‘IIFYM’ 101 With Francis Williams

How To Lose The Love Handles While Still Consuming Your Favourite Foods

So we’ve all heard the phrase ‘If It Fits Your Macros or IIFYM’ and how it can help you build muscle, lose fat or simply maintain your physique while you enjoy a beer and pizza.

How can you do it without your hard earned gains going sour?

Simple! Download one of the pre-made nutrition plans from My PT hub and incorporate some of the principles below to make it better suit your client’s lifestyle.

IIFYM is a method of eating foods that aren’t optimal, alongside a balanced diet to hit your daily macronutrient target.  Although some people think it’s a green light to pig out on anything and everything accept healthy food.  

There are a few things you need to consider.

Your body needs a certain amount of macronutrients to function effectively and that includes burning fat and building muscle. Macronutrients are Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates. (Alcohol and fibre are also considered macronutrients).

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that are essential nutrients – they perform hundreds of different roles in the body.  They help strengthen bones, heal wounds, and boost & maintain your immune system. They also process food into energy and repair cells.

Fiber is a form of carbohydrate that does not get digested like the other macronutrient and is responsible for these processes among others;

  • It helps with digestion
  • Gives fuel for the healthful or “good” bacteria in our system
  • Reduces cancer risks and keeps things moving ‘regular’

Alcohol? Well, as we are well aware alcohol makes us incredibly good looking, feel happier (for a few hours at least) and become great dancers.
To keep it simple – Alcohol equates to 7 calories per gram, just below fat (9kcal) and just above carbs (4kcal), however, when it comes to logging this to your diet you can deduct this from either your carbs or fats depending on your current macronutrient requirements and what you see fit.

For fat loss, carbohydrates are often the go-to macronutrient alcohol is deducted from, this is because you will have a greater amount of carbs to play around with.

So what are the rules?

Now as long as you macronutrient, micronutrient, fibre and hydration requirements are met then there is room for some extras as long as It Fits Our Macros ‘IIFYM’.

That makes it possible to go to the pub with your mates, hit that nice restaurant with the or even have the odd piece of chocolate when you fancy it.  Nobody wants chicken, rice and broccoli 1000 times a day… It’s soul destroying (Not to mention your preference).

Include your favourite food item/meal once or twice a week and suddenly dieting isn’t so bad.

So how can it help you and your clients?

With the client nutrition logging function in My PT hub you & your clients have access to the largest data base of verified nutrition items in the world (bigger than myfitnesspal), so whether you plan to create your own IIFYM diet plan or one for your clients, you can be pretty sure you will have the best tools available to build a plan that delivers results.

Let’s talk ‘cheat’ meals
The whole ‘cheat meal’ approach is such a swear word amongst nutrition professionals and is widely over used.  The reasoning behind that is that it creates a negative association with food.  So let’s not consider any foods as ‘bad’ food.  Only non-optimal.  

At least that way you can avoid the guilt trip that you put yourself on after a sugar binge.  Don’t do it pal! A piece of chocolate cake or #cheekynandos is all good, as long as you factor it into your daily/weekly target 

The My PT hub barcode scanner links straight into the data base via the mobile app. A handy tool to have when you or your client forget to prep the day’s meals.

What about socializing?

No more sitting eating salad at the restaurant while your friends are enjoying steak and chips.  IIFYM works on calories as well as macronutrients so if you are within your calorie requirement for the day then pretty much everything is within limits. (Optimal food choices should always come first of course).

Like any diet approach, following it requires discipline and a bit of self-control. Yes, you can enjoy treats but if you get your macros from mars bars and doughnuts you may not be giving your body the essential nutrition it needs.
Using the MyPT hub app and nutrition database will make the process a whole lot easier.  The main principles to focus on can be made super simple, and anyone with general fitness goals will see measurable and quick results, without complicating things.

Francis Williams – The BodyFit Gym Buddy
https://thebodyfitgymbuddy.com/