If it fits your macros is a diet that has gained popularity over the course of the past decade. It rejects the notion that you have to cut out certain foods in order to reach your bodybuilding goals, instead favoring the counting of macronutrients and calorie intake. It operates on the principle of calories in calories out, stating that you need to eat more than you burn to gain weight and eat less than you burn to lose weight. The simplicity and reliability of this meal plan allows you to alter your body composition without restricting certain foods, which helps make it easier to stick to. Find out below how this flexible dieting strategy can help you to revolutionize your own diet plan.

Get it going

Calorie counting is the basis of this strategy, as well as the grounds for allowing diet flexibility. In order to effectively count your calories though, you must first figure out how many calories you burn. This can be done by first using a tdee (total daily energy expenditure) calculator. By plugging in your body weight, height, gender, age, and activity level, these calculators can estimate your average daily calorie requirements. From there, it’s as simple as adding 300-500 calories in order to build muscle or subtracting 500 calories to reduce body fat.

Macro time

After calories comes counting macros. Macro calculators are also great for giving you a spread of how many grams of protein, grams of carbs, and grams of fat you need for your goals. Getting enough protein is essential for building optimal lean muscle or maintaining muscle mass when aiming for fat loss. Carbohydrates are great for helping achieve performance fitness goals. Timing the majority of your carbs right before and after your workouts can help you get the most from your iifym diet. Finally, healthy fats come in to assist in hormone production and satiation to prevent cravings from taking over.

Don’t forget the micros

Despite any food being on the table while tracking macros, food choices are still relevant to iifym dieters. Macro diets are meant to give you freedom with focused direction. As such, a focus on food quality and healthy eating is highly encouraged. Ensuring that the majority of your diet consists in healthy foods will keep your micronutrients levels balanced and your energy consistent throughout the day. Keeping processed foods to a minimum and including sufficient veggies is always beneficial. Still at the end of the day, the most impactful measures are your total number of calories and the amount of protein.

Macro counting meta

Now before wrapping this up, it can be good to know how to best accomplish macro counting. The easiest way to consistently ensure you’re hitting your desired macro targets and calorie deficit/surplus is to use an app. Myfitnesspal has carved its place in the center of the macro based eating plan world, however there are countless different ones that each offer their own unique perks. As long as you are able to track your macro ratios, then you’ll be great. Even just a pad and paper can get the job done.