Here we go again, you’re typing “how many calories are in a pizza slice?” and trying to ignore that nagging feeling of guilt bubbling inside you because it’s just so, very, difficult to stick to your diet!
Well, say goodbye to your dieting woes and hello to the Make It Fit Your Macros approach to flexible dieting!
This approach takes a unique spin on healthy eating, emphasizing hitting macronutrient goals while still allowing for some flexibility in your food choices. Think of it like a special type of puzzle – you have the ability to choose what pieces you use to fit together and create a healthy (and delicious!) picture.
So, grab a snack (yes, it’s allowed!), and let’s dive into the world of flexible dieting with the Make It Fit Your Macros approach.
What is Flexible Dieting?
Flexible dieting is an attitude – it’s a guide to having a better relationship with food so we can eventually integrate it into our lifestyle.
It’s an approach to eating that focuses on macronutrient goals while allowing flexibility in food choices. You get to eat any type of food in moderation as long as you hit your daily macronutrient targets. Flexible dieting is more about the overall approach to nutrition and less about a specific method for calculating those targets.
What is If It Fits Your Macros?
Flexible dieting and “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) are often used interchangeably to refer to the same approach to nutrition. But there is some difference between the two.
The IIFYM diet is a specific implementation of flexible dieting that involves calculating your daily macronutrient targets based on your individual body composition goals (lose weight, gain muscle, etc.) and then tracking your food intake to make sure you hit those targets, regardless of the foods you eat.
Flexible Dieting and the IIFYM Diet
IIFYM is more specific than the flexible diet framework. With IIFYM, you’re closely tracking your macronutrient intake and using it to guide your food choices. With flexible dieting, you have more freedom to choose the foods you want as long as they fit within your overall macronutrient goals.
Why is the IIFYM Diet Dangerous?
The IIFYM diet gained popularity in the fitness industry for its philosophy of unrestricted food options, making it a better choice for newbie health enthusiasts who don’t want to limit their food to repeated recipes as long as they get their target macros.
Other disadvantages of the IIFYM diet are:
It leads to unhealthy food choices.
While IIFYM allows for flexibility in food choices, some people may take this to an extreme and fill their daily macronutrient intake with junk food, such as sugary or fried foods, rather than nutrient-dense options.
It may be difficult to accurately track macros.
Tracking macros of foods with unclear nutritional information is challenging.
It may not promote a balanced diet.
IIFYM does not necessarily promote a balanced diet that includes high food quality. Some people may rely too heavily on protein bars or supplements, for example, rather than getting their nutrients from whole foods.
It may not be suitable for everyone.
For instance, people with certain medical conditions or food allergies may need to follow a more restrictive diet to manage their health than just what IIFYM provides. Additionally, some people may find that they simply prefer a more structured approach to dieting.
Note: Few scientific pieces of research have been conducted to study this dietary practice, and its effectiveness has yet to be established scientifically.
What is Make It Fit Your Macros Diet?
Now, the keyword here is Make It – if you can eat tasty food, hit your macros, and get the other nutrients you need, why won’t you?
At FitHackr, we want to satisfy your cravings with modified recipes and hit your macro goals.
We aim to dodge the negative outcomes of the IIFYM diet by promoting healthy food, counting macro targets correctly, and avoiding bad eating habits.
MIFYM offers a structure that’s easy to follow and only encourages nutritious foods, not whatever food intake, as long as it fits your macros because micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) are as important as macros.
MIFYM is a healthier, more sustainable approach to IIFYM.
Make It Fit Your Macros and Clean Eating
Clean eating encourages you to eat natural and healthy foods and limits your refined or processed foods intake. These can benefit you in managing weight, increasing energy, and improving overall health.
A combination of MIFYM and clean eating can perfectly fit any dietary framework like:
- Low Carb Diet
- Ketogenic Diet
- Low Fat Diet
- Moderate or High Protein Diet
- Vegetarian Diet
- Carnivore Diet
- Whole Foods Diet or Whole 30 Diet
- Paleo Diet
- Flexitarian Diet
- Weight Watchers Diet
- 5:2 Diet
- Sirtfood Diet
- Dukan Diet
- Nordic Diet
- Pescetarian Diet
Make It Fit Your Macros and Macro Counting
Macro Goals and Food Choices
When it comes to food choices, MIFYM doesn’t advocate eating whatever you want as long as it fits your macros. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of making nutritious food choices to help you meet your macro goals while satisfying your taste buds. For example, our high-protein soft pretzel recipe offers 25 grams of protein without sacrificing traditional flavors to help you reach your macros and have a delicious snack.
All you have to do is be mindful of what you eat and be smarter about your food options.
Head over to our “How To Track Macros” article and learn more about macros!
Foods To Eat
The key to having a healthy, balanced diet is choosing nutrient-packed foods with a great balance of your macro requirements. Here are some ideas:
- Lean proteins: chicken breast, turkey breast, white-fleshed fish, shrimp, powdered peanut butter, tofu, tempeh, low-fat dairy (plain Greek yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese), egg whites
- Healthy carbs: fruits, vegetables, unprocessed or minimally processed (berries, oranges), whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, whole-grain bread), sweet potatoes, oats, beans, and legumes
- Healthy fats: nuts and seeds (almonds, sunflower, chia seeds, and flax seeds), avocado, cheese, olive and coconut oil, fatty fish (sardines, herring, salmon)
Foods To Avoid
While this approach focuses on finding balance and flexibility in your diet, certain foods are generally less nutrient-dense and may be harder to fit into your macro goals. Here are some examples:
- Processed foods: cereals, candy, chips, cookies, baked goods, sugary drinks, savory snacks (crisps, pies)
- High-fat meats: bacon, sausage, fatty cuts of beef or pork
- High-fat dairy: full-fat cheese, ice cream, whole milk
- Refined carbohydrates: white bread, white rice, pasta made from refined flour
Note: The food above is generally fine, as long as they don’t eat up a major part of your diet.
Easy Ways to Make Nutrient-Dense Foods
There is a secret to still eating your food faves without sacrificing your nutrition intake. See the example alternative ingredients below to make macro-friendly and nutrient-packed recipes:
- Always add fruits and vegetables when possible. It can be some shredded carrots, pureed bananas, etc. to increase the nutrients in your recipe.
- Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for higher protein content and a tangy taste that blends well with an array of recipes.
- Use spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles for your next pasta dish. This will significantly reduce your carb intake while still giving you a similar texture and flavor.
- Anytime you bake, prefer low glycemic index sweeteners like monk fruit, stevia, allulose, or erythritol. Aside from having lower (or no) calories, they also prevent sugar spikes.
- Roast chickpeas or make kale chips instead of munching on potato chips. These options are higher in fiber and nutrients and can be seasoned to your liking.
Remember, the key to a successful Make It Fit Your Macros approach is finding a balance between macro goals and nutrient density. By making smart ingredient swaps like these, you can still enjoy delicious meals and snacks while staying on track with your goals.
Make It Fit Your Macros and Health Goals
Lose Weight
The way to lose weight is to be on a calorie deficit – you take in fewer calories than what your body requires. It can be done by either eating fewer calories, burning more by increasing your daily physical activity, or combining the two.
<Coming soon: What is a Calorie Deficit?>
Some may say macros don’t really matter when you’re losing weight and that you only need to count calories. This is true. However, keep in mind that most people who say they want to lose weight actually mean that they want to lose fat, not muscle. In this case, you’ll need to achieve your protein targets to maintain muscle.
You can achieve this with MIFYM as it can adapt and modify foods in your diet plan while still ensuring that you’re meeting your macro goals and consuming your body’s nutritional needs.
By tracking your macros accurately, as MIFYM urges, you’ll get the right amount of protein, carbs, and fats to support your weight loss goals. Protein is particularly crucial for weight loss because it keeps you feeling full for longer. When you don’t feel like eating, you reduce the likelihood of you reaching your cupboards and snacking on unhealthy junk foods.
Gain Weight
When gaining weight, consuming more calories than your body burns in a day is key. Opposite to losing weight, to gain weight one needs to increase their calorie intake, focusing on healthy fats and protein to support muscle growth.
MIFYM highlights counting macros and ensuring that you’re consuming enough protein and healthy fats to support your weight gain goals.
Build Muscles
Building muscles demands consuming enough protein to support muscle growth and repair, as well as enough carbohydrates to provide energy for workouts and adequate fat to support hormone production and overall health.
Aside from counting macros, MIFYM avoids restrictive diets, which are vital to helping you stay on track with your muscle-building goals without feeling deprived.
Make It Fit Your Macros and Sustainable Eating Habits
Pushing yourself to adhere to a new diet can be overwhelming. Here’s the deal: Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. It also doesn’t need to be perfect, so don’t stress yourself about getting the exacts of everything!
That’s why MIFYM encourages flexible diets and gradual changes. It focuses on guiding you in healthy eating choices for your long-term nutrition goals.
Below are some tips on integrating MIFYM into your daily diet towards building your healthy future.
How to Integrate Make It Fit Your Macros into Your Life
Prepare your own meals for your diet plans. But instead of following the recipes’ exact process, try modifying the ingredients. Look for components that don’t add value to your food and prepare healthier alternatives with more nutritional value.
Many tasty and healthy recipes are available here at FitHackr that you can follow or get ideas from. Some examples include soft pretzels, blueberry muffins, protein oats, chicken sandwiches, fried pickles, and more.
Here are more tips for sustainable eating habits:
Plan ahead
Planning your meals and snacks ahead of time helps you stay on track with your macro goals and avoid making unhealthy food choices when you’re hungry and pressed for time.
Focus on nutrient-dense foods
Choose foods with high nutrient contents like fiber, protein, vitamins, etc. to keep feeling sated and be overall healthy.
Incorporate a variety of foods
Eating a variety of foods helps you steer clear of getting bored with your meals. A great way to look forward to every meal is to use colorful ingredients or include texture in your foods.
Avoid processed foods
This is not a new tip – you know processed foods are not good for you because of the ungodly amounts of sodium, fat, and sugar most of them have. So, do your best to minimize your consumption of these products.
Listen to your body
Stay alert and know your hunger and satiety cues. Eat only when you’re hungry and know when to stop when you’re already full.
Practice moderation
Enjoying your favorite foods in moderation as long as they fit into your macro goals is okay. Try to find healthy alternatives to your favorite treats and indulge in them with self-restraint rather than completely cutting them out of your diet.
Make It Fit Your Macros: Benefits
Flexibility
MIFYM offers flexibility in your diet as long as you prefer healthier options to fit your macro goals. Flexibility is vital so you don’t feel deprived and you keep a healthy relationship with food.
Personalization
MIFYM is highly personalized, allowing you to determine your macro goals based on your individual needs and requirements. It’s a great tool to get to your goals effectively versus a one-size-fits-all approach.
Nutrient balance
By tracking your macros and getting your micros, you ensure you get all the nutrients your body needs to be at its best. This is vital to supporting your overall health and well-being.
Fitness goals
MIFYM is especially helpful for attaining your fitness goals, may it be weight loss, weight maintenance, and building muscle, as it tracks calories and adjusts your macros as you need them in your diet.
Accountability
You’ll have nowhere to hide when you track your macros and log in your food choices. This accountability is crucial so you know your goals are mostly dependent on your efforts.
Make It Fit Your Macros: Drawbacks (Compared to IIFYM Diet)
Less flexible food selection
MIFYM emphasizes overall nutrition and health more than just hitting your macro goals. While IIFYM may allow for more flexibility in food choices, it doesn’t necessarily prioritize the quality of the foods you eat or the overall nutrient density of your diet.
May require more planning and preparation
Since the MIFYM prioritizes getting the best nutrition, it may require more careful planning and tracking of your meals and snacks to ensure you meet those goals. True, it can be time-consuming at first, but it’s also an opportunity for you to be more aware of your nutritional needs and learn more about your foods.
Conclusion
Think of the Make It Fit Your Macros approach as having your cake and eating it too – just make sure it fits within your macros.
This approach allows you to enjoy the foods you love while working towards your health and fitness goals. And hey, it’s not just for bodybuilders and fitness models – anyone can benefit from simple tweaks to their favorite foods.
So, go ahead and indulge in that pizza, just use healthier alternative ingredients like whole wheat dough. With the Make It Fit Your Macros approach, you’ll be on your way to a sustainable and healthy lifestyle in no time!
FAQs
What is Make It Fit Your Macros?
Make It Fit Your Macros is an approach to flexible diet that modifies food recipes’ ingredients to match the required macros for your fitness goals. It capitalizes on making your food compatible with any diet while you enjoy the taste of your meals and get proper macros and other nutrients.
What is the difference between MIFYM and IIFYM?
The main difference between Make It Fit Your Macros (MIFYM) and If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is in their approach to food choices. While IIFYM is all about eating whatever you want as long as it fits your macros, MIFYM takes a more nuanced approach by modifying recipes to make them fit into your macros while still providing proper nutrition.
MIFYM also emphasizes the importance of making healthy choices and getting micronutrients rather than simply hitting your macro targets. By prioritizing nutrient-dense foods and making conscious choices about what you eat, MIFYM can help you achieve your health and fitness goals in a sustainable and enjoyable way.
Why should I use Make It Fit Your Macros in my diet?
Make It Fit Your Macros is a flexible dieting approach that allows you to enjoy the foods you love while still reaching your health goals. By focusing on hitting your macro and calorie goals, you can ensure you get the right balance of nutrients to fuel your body.
Unlike the “IIFYM” approach, Make It Fit Your Macros also emphasizes the importance of choosing nutritious foods to meet your macro goals rather than just eating anything that fits your macros. By following this approach, you can develop sustainable eating habits that work for your lifestyle and lead to long-term success in reaching your health goals.