a noob’s first couple of weeks to IIFYM after following strict “clean eating”. They’re excited at the concept of being “allowed” to eat what is typically considered junk food. So excited in fact they can’t stop shoving it in people’s faces, posting about it on social media, and taking every opportunity they get to eat these “junk” foods.

However any seasoned flexible dieter, bodybuilder, or physique competitor will have a much more grounded and sensible approach.

My Story

I’ve been training pretty solid since I was a teenager, and im now 24. I suppose I got serious about my training when I was 18. I was the the “clean eater”. My meals only ever consisted of plain oatmeal & scrambled eggs. Rice & chicken. Protein shakes, cottage cheese and a spoon of peanut butter before bed.

I thought i was doing everything right. My friends told me how much bigger I looked.. they only ever saw me in t-shirts & hoodies. My lifts were all going up, and I was “bulking” so the heavier the was, the better, right? Guess what? I was fat. It wasn’t until I started competing in bodybuilding and doing my whole Shreddybrek gig that I realised how much fat I was carrying.

Changing Clean Eating to Flexible Dieting

Since 2013 i’ve been competing as a bodybuilder and im now in my 3rd year of competing. Im carrying more muscle, and have been in the leanest condition i’ve ever been, by being more flexible with my diet. I’ve used flexible dieting whilst prepping for every show ive competed in.

In this article I want to share with you what I believe proper flexible dieting is. The right attitude to have towards it. How to use flexible dieting to ensure you achieve the best physique you can. Oh, and it will all be based on my own experiences of using flexible dieting throughout contest prep.

What Flexible Dieting Isn’t

Contrary to what your instagram might lead you to believe, flexible dieting isn’t just about eating junk food. You know what I mean, pop tarts, candy bars, overly processed foods, fried foods and the like.

I believe this notion has been blown out of propotion for the following reason; everyone expects someone with a great physique to eat whole foods such as chicken, turkey, fish, rice, oatmeal and potato’s.

Seeing a physique athlete post a picture of their post workout protein & carb shake isn’t out of the ordinary. Looking at a picture of a bowl of plain oatmeal and scrambled eggs doesn’t make you excited about breakfast. A Tupperware box of chicken breast and broccoli is hardly food porn.

What excites people on social media is seeing super-ripped athletes posting pictures of foods that will shock people.

Candy, sweets, pretty much anything you wouldn’t find in a typical bodybuilding diet printed out of Flex magazine.

What I Believe Flexible Dieting Is

In my opinion, flexible dieting is the following:

An approach to dieting that understands the importance of macronutrients.
Meals are then structured around hitting these numbers with mostly whole foods that would be typically considered healthy (think of your typical bodybuilding types of food. Lean meats, eggs, rice, potato’s, oatmeal, whole wheat bread, whole grain cereal).
Rather than labelling specific foods as being “good and bad” or “not allowed”, anything is on the menu – providing it fits into your macros.

A physique competitor or bodybuilder will not be looking to fill their carb allowance up with cookies and cakes every day, however if they have an urge, craving or desire to eat some dessert, then they will make a sensible decision to allow room in their macros to include it into their diet to satisfy their taste buds, without sacrificing satiety and eating micro nutrients from other foods.

My Approach To Flexible Dieting During Contest Prep

Step 1 – Establish Macros

This will vary for everyone. I personally track macro’s year round, so when it comes time to diet for a show, I know how much im currently eating, so can drop accordingly.

If you’re new to tracking macros, then i’d recommend you use the IIFYM calculator. This will give you a solid starting point and ball park figure to get you started.

I’ll use the example of a previous contest I prepared for.

My macros to lose fat were:

350g carbs

220g protein

40f fat

Step 2 – Take Your Schedule Into Account

It’s no good looking to split your macros between 6 meals if you only get chance to eat every 5 hours. You’re setting yourself up for failure form the start. The number of times you eat per day is not nearly as important as how much you’re eating to lose fat, so don’t worry. If you work outside, or have a job that only allows you to eat every 4-5 hours, then take that into consideration. You may have a schedule that allows you to eat whenever you like. Im lucky and fall into the latter.

I personally like to eat around every 2.5-3 hours. Some day’s im super hungry and will eat maybe every 2 hours. Other day’s im not as hungry and will go 4-4.5 hours before i eat. As a rule of thumb though, I find that 2.5-3hours is what works for me. So that’s what I do.

Based on this i’ll schedule and plan my meal timings in advance, and get a structure for the work week. If you’re always running round like a blue-arsed fly and on the go, then chances are you’re not going to be able to warm up a meal, sit down and eat from a Tupperware box. Chances are however you’ve got enough time to drink a shake.

Step 2.1 – Supplements For Convenience

This is where protein supplements, meal replacements and all in one shakes come in handy.

You need to air on the side of caution and not be taken in by all the false advertising and marketing promises however. Rarely should supplements be considered “essential”. Sure, some supplements will improve your results in ways that you cant compensate for with diet. However these are very far and in between.

Supplements, such as protein powders and meal replacements should be thought of as nothing more than food sources. They’re not magical, they’re not special, just think of them as a convenient way to help hit your macros.

When i was younger Rich Piana was endorsing Mutant Mass. As a young buck, naive and not having much common sense, I thought damn, Rich Piana is huge and he drinks Mutant Mass. That’s the weight gainer I need to pack on some serious muscle. As I mention in my mutant mass review, I gained 14lbs of body weight in just 10 days using Mutant Mass. Over 1000 calories per serving, I thought that this weight gainer would be exactly what i needed to pack on some serious mass.

14 lbs in days is a fair amount of weight gain. Guess how much of it was muscle...

Seriously guess. Because your guess would be as good as mine. It wasn’t very much. Fit your protein shakes or meal replacement shakes into your schedule. Use them to make your life easier, and make hitting your required macros more convenient. Having this structure makes meal prepping and adhering to your diet so much easier.

Step 3 – Meal Prep

During the week I have pretty much the same schedule Monday-Friday. I’ll eat 4 meals before I workout. I’ll have a shake consisting of a protein powder and sometimes a carb supplement post workout. I’ll then have a meal when I get home in the evening. As such I’ll prep 4 of my meals the day before, as this is what I eat when im at work.

How you go about meal prepping is up to you. I personally do 1 day in advance, but you might want to do 2 or 3.

I personally cook enough rice to make 3 meals. I enjoy eating rice, its a good carbohydrate source, easy to cook & prepare in bulk, and can be reheated at work in the microwave.

Where my diet gets flexible is with the protein sources I use in my meals. Some days i’ll have 3 meals of turkey breast or chicken breast. Other days i’ll alternate between a fish, chicken and turkey meal. Some days i’ll have a protein shake and rice. It really depends. As long as you’re hitting your necessary protein, then it doesn’t matter.

Breakfast is pretty flexible for me to. I don’t have a huge range of variation, but there is enough variety for me to not get bored.

For protein, I always opt for eggs or a protein shake. The great thing about protein supplements is that they take no prepping, other than pouring the powder into a shaker cup, and they offer a huge range of variety in regards to flavours. They also satisfy my sweet tooth.

For carbs i’ll pick oatmeal, a cereal or baby rice. That’s right.. baby rice. Don’t judge me. Seriously it taste so damn nice! It’s like a creamy, smooth rice pudding. I’ll add some kind of sweetener, maybe some cinnamon to it, et voila.

When it comes to cereal I could go for reeses puffs or lucky charms, but if I did, i’d be so hungry all morning. I make the choice to opt for something like corn flakes, rice crispies, bran flakes. I love the taste of all of these cereal, but the best part is, they are filling and offer a high volume for the carb content. Im not saying you shouldn’t eat lucky charms, im just saying I don’t, as it wont fill me. Something like lucky charms i’d reserve for a higher carb day, and have it on top of my regular meals. Flexible & Sensible.

My evening meal I rarely prep in advance, as this is where I can be a lot more flexible. Rather than restricting myself to having to eat something on an evening, when I may not had the appetite for what i’ve prepared, I leave it open till I get home.

This gives me a little more freedom and variety to have whatever I fancy at the time.

Step 4 – Food Choices

Just because you can eat pop-tarts and ice cream doesn’t mean you have to. I see & hear so many people in the gym, and on social media purposely going out of their way to include “junk” into their diet. Not so much because they love the taste of it, just because they can.

This seems a bit silly to me.

I personally opt for what would be considered healthy “whole-foods”, the likes of which i’ve already mentioned in this article. Providing that I like them. You wont ever catch me eating tuna, because I hate the stuff. Smoked cod and haddock however.... amazing! Cous Cous and, sprouts and salad? No way! Rice & broccoli and grean beans? Fill my plate!

Every food that I eat, I do so because I enjoy the taste of it. There is absolutely no reason to be eating foods you don’t enjoy. If you don’t enjoy eating rice, have something instead. Potato, pasta, cous cous.

When it comes to the hardcore “IIFYM” foods – the stereotypical “cheat foods” I use these wisely. If im carb cycling, and on low carbs I won’t even consider trying to fit sugary processed cereal into my diet. If im on a high carb day however, and I have a craving for it, you can bet im eating it.

Step 5 – IIFYM Still Requires Restraint

Im a huge peanut butter addict. It extends to almond butters, cashew butters, along with spreads in general. Peanut butter is by no means “not allowed”, its a great source of healthy fat, and is a staple among many healthy diets.

However its remember to important what IIFYM stands for. If It Fits Your Macros. That means I can have peanut butter, providing it fits my macros. Standing with a spoon in 1 hand, and tub in the other, scooping up spoon after spoon completely defeats the purpose of flexible dieting. Same goes for protein shakes and protein snacks. We all need protein to build and repair muscle, check out this article from Bret Contreras for a good explanation on how much you need.

Protein shakes & high protein snacks such as protein nut butters, protein bars, protein cookies and the like offer a quick and easy way to help increase protein intake but that doens’t mean you can treat them as “free food”. Eating too much of even “healthy foods” will lead to you going whey over (pun intended) your macros.

Just remember that you can have anything you want, providing you have the self control and attitude to portion it out in advance. Don’t treat anything as a binge.

Step 6 – Be Wary Of Trigger Foods

The whole idea of flexible dieting is to ensure that you’re able to hit your fitness goals in a healthy, sustainable and long term way. You should be able to enjoy any foods you like, in moderation and still make gains and progress.

A trigger food is something that if you have just 1 bite of, will trigger a binge eating session. This may be a specific type of chocolate biscuit. You might not be able to control yourself with just 1, you might need to eat 3 or 4 to satisfy yourself. However it could be more extreme, and make you want to eat the full pack, then move onto another type of food, then another, until you’ve blasted through a few thousand calories in the space of minutes.

Not everyone has them, and the goal of flexible dieting is to ensure that nothing you eat makes you want to binge. You should be able to eat anything you want, providing it fits into your macros, and control urges and cravings.

For those that do have them however, I’d personally recommend you avoid them all together. You might be able to control yourself with a standard peanut butter, or generic pack of biscuits or chocolate bar. However a specific brand or flavour might make you want to eat the full tub or pack.

Be sensible.

Finally – Be Consistent

Flexible dieting isn’t a fad diet. Heck it’s not even a “diet” per-se. It’s an attitude and approach towards food.

As soon as you believe you can’t have a certain type of food, or aren’t allowed something, your craving for it is going to increase so much. If you resist temptation for weeks on end, letting this craving build and build, when you finally do eat it, you’re going to binge, and set your fat loss diet back by a few days.

I use flexible dieting year round. During a cut you have to be smarter about the decisions you make. You’re going to want to feel full, satisfied and energised for workouts. However that doesn’t mean you have to play Santa Clause with your food choices and have a naughty and nice list.

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