The dummy’s guide to flexible dieting

An unconventional diet doing the rounds lets you count your six-pack abs without restricting your calorie intake!
What if you could follow a health routine which allows you to lose weight, even as you gorge on your favourite junk food? While most diets are meticulous about which items you can and cannot eat, how much you should consume and at what time of the day, a new trend called flexible dieting is breaking these norms.Also known as IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macro), it is simply the tracking of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate and fat) to achieve a body composition goal. It means you don’t have to starve or deprive yourself of food that aren’t healthy! How the diet works Says Dr Amrapali Patil, weight management professional, “Flexible dieting means keeping a track of your food intake based on carbohydrates, proteins and fats (which are essentially called macronutrients) rather than focusing only on total calories consumed, which we commonly tend to do.” This macronutrient-centric diet is flexible because it doesn’t bracket food as good and bad or clean and cheat foods.
“This means one doesn’t have to keep items like ice-creams, cakes, french fries etc. (considered ‘bad’) at bay. You can eat these, as long as you count the macronutrients in them,” she adds. how To follow it 1 gm of protein equals 4 calories, 1 gm of carbohydrates provides 4 calories and 1 gm of fat has 9 calories. So, based on these values, while observing a flexible diet, consume 150-200 gm protein, 60-80 gm fat and 160-170 gm carbohydrates, which is approximately 2,000 calories per day. Your carbs could come from sweet potatoes or a candy bar, as long as you hit the right macro levels. Thus, one gets the best of both worlds — the good foods and the so-called bad ones. In an ordinary set-up, the human brain is so wired that it is not able to take no for an answer. And when one is permitted to eat all, one automatically makes judicious choices by being rational as well as mindful.