If It Fits Your Macros is a new nutrition design that has helped a lot of people lose fat, eat healthier, have more balance and look their best. My girl Corrie has had AMAZING success with this eating protocol so we teamed up to come up with the best info to give you so you can learn how to make this style of eating work for you!
Hi everyone! It’s great to be here! I’m Corrie, moonlighting as a fitness enthusiast and model when I’m not at my full time marketing job. I love everything fitness, health, & yoga related. I occasionally compete in shows, and used to coach clients at a personal training gym, but what I really prefer is living a balanced lifestyle year-round.
Describe “If It Fits Your Macros”. Define it, elaborate on what that means in the most simple terms.
If It Fits Your Macros (or flexible dieting) is simply a more detailed way of calorie counting. Instead of just tracking your total calories, you track each and every macronutrient.
Macronutrients (macros) include protein, carbs, fats. A lot of people say IIFYM is a fad because it’s received a lot of publicity lately in the fitness world, but it’s really nothing new. It’s just another method of tracking your food intake. With macros, it’s all about the details and the science.
Prior to IIFYM, what eating strategies had you employed and how did they work/ not work for you?
Having a background in bikini competitions and some nutrition education from when I was coaching, I was always a squeaky clean eater – most days of the week. I usually employed the Monday-Saturday clean eats all day, and then would have a huge cheat meal or two over the weekend.
Over time, I just started to feel awful doing that. Cheat meals made my stomach feel horrible and lethargic, and then I would have trouble getting back “on the wagon” to eat squeaky clean for six more days in a row.
I started implementing a few small “treats” throughout the week to feel a little more balanced and sane and scratching the huge cheat meal instead. I don’t like feeling deprived, and I get bored easily with food, so I always struggled with set meal plans where I would eat the same thing every day.
What made you decide to try IIFYM?
I am a naturally very skinny body type, an ectomorph/hard gainer. Over time I felt like I was eating and eating and eating (and eating well!) and not seeing myself make any progress in my physique, and not too many strength gains, either. I saw a photo of myself from a year ago, and I looked EXACTLY the same as I did before. I realized I was just maintaining, but I really wanted to gain strength and muscle.
I was normally NEVER a calorie counter, in fact I hated the very thought of it. But I knew if I didn’t start tracking my food intake consistently, I wouldn’t be able to make any gains.
What are your personal life and fitness goals and how does IIFYM help you with them?
Over the past year, I wanted to get stronger and put on muscle. I did this with the help of tracking my macros and increasing my food intake over time.
More recently, I wanted to get ready for a bikini competition, so I’ve been prepping with a coach who is adjusting my macros each week. It’s been great! I get a ton of food, can fit in all the foods I love, and am still leaning out in time to be ready for April.
As soon as that’s over, I’d like to continue on the gain train (choo choo)! I want to keep getting stronger and continue increasing my calories as much as possible while staying fairly lean.
What is your favorite thing about IIFYM?
It’s a pretty balanced way of eating. The misconception behind macro counting is that everyone eats poptarts and ice cream all day long. It’s not like that at all. We are usually VERY healthy eaters, consuming lots of clean foods, and then fitting in a few treats here and there. I feel better on “cleaner” food, but I’ll never give up my pizza or pita chips! J
For someone that wants to make changes to their physique, fat loss, muscle gain, or learn their proper daily caloric intake, IIFYM is a great way to do that and feel sane.
You don’t have to be a slave to counting macros for the rest of your life. I mean, you certainly can count them forever if you like, but I’ve done it for so long now that I have a really good idea about how much I’m consuming in a day. If I wasn’t in show prep or trying hard for a particular athletic goal, I may not track my food at all.
In my opinion, if you are not someone interested in being very particular and detailed about your food intake – you might find macro counting too tedious and time consuming. You weigh everything. You measure everything. You fit your food into your daily “numbers” each day. Some people find that exhausting.
I’ve also heard from some people that they prefer a structured meal plan that doesn’t change day-to-day, or prefer to blow it out with a huge cheat meal rather than space out some treats throughout the week. If that’s more your style, IIFYM probably isn’t for you.
If you have a particular athletic or physique goal though, I definitely recommend giving it a shot for 3-6 months and seeing how you do. The key is consistency!
I have a few tips on how to get started and you can see some of my progress in my blog here.
Don’t be fooled by the hype. Macro counting is truly just a more detailed way of tracking food intake. It’s a great way to reach your goals and not make you feel crazy for wanting to puke at the thought of dry chicken breast and broccoli!
If you enjoyed this blog and want more from Corrie, you can check her out here…
Blog – www.aStoryofCorrie.com
IG: www.instagram.com/aStoryofCorrie
Twitter: www.twitter.com/aStoryofCorrie
You Coach,
Kyra
P.S. Do you want 40+ IIFYM recipes with detailed instructions of how to set up your macros based on your goals?
Get my Lean Body Cookbook & Meal Planning Guide here
All recipes are already added to MyFitnessPal to simplify tracking for you!
*Full disclosure – I, Kyra Williams, do believe that counting macros can be a helpful way to lose fat and build muscle, however, I will always support quality of food over anything else. Clean eating recipes will always be the best way to go to keep your body healthy and will always be the best way to lose weight and keep it off forever. But everything in moderation 😉