THE MACRONUTRIENT DIET, ALSO known as flexible dieting or “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM), is as useful as it is misunderstood.
Maybe you think that flexible dieting means you just eat junk food all day long that’s carefully portioned. Maybe you think it means you’ll have to carry a food scale around with you for the rest of your life, measuring and tracking every single thing you eat or drink. Neither of these are true.
The good news is that there is no strict approach to the macronutrient diet; no restrictive rules or limitations. Counting your macros is a way of tracking your food intake to ensure you’re getting the right amounts of the right food for your body.
This diet requires more work than others, but it’s also the most accurate and the most flexible diet. If you love pizza, cake, and wine, you can enjoy all of these things on a weekly basis. You just have to plan ahead and enjoy them in moderation. You’d be hard-pressed to find another diet that gives you permission to enjoy life the way a human being should.
If fitting in “junk” food isn’t your thing, that’s fine too. Flexible dieting simply refers to tracking your food and adjusting future consumption accordingly. The macronutrient diet is just as effective for the busy executive who wants to eat three meals a day and follow a low-carb diet as it is for the high-level athlete who’s eating six small meals a day. This diet lends itself well to adapting to any special goals, needs, or dietary preferences.
This book should be the last diet book you ever need. Even if you read others after this book, you’ll see how they, too, follow the principles you’re about to learn. To lose fat, all you need to do is eat fewer calories than you need. Other strict diets do this by calling certain foods evil and restricting them completely. This restrictive approach works, but it’s about as fun as getting a cavity filled.
Don’t just read this book and put it back on the shelf. This diet requires work, there’s no doubt about it. You’ll be building your own meal plans completely tailored to your lifestyle, as well as tracking your food and having some self-control. It takes practice and patience as you learn how to track your food and eat for your needs. However, the end result is worth it. You’ll learn how to get the body of your dreams, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you take the time to understand and apply this book, you’ll understand the fundamental rules of nutrition, which is a skill that will serve you well for the rest of your life.
Read the book, work through the calculations, take the time to plan your meals and follow that plan, and you’ll find dieting can actually be enjoyable. When you’re following a diet built around foods you love, not a random diet you found in an old muscle magazine, you’ll most likely find following that diet to be quite easy.
If you’ve tried every diet book without seeing the results you want, this book will finally help you get those results. There are no hidden secrets, insane rules, or secret hacks to your body. It takes an understanding of nutrition, a good plan, and execution. This book will help you understand and come up with that perfect plan. The execution is up to you.
Good luck.