For the people who have trouble with self-control, dieting can be really difficult. The whole concept of eating less ("cutting") or eating more than usual ("bulking") can be a monumental task for many people. Diets more often than not end in complete disaster with the individual going on an all out binge of junk food. This leads to them putting on more weight than before they started dieting, or in the case of bulking, becoming grossly overweight. So how can one approach dieting differently so that they have a better chance of conquering their food habits? The "If It Fits Your Macros" (IIFYM) approach to dieting is a fantastic solution to this problem.

Before getting into the tenets of IIFYM, there is some information regarding dieting that is necessary to make sense of IIFYM's principles. First of all, when it comes to IIFYM, macronutrients is the most important factor. How many macros a person eats in a day is what will determine their weight, whether it increases, decreases, or stays the same (at maintenance). What determines the amount of calories in a food is based on its macronutrient breakdown, in other words how many grams of fat, protein, or carbohydrates is in a food. It is generally accepted that for both protein and carbohydrates, 1 g of either = 4 calories. For fats, 1 g = 9 calories. Therefore a food with 10 g of fats, 10 g of carbs, and 10 g of protein will come out to a total of 170 calories (10 x 9 + 10 x 4 + 10 x 4).

There is also much debate on whether there is a difference in eating "clean" or "healthy" foods, such as steamed broccoli and lightly seasoned chicken breast as opposed to something "unhealthy", say, a Big Mac from McDonald's. The argument goes that there is no such distinction between healthy or unhealthy, but that each food simply has macronutrients as well as micronutrients, and therefore it really doesn't matter what one eats so long as the individual knows how much they should be eating.

Hopefully by now the name "if it fits your macros" is beginning to make more sense. According to IIFYM, macros are all that matters, therefore one can make a diet entirely from McDonald's items and still lose weight, gain weight, whatever their goals are - purely from eating in moderation, or staying within their macros. (An interesting exploration of this idea is explored in the documentary Fat Head, which I highly recommend).This knowledge can greatly increase the chances of success on a diet because it allows one to indulge themselves from time to time without feeling the guilt of failing their diet, because according to IIFYM, they haven't failed unless they exceed their allotted amount of macronutrients for the day. Similar to how someone trying to quit smoking might use a nicotine patch from time to time to temporarily sate their desires, IIFYM can allow someone to indulge themselves within moderation from time to time without feeling like they cheated (and can decrease the chances of a massive binge later on).

As with most advice given to the general public, each individual's body is uniquely different and your mileage may vary. If you are unsure about whether or not this diet is safe for you to try out, please consult a dietician or other professional to be as cautious as possible.

When used properly, the IIFYM tenets can make an otherwise unbearable diet into something very enjoyable and higly sustainable. For more information about the IIFYM approach to dieting [http://www.swolejourney.com/if-it-fits-your-macros-iifym-what-is-it-and-does-it-work/], and other useful information like how to get swole fast [http://www.swolejourney.com/], please visit swolejourney.com for more information.