30 Days of Research

Hello there!

It’s Thursday and I’m currently on DAY 4 of my little blog experiment.

So what am I talking about?

Well as you guys know, my idea of a healthy lifestyle is clean eating. It may not be realistic for everyone, but I feel the best about my body and I get the best results when I eat almost 100% clean. On bikini prep I did a clean diet and it worked like a charm.

If you go on instagram, facebook, twitter, or any social media site, you are flooded by people doing the diet “IIFYM”, “If it Fits Your Macros”, or as some call it “Flexible Dieting”. You’ll see people eating things that aren’t clean and claiming “Because it fits”.

IMG_9714.PNG

I did a little research looking up the hashtags #IIFYM and #flexibledieting and was pretty horrified with the results.

IMG_9706.PNG IMG_9705.PNG

So to give you a little refresher course—-

IIFYM breaks down grams of carbs, fats, and proteins that are allowed within your calorie count. The idea is to have set numbers, and basically you can eat any food as long as “it fits” within those macronutrients for the day.

IMG_9712.PNG

Now before I state my opinions (because I will be honest) I need to say these are MY OPINIONS. I’m not saying this is right, wrong, or the only way to go. It’s just what I believe. People come to my blog to read what I have to say. So here is what I have to say.

  1. I’m not a fan of IIFYM
  2. I’m not a fan because people abuse the system
  3. For instance 300 calories of chicken and vegetables is not the same as 300 calories of poptarts
  4. I realize it doesn’t work on just calories, but again you can’t look at good carbs like sweet potatoes and compare it to a carb like “low fat chipsahoy” that has a list of processed ingredients. It’s not the same.
  5. I’m not sure people that compete and follow this diet are really telling the truth. How can you possibly lose weight eating processed foods and refined sugars? Look at any Olympian athelete, they follow a clean strict diet for prep.
  6. Isn’t this healthy lifestyle about BEING HEALTHY? Since when are oreos and poptarts healthy just because they fit in your calorie count?
  7. I have no portion control, therefore I never wanted to try this. I can’t eat one oreo and be satisfied.

And speaking of portion control… when I told my mom about this experiment she said “Macros? I call that PORTION CONTROL”. It’s true. This isn’t rocket science or some exciting new diet. Just a new name I guess that took off…

Here’s where I get a little more honest. I’ve been bashed on IIFYM fan pages and websites. I mean REALLY BASHED, by thousands. Yes, it hurt my feelings a ton (hey I’m human), but then I realized who cares what those people think of me. I do understand not all people that follow flexible dieting eat processed foods all day. It’s more about balance. For instance they eat similar things as I do: chicken, fish, veggies, but then squeeze in a few potato chips or frozen yogurt through out the day.

So since I’m on the off season of my prep, I got the CRAZY IDEA to try IIFYM. 30 days. Eating foods I like and foods I am craving, but staying within my macronutrient numbers.

How did I find my macros? Well I used this calculator.

I also weighed myself the morning before I began this “experiment” so I would have a starting point. Right now I’m at 128.6 lbs (my weight went up since off prep, but it doesn’t bother me one bit).

Of note, my workouts will not change (in fact I’m doing less cardio). I plan on lifting as I normally do and doing 30-40 minutes of cardio 6 times per week.

I was actually VERY excited to start believe it or not. When it came time to meal prep for the week… I failed miserably.

IMG_9663.JPG

It’s all clean…

Okay so I don’t know how to prep “dirty”. The only thing in my meals for the day that wasn’t clean was the sriracha sauce and hummus I packed. But when I got home from the gym I played around a bit more!

IMG_9689.JPG

This is a Cheeseburger Salad! Recipe HERE!

At night time:

IMG_9695.JPG

This is 7 oz of plain greek yogurt, half a scoop of peanut butter marshmallow whey, 2 T of tru whip, 0.5 oz of chocolate almonds, and 3 thinster cookies.

IMG_9646.JPG

I really wanted more of those cookies… see portion control!

So these next 30 days are going to be a learning experience. I am willing to give it a shot. Since I write a public blog I thought it would be a good idea to be able to form a VALID opinion on this “diet” or “lifestyle” since I’m asked about it a lot.

Wish me luck!!!!

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie

 

You Might Also Like

11 Comments

    1. Katie

      I got them at BJs, but they also carry them at Wegmans.

  1. Amanda

    I’ve always thought the same thing about IIFYM. Looking forward to seeing how these next 30 days go for you. Good luck!

    1. Katie

      Thanks Amanda! Glad I’m not alone

  2. Chelsea @ A Fit LittleOne

    Good Luck!! I don’t understand the point of it honestly. I understand splurging every once in a while, but I feel this just helps those who want a little every day not feel guilty. I mean, just don’t feel guilty and eat it, it’s not like you’re eating the whole package. Plus I’m right there with you, too many people abuse the system, and that alone just bothers the crap out of me haha.

    1. Katie

      EXACTLY! You hit the nail on the head- so they don’t feel guilty 🙂 But again willing to try it out

  3. Alessandra

    I totally agree with you but I am also excited to see your progress through this experiment! Way to be inspiring

    1. Katie

      Thank you Alessandra! 😀

  4. Tracy

    I kind of play the IIFYM game. I have NO portion control or real will power when I don’t consciously eat within my macros. That being said, I like to use the macros more as a corrective brace than a permanent fix. When I feel I have fallen off the healthy wagon and am eating way more cookies and other junk than I should, I will dust off my macros, follow them strictly for a week or two and then release the curse of mathematics involved in macro counting. (Ok, so myfitnesspal isn’t difficult to use, but I just hate tracking everything so strictly). I am not looking to hop up on a stage anytime soon, so perhaps my leniency is more evident physically, but I also know better than to eat poptarts and bags of candy instead of broccoli and chicken. However, I will allow things in my day so I don’t get angry and feel deprived. That’s how I play the game – fairly clean foods, with an “IIFYM”flavored Greek yogurt. No honeybuns subbed for dinner here. And yea, pretty sure those people who are playing IIFYM are not being honest. No way can you work out at the intensity level needed to get the type of body you and other bikini competitors have fueled by junk. And if they can, good for them, wait until they hit 30, it’ll hurt. 🙂

    1. Katie

      Loved this. Thank you for your honesty!!!!

  5. Alexandra

    Did you ever update on this?

    I tried searching but didn’t find anything.

Leave a Reply to Katie Cancel