So recently I made a video on my YouTube channel regarding flexible dieting, and how people aren’t understanding it correctly, which can be found HERE. Some of you may not have heard of flexible dieting, and here is Lyle McDonald’s definition from his book ‘A Guide to Flexible Dieting’:
‘The basic idea of flexible dieting is that you aren’t expecting absolute perfection and strictness in your dieting behaviour. Rather, small (or even larger) lapses from your diet simply aren’t any big deal in the big scheme of things.’
Now flexible dieting and something called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) have merged into one, to bring out what I think is the best way to diet. Due to this convergence, let me re-define flexible dieting:
‘Flexible dieting is about having an understanding that everyone is different in terms of their dietary needs and requirements, depending on goal, activity & age amongst other things. It is inclusive of all foods and allows the individual to enjoy a wide varied diet, that is based around whole foods. The approach is prefaced on being stress free, allowing the individual to fit nutrition into their life.’
So what does this mean in practical terms? Using me as an example, I have a protein, carbohydrate and fat range that I aim to hit each day, not an individual number. I pick and choose the foods that allow me to land within that range based on preference, quality and availability. Typically ensuring that 80% of my choices are unprocessed whole foods, allowing me the flexibility to choose some discretionary items. I do not put any foods on a pedestal, I understand that the body just see’s nutrients and as long as I ensure I meet my micronutrient needs, all things being equal the impact on my body composition will be the same.
That means I can go out for meals with friends and family, enjoying the food with everyone else, but accounting for it. Furthermore, it allows me to travel and enjoy the food cultures that exist around the world. All this while heading towards my fitness, performance and aesthetic goals. I am accountable to what goes in my mouth, and I understand it’s impact and do not stress or worry about eating certain things.
What Flexible Dieting/IIFYM isn’t
Flexible dieting is not an excuse to fit as much ‘junk’ food within your macronutrient guidelines. It isn’t about the fact you can eat what you like and so long as the total macronutrients are the same your body will look the same.
What Flexible Dieting/IIFYM is
Inclusive
Social
Evidence Based
Enjoyable
Results based
Sustainable
The above bullet points are why I love flexible dieting, it allows me to smash my goals and live my life under my terms, not under some ridiculous rules based on nothing but hearsay. All my clients follow flexible dieting, and they love it too, join us 🙂
2 years ago I was eating less than 2000 calories a day, today I am eating 4250 calories daily. I am not fat, I have not taken any mystery supplement and I do not do masses of cardio. Here I am going to explain how I more than doubled my calorie intake and how you can apply the same principles to increase the amount you can eat too! Now who doesn’t want to eat more while staying in shape?
Metabolism = the sum of physical and chemical processes that occur in the cells of our bodies to produce energy
The steps I provide are playing on our metabolism, they will increase the energy used by our bodies. And by increasing the amount of energy we use, the more we can eat. I am not going to tell you to eat every 2 hours as it will stoke the metabolic fire, don’t worry, the steps I provide are evidence based.
First I need to tell you one very important rule:
‘Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only moved from one form to another’
This is the first law of thermodynamics and it means when you consume food the energy in that food must go somewhere, that might be movement, metabolic processes, growth or repair. If you expend more energy than you take in you will lose weight, if you do the opposite you will gain weight. It is a numbers game. Here I am telling you how you can increase your intake and not gain a shed load of fat. You are not defying this rule, it is the law, you are just manipulating things to work to your favour.
Step 1
Take Your Time: You’re going to hate me for this one, but you really need to take your time, if you rush things you are going to make things a lot harder for yourself. It’s like tetris, if you speed the game up the screen gets full of blocks a lot quicker, but if you slow it down and carefully fit your pieces into place you’ll get in a lot more blocks! Replace blocks with food and the screen with your body, and hey presto we have a system in place.
Step 2
Make Small Changes: This is very much like the first step, but it’s important so it requires it’s own place. When you decide to try and increase your calorie intake do not gorge down 1000calories more a day, be smart and increase by 25-50 calories every few weeks or so. At first this seems like nothing, but slowly adds up, I am a perfect example of that.
Step 3
Lift Heavy Weights: In my low calorie days I did a lot of circuit training and general cardio. I didn’t have the energy left to lift heavy weights. Doing weight training not only helps to initiate hypertrophy and increase lean mass but it is anaerobic and causes Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). With more lean tissue and EPOC your RMR will rise, which means when at rest you will be using more energy. Muscle burns roughly twice the amount of energy as fat, don’t get me wrong it’s not a load but if you follow the other steps it will help.
Step 4
Eat More Carbs: There are a few reasons I have said this, first carbs are tasty and have been seen to improve mood. However, more importantly carbohydrates are our bodies preferred fuel, they positively impact our energy levels and are needed for high intensity exercise. Without them our exercise just cannot be as intense, therefore by eating more carbs we will be able to increase our energy expenditure during our workouts. This is a total win win in my book! Furthermore, when compared to fat, carbohydrates need more energy to be digested, it’s not a lot but it adds up over time and as I said before, we are being patient with this process. Of 100 calories consumed 4-7% will be used in digestion when eating carbs vs. 3-4% per 100 calories of fat. Furthermore, if you increase your fibrous vegetable intake the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) will increase, as per 100 calories consumed of these 15-20% is used to digest them. Please note, I am not telling you to drop your other macronutrients, a balanced approach is needed, but most who are on restrictive diets seem fearful of carbs. The main factor here is the fact carbohydrates are our bodies best fuel, and with them we can be more active.
Step 5
Move More: This one might sound like a cop out, yeah of course if you move more and use more energy you’ll be able to eat more. Well hear me out, yes that is true but many do not take the opportunity to. I don’t mean adding treadmill sprints or further exercise, I mean when there are stairs or an escalator, you take the stairs. The little things like this add up, instead of going to the loo on your floor, go up stairs, walk to the shops instead of taking the car and stand up watching TV rather than sitting down. These make up your Non Exercise Physical Activity (NEPA) and it accounts for more than you might think. For example a cleaner would burn close to 120 calories an hour due to NEPA vs. an office worker who would burn half that, over the course of a working day this really adds up.
Using the above steps I went from 169lbs eating less than 2000 calories:
To 190lbs eating 4250 calories:
The Principle of Individuality Strikes Again
The amount you can increase your total calories by will be individual. Studies have shown that some people will take every opportunity possible to burn the extra energy consumed, while others activity won’t change. You may have heard this being called the ‘thrifty genotype’, these are the people who are going to survive a famine but when there isn’t a shortage of food, they’re more likely to gain weight. This is subconscious and largely defined by our genetics, it is our NEAT/NEPA energy burn and not formal exercise.
Why The Above Steps Work
Our bodies love homeostasis, it likes where it is and doesn’t want to change, and it will adapt to a calorie surplus or deficit accordingly. This means when we eat more our body will want to burn more and when we eat less our bodies will want to burn less. The end result is the body ramping its calorie expenditure up or down without any changes in body weight, as they balance one another out this is called ‘energy homeostasis’. All things being equal it is why you could follow steps one and two and keep going for a long time, slowly eating more and more.
It takes a fairly dramatic change in calorie intake to cause a change in our body weight. By doing the above steps extremely slowly you will get the most out of your current form, and if you want to increase lean mass like me then you can up the pace a little more (please see my Nutrition Application article for more).
Just incase you didn’t believe me, here is how I get in those calories:
Resources:
Levine JA, Eberhardt NL, Jensen MD. Role of Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Resistance to Fat Gain in Humans. Science. 1999 Jan 8;283 (5399):212-4.
Benton D, Donohoe RT. The effects of nutrients on mood. Public Health Nutr. 1999 Sep;2(3A):403-9.
Morton GJ et al. Central Nervouce System Control of Food Intake and Body Weight. Vol 443|21 September 2006|doi:10.1038/natur05026.
David A. Bender. Introduction to Nutrition and Metabolism. 2008
Below are the definitions of a fallacy and authority as per the Oxford English Dictionary. I think it is important to get an exact understanding of both words before delving into one of the most common fallacies seen in the fitness industry the ‘authority fallacy’.
Fallacy : ‘a mistaken belief’ or ‘a failure in reasoning which renders an argument invalid’
Authority: ‘the power or right to give orders and enforce obedience’
Authority Figures
The Guru: In the fitness industry there are a host of big names, with strong followings some might even call them cults. I will not name names, but these people are often called gurus, as if they know everything and can do no wrong. Their word is golden and no one dare’s to question it, they have the power to give orders and enforce obedience.
The Celebrity: Another example of an authority figure often seen is ‘the big guy in the gym’ or a celebrity figure who has got into shape. For example by only eating organic food they might have lost weight or gained muscle but this doesn’t mean its the reason they did. Yes they have been there, done that, got the t-shirt, but they are not you and never will be. You cannot apply what they did themselves and use it directly and be sure you will achieve the same results. This brings a great link to the principle of Individuality, which outlines that each person has different starting points, goals, objectives and genetics. When making a training or diet programme for someone I don’t give them mine, or anyone else’s, I am sure to personalise it to their individual goals and requirements.
The Qualified: That brings me to my final authority figure and that is someone who is qualified. Now you might be thinking ‘what the hell, who can I trust?’. People who are qualified get into problems when they give out information that is out of their scope of practice, for example a personal trainer telling you that not eating grains will prevent cancer. Also they cause issues when they do not keep up to date with the latest science, they give out personal experience and therefore become fallacious.
The ‘Authority Fallacy’
The authority fallacy occurs when someone rather than focussing on the merits of an argument, try and give their argument credence by attaching it to a person of authority. For example:
‘Well Tracy Anderson says by eliminating grains you can prevent cancer, do you think you know more than Tracy Anderson?’
Tracy Anderson is a personal trainer/celebrity figure, she is not a dietician or doctor and therefore she is not an authority on whether grains can prevent cancer. Look at the validity of the claim against the evidence and think for yourself to avoid falling into this.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Spiderman learnt that with his power he has a great responsibility attached, he can’t just go around web slinging and partying. He has the power to help human kind, by fighting crime! And that brings me to my closing points and that is my plea to those who are authority figures. You have power, people listen to you and therefore you are responsible for not only your actions but also in part theirs. I ask that you don’t tell people what you think is true and relay it as fact, prevent them falling into a fallacy and help yourself by becoming evidence based. Sure you can have your own opinions but make sure everyone else knows they are just opinions.
So next time you see yourself quoting one of your favourite people to help enforce your argument stop, and look up what they said. Discover for yourself whether it is backed up by science or whether it’s just some mumbo jumbo they plucked from thin air.
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