IIFYM! Whats your opinions?

Hi Brende,

This approach will work but is has several disadvantages versus a high-protein, moderate-carb diet...

1. You'll lose more muscle - studies clearly show that higher protein diets when you are cutting calories result in less muscle loss, so inadequate protein means you lose more muscle and that, in turn, means that you have to eat even less food to continue losing weight because having more muscle burns more calories.

2. You'll be hungrier because studies also clearly show that protein decreases appetite versus meals of the same calorie content that are lower in protein.

3. Your metabolic rate will be lower, as protein also requires more calories to metabolize than carbs or fat, so again that means you need to decrease your calories even further to lose weight.

4. As far as when you eat, this is the least important consideration but in my experience, going for long periods without food leads to cravings and bad food choices and also more small meals usually results in more protein and healthy vegetables being eaten.

So basically, your IIFYM ignores all the important research that demonstrates how to make it easier to stick to your diet, maintain muscle and how to eat more and get better results!

So I'll stick to my usual high-protein, low sugar / starch, high vegetable diet!

Cheers for the reply Mark but IIFYM isnt a low protein diet. Basically the approach is you set yourself macros for the day for example 200/350/60 (P/C/F) and you hit those exact targets every day! So somebody on IIFYM would have the exact same amount of protein carbs and fats as somebody who isnt on that approach to diet but has the same macros. Its just that they disregard where the macros come from, ie the quality of the food source, and things like meal frequency etc. Also this isnt the approach that i take but it seems to be an approach that more and more guys are taking on forums etc and seem to be getting great results.