t’s very common seeing body builders or really lean people posting a photo eating a hamburger or eating chocolate everyday and still keeping their six packs.
Remember on my other post about loosing weight x loosing fat? That in order to someone loose weight he needs to consume less calories than he burned for a period of time until he achieves his desirable weight , right? Now flexible dieting is based on that line of thinking in a way that once you have your MACROS set to achieve your desirable goal and know your TDEE you can eat anything you want.
Julia, what are Macros, IIFYM and TDEE?? Macros are your macronutrients (Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat) , IIFYM stands for “If It fit your macros” and TDEE is (total daily energy expenditure) .
The TDEE can be calculated using one zillion tools you can find online inserting your details, once you have that number you just need to calculate if you want maintain, loose or gain weight and adjust your calories.
Once you have your calories figured out, you set your macros according to your goal as I mentioned above, ideally a nutritionist would know how to adjust your macros according to what you want. This type of diet requires a lot of nutrition knowledge, you need to know what food is composed and insert this in your daily food log, fitness pal is a great app! I like to use this type of dieting because it is a lot easier to keep your goals on track and at the same time you can enjoy a few sweets here and there and even a beer or a glass of wine. Julia you said that to loose fat you need to stay away from sweets and alcohol.

That is correct! This type of diet leaves room for adjustments , let’s say you can consume 1900 calories in your day, 25% of these calories comes from fat another 25% from protein e the other 50% from carbohydrates. In this scenario you could leave 10-15% of your calories to consume “bad foods” such as a bar of chocolate or a scoop of ice cream IF in your daily intake you still have “room” for fat and carbohydrates (ice cream is mostly carbs and fat) . In a 1900 kcal scenario that would mean 190-230kcal which is equivalent of a bar of snickers. However the problem about this is that if you use more calories coming from bad food to achieve your macros, you ended up not getting enough micro nutrients (such as vitamins and minerals) and probably wont reach your daily fiber goal as well because you wouldn’t be consuming enough fruits and vegetables. You might still maintain your body weight or even loose weight but not in a healthy way, consuming foods that are not nutrient dense. That’s why you see people consuming loads of junk foods and still maintaining a lean body but how healthy is this?
It is important to know that having a balance is essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle and not deprive yourself from foods you enjoy. Don’t believe in everything you read or see on social media. 90% of the people that put a picture with a 6 pack doesn’t have that 6 pack 24 hours of the day, your body bloats, sometimes you have more water retention and as everybody knows your stomach looks 10x better when you wake up rather than when go to sleep.