A common approach to dieting that has become popular is the IIFYM or If it fits your macros. The idea is that due to the fact all calories are equal you can lose weight while still eating the foods you love. The proponents of this type of dieting suggest that it can make dieting easier and more sustainable because it involves no restriction of foods, only in calories. On the surface this theory makes perfect sense, however in practice it is not so simple. I posit that dieting via the IIFYM method is more likely to lead to disordered eating than a traditional “clean” foods approach.
While I am not an advocate of dieting to get lean beyond what is sustainable for your diet, I realize that many will want to diet regardless of my warnings or the warning of many others in the diet recovery space; I know, because I was certainly one of those people. Thus, since many of you will inevitably diet, I believe it is best to provide guidance to dieting in a way that is least likely to end in disordered eating.
This brings me to the two main approaches to dieting that we will compare:
- If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM): This approach allows you to eat whatever food you want as long as it fits into your predetermined number of calories and ratio of macronutrients (carbs, protein, fats). This approach almost always involves tracking your meals in order to consistently hit your daily targeted calories and macros.
- “Clean” Eating Approach: There are many different forms of this style of dieting, but what they all have in common is that they restrict certain foods because of some characteristic of that food. This can involve restricting certain macros such as in low carb/low fat diets, restricting processed foods, or restricting almost anything you can imagine. *For instance, there are even diets online that restrict food based on their yin and yang nature. * This approach often doesn’t involve tracking calories because they either: 1. Suggest that avoiding certain foods will indirectly lead to a reduction in calories. 2. Suggest that certain foods are inherently more fattening, regardless of caloric content.
A reasonable summary of the main difference between these two approaches is that IFFYM restricts calories directly, while Clean Eating approach restricts foods, often leading to caloric restriction.
Like a Rubber Band
This brings me to my theory of why IIFYM is more likely to lead to disordered eating. In order to illustrate this let’s think of dieting in relation to pulling back a rubber band. This may seem like an odd comparison but stick with me on this one. In this metaphor the type of rubber band is the type of diet, and the distance that you pull back the rubber band is the amount of caloric restriction. The thickness of the rubber band corresponds to how palatable and rewarding the diet is. Don’t worry, the significance of this will become apparent soon. Comparing the two dieting styles, IIFYM is more palatable and is thus represented by a thick rubber band, while the clean eating approach is represented by a thin rubber band.
Pulling back the thin rubber band is relatively easy and requires less force to keep the rubber band pulled back. Thus is the case with clean eating: the lower reward value of the diet means that eating fewer calories requires less willpower. In addition, since the main focus isn’t on calories, the distance that the rubber band is pulled back (caloric deficit) is likely to be less extreme. Contrast this with the thick rubber band. Pulling back the thick rubber back requires more force to pull back and more force to hold back. Such is the case with dieting on IIFYM: eating highly rewarding, processed food while dieting actually increases the willpower needed to create and maintain a caloric deficit. A quick explanation of this and then we’ll get back to the rubber band metaphor.
Why would dieting on IIFYM require more willpower?
According to research, including this study by the NIH, eating processed foods naturally increases the number of calories needed to reach satiety by around 500 calories compared to unprocessed foods. Hunger and cravings arise based on the difference between your body’s desired number of calories and the amount that you actually provide it. Thus, by eating processed foods at the same time that you restrict calories, you are increasing your body’s desired number of calories, while simultaneously decreasing the number of calories you provide it. This results in more hunger and cravings than the same caloric deficit eating unprocessed foods– approximately 500 calories worth of hunger. These 500 calories of extra hunger mean that it requires significantly more willpower as well.
Disordered Eating Emerges
Many eating disorders begin after a sustained period of severe caloric restriction. The survival signal of the animal brain eventually becomes strong enough to overpower one’s rational human brain that wants to stick to the diet– this leads to a binge.
With the rubber band metaphor, the farther you pull back the rubber band and the thicker the rubber band is, the greater the force that the rubber band produces when you finally release it. The same can be said about dieting: the greater the difference between the body’s desired calories and the calories you provide it, the greater the intensity of the binging episode when one’s animal brain finally regains control.
The one difference between these two scenarios is when dieting the longer you stay in that caloric deficit, the harder it will be to fight your animal brain and the stronger the animal brain will act when it finally does regain control.
Short-term Success, Long-term Disorder
Many of those who prefer the IIFYM approach have found success because they are often only eating this way for a short time. Strict dieting for a predetermined period of time has a different psychological effect than if you attempted to diet indefinitely. In fact, when I watch video of influencers explaining how they can eat whatever they want and still stay lean, I see the exact same obsession with food that I experienced for six years. We only see their outward appearance, but inside many of this individuals are living their day constantly thinking of how they want to “spend” their caloric budget. In my experience that is no way no way to live.
Clean Eating Obsessions
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the issues that can occur with a clean eating mentality, namely orthorexia. Orthorexia occurs when a desire to avoid unhealthy food becomes an obsession, and you may even fear these foods. It is not uncommon those with orthorexia to imagine the food that they just consumed taking effect in their body. For instance, someone who is afraid of fat may unavoidably imagine each bite of a high fat meal going straight to their arteries, leading to an uncomfortable feeling that they need to git rid of what they just ate. I’d imagine such preoccupations do more damage to one’s health than any food, no bad, ever could.
From what I’ve observed and experienced, the one difference between the obsessions caused by IIFYM and clean eating, is that the IIFYM obsession tend to occur throughout the entire day, while the orthorexia thoughts mainly show up during meal times, making the clean eating approach slightly more sustainable. This may be one of the reasons that making small changes to one’s diet has been shown to be more effective for long-term weight loss than calorie tracking, the caveat being that your restricted food list is not the length of Homer’s Odyssey.
What I Would Advise My 18 Year Old Self
Knowing what I learned the hard way from years of dieting, I would advise my eager to ‘get shredded’ 18 year old self to approach weight loss methodically. My suggestion would be to start off slow and remove the foods that diet gurus and dietitians alike agree aren’t the healthiest, like Oreos and beer. Then maybe after a few weeks once your body settles at a new lower weight, you can then remove one or two more agreed upon unhealthy foods. The goal should be to achieve one’s goal with the least amount of restriction possible. Many of us go overboard and remove everything at once, when that may not even be necessary to achieve your goal. It’s good to think of this process from the lens of probability: yes, the more you restrict, the faster you will lose weight; however, with every food restricted, you increase the probability that you’re survival instincts will kick in and knock you back to where you started. Let’s look at how this might look when graphed.
For each individual there is an optimal amount of restriction that results in his or her healthiest long-term weight, it just takes some experimentation and introspection to find it. For this hypothetical individual, restricting around 5 to 7 foods results in their healthiest sustainable weight. Restricting any more than this kicks in their survival response and makes food obsession and binges inevitable.
Takeaway
In summary, while the “if it fits your macros” approach can be just as effective, if not more effective as the clean eating approach at pure short term weight loss, it may be more likely to lead to disordered eating and full blown eating disorders. If you have a different experience, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear it!
References
Hall, K. (n.d.). NIH study finds heavily processed foods cause overeating and weight gain. Cell Metabolism. Retrieved May 16, 2019, from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-heavily-processed-foods-cause-overeating-weight-gain
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