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Dieting can be very hard to pull off if you do not have the willpower. Having to stop eating some of your favorite foods is not easy, anyway. At its core, dieting has a lot of don’ts as opposed to dos. You have to get rid of all the foods you love when dieting.
But does it have to be so? The answer is: “Not really.” It is possible to achieve all your fitness goals while eating what you like each and every day. Thanks to flexible dieting, you can lose fat and build muscles without having to deprive or starve yourself.
What Is Flexible Dieting?
More and more people are trying flexible dieting due to its high adaptability that allows individuals to include their favorite foods in their eating schedule. The other name for flexible eating is If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM).
According to this plan, there is no such thing as “bad foods,” and you can, therefore, eat anything as long as it can provide your macronutrient needs. All one needs to watch out for is having some proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and fiber within every 24 hours. The choice of what to eat is based on an individual’s personal preferences.
Guide to Flexible Dieting
While it may seem otherwise, flexible dieting is not a diet as such. It has no strict rules and, therefore, doesn’t fall into that category. Some dieting diehards cannot fathom how giving people full freedom to eat what they like can be beneficial. It’s no wonder they consider it an anti-diet.
This diet is thought or intended by many people to be designed for those who lack the willpower for a diet based on “clean” food. The fact that Flexible Dieting is often associated with junk food on the Internet, in social networks, etc., leads people away from finding out about it simply because the fact that if it allows them to consume food such as pizzas and doughnuts,what good is it going to be when it comes to losing fat or building muscle?
Before you get all confused about what flexible dieting is, read the following key points about it:
•You should care about the amount of food you eat and not what.
•Your daily food choices should of necessity be tailored to your lifestyle, goals, and preferences.
•Forgive yourself for dietary lapses, keep calm, and move on.
•To get sustainable improvement, you must comply with your diet in the long-term.
Flexible dieting basically gives you control over what you eat. You don’t have to follow any food restrictions or meal plans. That might be exactly what you need to live a healthy life.
To effectively follow a flexible diet, you have to have to calculate your macronutrient and calorie needs in the basis of the amount of weight you intend to lose. Determining your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is also key.
There are a number of macronutrient calculators on websites concerned with promoting flexible dieting. You will input figures concerning your weight, height, level of activity, and fitness goals. The resultant figure is the basal metabolic rate (BMR) which will help you figure out the number of macronutrients you will need.
Is Flexible Diet Good for You?
The unique approach brought to weight loss by flexible dieting makes it a popular option for many individuals. The following are some of the benefits you are likely to get by adopting flexible dieting:
•Easy and Simple To Follow
When it comes to flexible dieting, the hardest part is the calculation of macronutrient and calorie needs. Sometimes you have to use a flexible dieting calculator to calculate your calorie and macronutrient intake.
Some people find this to be a little bit daunting. The good thing about it is that following the diet is easy. You don’t have to worry about creating flexible dieting food plans, complicated recipes, and lists of don’t-touch items. All you have to do is choose the foods that most appeal to you and ensure you don’t stray from the range of your macronutrient and calorie needs.
•Helps In Long-Term Weight Loss
According to multiple research studies, people who adopt flexible dieting are more likely to succeed in their long-term weight loss goals than those who choose strict diets. If anything, stricter diets have a negative effect on the physiology of dieters.
•More Freedom For Dieters
You are on a strict diet. What do you do when you are on the go or out with friends? If you are following a strict diet, you may have to wait until you go back home to eat. With flexible dieting, you will be free to choose the food you want to eat thus making it easy to remain disciplined whether you are at a party or restaurant. Its adaptable nature, therefore, makes flexible dieting very easy to follow.
•No food restriction
It is not possible to count the number of diets that currently restrict multiple numbers of foods. This can be counterproductive as dieters are restricted from indulging once every so often. The result is frequent binges and cravings. With flexible dieting no food is good and none is bad. That way, a dieter finds it easier to view all types of foods more flexible.
•Good for people with specific nutrient requirements
If you need to have specific macronutrients in your diet, flexible dieting is the way to go. A good example involves individuals on a ketogenic diet. They can have more fats in their diet as opposed to carbohydrates using flexible dieting. People with specific fitness goals as well as athletes can use flexible dieting to set macronutrient goals on the basis of their training needs.
Flexible dieting comes with a number of benefits. It, however, has some likely downsides including the following:
Too Much Freedom
People with a strong sense of self-control find it easy to follow flexible dieting. However, many people will find themselves struggling to remain accountable for what they eat.
No Focus on Micronutrients
Flexible dieting tends to neglect the fact that you need micronutrients as much as you do macronutrients. It is important to note that your body cannot function properly without certain minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.
Tracking Everything You Eat
You need a lot of effort to succeed in whichever diet you have embarked on. It is, however, not very easy to track each and every calorie you eat. That is also likely to cause unhealthy habits in a number of people including possible obsessive behavior.
The popularity of flexible dieting is predicated on its simplicity when it comes to choosing the foods to eat. Dieters generally have more freedom when choosing what to include in their meals. Apart from helping you manage your weight, it gives you a more positive look at food.No other diet is easier to maintain both at home and on the go.
You, however, need to be self-disciplined to succeed with flexible dieting. Like any other nutritional strategy, you must follow certain guidelines if you want to succeed, limiting as much as possible all this food that cannot provide the same benefits of natural foods and should not be taken as a regular part of your diet and become a habit.
