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Funny name, serious results. IIFYM, short for "If It Fits Your Macros" is an eating plan where you can eat anything you want! Seriously. As long as it fits your dietary budget.
I call it an "eating plan" and not a "diet" because, if done right, IIFYM is the ultimate diet/lifestyle hybrid.
It's what happens if you take intuitive eating and blend it with a bit of accounting.
The Too Long, Didn't Read Summary:
This diet assumes all calories and macronutrients are equal.
You have to track your food and stay within your "budget".
This can mean taking time to count calories and percentages.
Monitoring and increasing your protein levels can lead to great results.
Tracking food doesn't change underlying habits - just raises awareness.
Too much freedom in a diet can lead to trouble.
The Diet
IIFYM is based on the theory that a calorie is a calorie - and that all carbs, fats, and proteins are the same. This eating plan suggests that all foods are created equal, as long as you're aware of what you're eating.
This means that, according to IIFYM, 500 calories is 500 calories. Whether it comes from a candy bar or a bowl of pasta. It doesn't account for nutrient density, unlike "Weight Watchers" points. IIFYM attempts to create a "budget" of calories and macronutrients (carbs, fats, protein) - where you can spend your budget on whatever you want. It's like having your tax accountant standing next to you at every purchase.
If you're allocated 2000 calories every day, you can eat whatever you want as long as you stay within your budget. But in addition to meeting your caloric budget, the M in IIFYM suggests that your budget also consist of a certain amount of marcronutrients. You shouldn't eat all of your calories from carbs and sugar. Just like your grandmother warned when she gave you $20 for your birthday - don't spend it all one place.
Your budget should consist of a balanced portfolio of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
The precise balance is unique for each individual - but for the sake of example we'll start with a baseline of 2000 calories, 50% carbs, 25% protein, and 25% fat. If you know how many calories are in carbs (4), fats (9), and protein (4), you can quickly estimate your daily macronutrient goals: 250g carbohydrates, 125g protein, 30g fat.
This is usually less carbohydrates than the average person eats, with a little less fat than usual, and more protein than usual. It's a good "starting" budget - and what I recommend for most complete beginners.
With these numbers, you can create a customized meal plan consisting of whatever you want, as long as you stay within your budget.
Based on these numbers, a typical start of the day might look like:
Breakfast - (Egg whites, fruit, yogurt) - 400 calories, 50g carbs, 25g protein, 6g fat
Snack - (Granola bar) - 150 calories, 25g carbs, 5g protein, 1g fat
Lunch - (Salad with lean meat) - 250 calories, 20g carbs, 40g protein, 5g fat
So by the end of the day we're left with a grand total of 1200 calories, 155g carbs, 75g protein, and 18g of fat REMAINING to be eaten. This is where you can get creative and eat anything you want with those remaining numbers.
Now is probably a good time to mention - this eating plan requires a bit of experience with tracking food and a knowledge of macronutrients.
It definitely looks like a lot of math and accounting - and it can be - but with practice and the right tools, it becomes second nature. Eventually many users get to the point of not counting calories at all because they start to passively know how much they're eating. It becomes almost an intuitive knowledge like an expert musician playing her instrument. You'll just know what is right and what isn't.
Does It Work?
The science is pretty solid on this diet - because if done right, you're following the only rule of weight loss. There's not a whole lot of gimmicks or tricks, just eat less calories than your body uses.
One of the benefits of following this eating plan is that you're significantly more aware of your food. If you're paying close attention, you'll start to recognize which foods have high levels of protein, which foods are low calories, and which foods will make you crave bad foods.
Let's take a look at what happens when you monitor your macronutrients.
Protein
Eating more protein has a ton of health benefits. Specifically, it keeps you fuller, longer. It takes a while for your body to breakdown the complicated bonds that hold protein molecules together - and it's not a preferred source of energy anyway. This means that your body would prefer to breakdown body fat as a fuel source rather than protein. More protein in your diet keeps you full and helps bring your overall calories down.
Fat
Fat has a ton of calories (9 calories per gram), more than twice that of carbohydrates and protein (4 calories per gram). Monitoring and limiting your fat intake has been shown to substantially decrease overall calories. That's not to say all fat is bad, but it's calorically expensive.
Carbs
There's nothing wrong with having good carbohydrates in your diet - but most IIFYM plans ask for more protein intake and less carbohydrates than a "standard" diet. This can help regulate blood sugar levels and improve your body's ability to handle insulin. Most IIFYM plans are NOT low-carb plans - you can read about those here - but eating less carbs and more protein usually leads to greater fat loss results.
Sugar
Sugar is a carbohydrate - and a particularly nasty one. High sugar levels have been shown to promote body fat storage, increase appetite and cravings for bad foods, and increase the overall calorie levels of foods (because it tastes good and sneaks into everything).
Following an IIFYM plan helps raise awareness of your sugar levels which almost ALWAYS helps reduce body fat.
The Cons
From a health standpoint, there aren't really any negatives. There's nothing in this eating plan that would harm most people or interact negatively with their health. In fact, most experts would agree this is one of the better eating plans for anyone to follow because it requires you to be more aware of what you're eating.
With that said, there are a few downsides:
1 - Calorie counting can be a part-time job.
For someone who has never followed a diet or eating plan before, this is a huge leap. Asking someone to start monitoring everything they eat consistently and accurately is a great path to frustration.
While I personally believe that calorie counting and food awareness is the ultimate way to lose fat, build muscle, and stay in shape, I fully realize that most people have jobs and a life.
My answer to this is to limit the scope of tracking - shrink the change - and only monitor calories and protein. If someone is trying to follow this eating method but is frustrated with the complexity, I'll give them a calorie ceiling and a protein goal. It keeps it much simpler.
2 - Unlimited options lead to bad choices.
One of the features and benefits of this eating plan is that "You can eat whatever you want!" And while many people find that appealing, others will have a hard time eating the right things without restriction.
We consider some foods "bad" because they're high in calories, offer little nutritional benefits, and create cravings for more "bad" foods. So if a diet allows unrestricted access to bad foods, it could lead some people down a path they cannot control.
This is why many diets succeed: Labeling certain foods as "off-limits" helps keep people on the right track even if it is emotionally frustrating. IIFYM allows any and all foods - but that comes with a price. With freedom of choice comes responsibility of choice.
If someone has trouble making good food choices to start with, asking them to suddenly track their calories won't change the underlying behavior. It might help for a short time, but bad habits always fight back and they may end up spiraling.
3 - It's difficult to hit your numbers "perfectly"
I'm never too concerned with perfection when it comes to IIFYM, but some people can get frustrated when attempting to hit their numbers exactly right. This can lead to bad habits or bad food choices in the undisciplined individual.
For example, if you have an extra 200 calories in your budget, but you're maxed out on carbs and fat, you're pretty limited on options. A good strategy would be to drink a small protein shake if needed and call it a day.
A bad strategy would be to eat 200 calories worth of ice-cream, which spirals into an additional 500 calories of ice cream.
Sometimes perfection is the enemy of good.
Conclusion
I'm a big fan of this eating plan and I follow it myself most of the time. But I have to acknowledge that I'm experienced in the skill of tracking and monitoring food intake. I also realize that for some people, it feels like calculus before every meal.
If you have good eating habits and a basic understanding of nutrition, this eating plan can yield great results, but it may be too advanced, or time consuming, for a beginner.
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