Episode 15. Macronutrients, If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) and Dieting Strategies
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Show Notes
Macronutrients, get your macronutrients here! This episode was all about dieting (mostly for fat loss) and macros, and If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM). The guys are mostly against IIFYM, for various reasons that maybe aren’t obvious at first. Also, Scott gets messages from people doing insane things based on their understanding of the rules of IIFYM.
The guys talked about the differences between doing a diet (such as vegetarianism) for ethical or personal reasons, versus doing it because it’s “a diet.” Scott calls this the difference between a diet strategy (good) and doing “a diet” (bad), or the differences doing it from the top down (following this or that name) versus doing it from the ground up (doing it based on personal strategic or ethical reasons).
Macros and IIFYM Notes:
- Which macros should you focus on? Scott and Kevin actually do things backwards a bit, insofar as they emphasize the protein SPARING nutrients (carbs and fats). Their recommendations for protein are still in the ballpark of what 99% of the fitness industry recommend.
- The Twinkie Diet by Dr. Mark Haub came up. Scott clarified that Dr. Haub didn’t eat just Twinkies, but foods you could get in a gas station (and he had a protein shake and multivitamin).
- Scott mentioned “honeymooning,” and that more often than not, diet trends gain legs because of people “honeymooning” at something making the most supportive comments.
- There was talk about when and how the metabolic compensation would come into effect. I.e. most people aren’t doing the insane things that Biggest Loser contestants are, and honestly, they just won’t experience the same kinds of metabolic compensation.
- Scott is against IIFYM because it can breed obsession, and it also (counter-intuitively) can emphasize what you “can” or “can’t” have.
- Although Mike is “less” against counting calories or macros than Kevin or Scott, he mentioned 3 key reasons why he personally doesn’t *really* like it, nor does he prefer an IIFYM diet.
- Ego Depletion: Having to make decisions all day saps willpower. this is true whether it’s deciding what to wear or… what to eat.
- Bright Lines: Having a meal plan makes it easy to say what is or is not on the meal plan. Either it is or it isn’t. Having macros to “fill in” is more blurry. Sure, substituting one potato for a sugary snack? No problem. But what about another… and another… and another… At some point your brain things, Hmm, this isn’t absolutely, positively 100% “optimal,” which could have you second-guessing yourself, and that’s when you are susceptible to…
- The “What-the-Hell” Effect: After you have one cookie, “what-the-hell,” just have the whole box. Our brains are bad at this. If we’re not doing things absolutely, 100% perfectly, its instinct is to say, “Oh what the hell.” (This one’s in McGonigal’s book.)
- All of these stack up. Maybe you don’t give in and have the whole box, but nonetheless, just experiencing all three of these effects will drain your willpower. If this happening constantly, that makes dieting harder.
Links / Resources mentioned
The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
Willpower: The Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney
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Great discussion guys! So if the downfall of eating a 100 calorie-bag of oreos is really that it lights up the centers of the brain that are going to stimulate the want for more…Isn’t the same thing happening with the Cycle Diet on the day that you choose to “have your cake and eat it too?” I totally fall victim to the once I have something sweet, it turns into wanting more, and more. So my question I guess is, how do you stop that same yearning for sweets after the reward meal/day on the Cycle Diet?
Hi Tawny,
Sorry we missed your comment. 🙁 I’ll try to change my settings so the comment system alerts me. Also, I’ll bug Scott to try to get you his answer!
Here’s mine: the example you give seems very different to me because a tiny 100-calorie bag of whatever it might be doesn’t really fill you up or do anything to affect hunger-related hormones like leptin. By contrast, a cheat day will 1) actually slowly fill you up over the course of the day and make you feel very satiated, and 2) it will spike leptin, which in turn signals ghrelin and a bunch of other hormones, and this very directly affects hunger. A packet of 100-calorie whatever won’t do that; it’s just a tease.
In terms of how I end a cheat, I’m similar to you in terms of cravings: after a cheat day I still want a bit more. I don’t, though, for a few reasons. One reason is I’ve gone to sleep, and when I wake up, it’s a whole new day. It creates a very Bright Line psychologically… and there’s no bargaining like, “Oohhh well… I’ll just extend things a bit… what could it hurt? etc.” It’s a new day, and I get back into the regular diet and regular routine and let habit take over from there. Once I go out for my morning walk with my dog, I’m back on autopilot. (I generally don’t have cheats in the morning if it’s not a full day cheat, just because I enjoy them less. I prefer any cheat meal to “cap off” a day or week or whatever. Could I do it and end it without snacking more later on? Yeah, I’m like 99% sure I could… But I’d enjoy it less precisely because I know my brain would mess with me.)
Lastly, I think a lot of it comes down to how you think about the “cheat.” If you have any feelings of guilt, or you haven’t embraced that this is really, truly helping you, you’re very likely to fall prey to the What-the-Hell Effect (see Kelly McGonigal’s book, linked above, if you haven’t already!). If you think the cheat is truly helping you, you’re riding a wave of positive momentum when you get back to your regular diet strategy, and that absolutely helps; by contrast, if you’re secretly afraid it didn’t serve you and oh gosh maybe you shouldn’t have had it at all oh no oh no… it’s almost as though the momentum is going the other way (what Steven Pressfield calls Resistance, always with a capital-R.)
For example, I’ve had cheat days in the past where, based on my hunger during the day, or how quickly I became full, by the end of the day I’ve thought, hmm, y’know what, maybe I didn’t actually need a cheat day (or I only needed a meal, or half-day, or whatever). Ironically, though, it’s after those days where I’ve had more cravings the day afterwards. From a physiological perspective, this makes no sense; I’m *more* filled up with energy stores, so I shouldn’t have *more* cravings. But psychologically, in terms of that what-the-hell effect, it makes perfect sense. There are subtle forms of psychological bargaining going on in my head. I mean, yeah, I can still deal with them. But it’s easier if I don’t have to.
Tawny – short answer is because you aren’t lighting up every single day thereby teasing, taunting, and tormenting yourself constantly. It’s one day and yes it requires discipline, but you can also get it out of your system by overindulging if you want to – rather than teasing your mind and taste buds with “just a little taste”