Good morning!

The other day on Snapchat, I posted a video of the PBJ I had just made myself for lunch, and mentioned that I am currently practicing an Intuitive Eating approach to my nutrition. A couple snapchat friends asked me to elaborate on it, so I thought I’d write this post on Intuitive Eating or IIFYM (if it fits your macros.)

Right now, I don’t have goals for fat loss. I’m in a maintenance phase, and am very much in tune with trusting my hunger signals to keep me in an energy balance. An energy balance is when we are consuming the same amount of energy/calories that we’re burning. When in an EB, our weight does not change, and we enter what’s called a “maintenance phase.”

Now, when I am trying to tighten up or lean out a bit, I do use an IIFYM approach, but it’s a bit different than what you might expect.

IIFYM Approach

When it comes to both myself and my clients, I advocate a whole foods, nutrient-rich diet, interwoven with some IIFYM principles. Now, some of my clients track grams, and some track portions of macronutrients, and some do a bit of a hybrid approach. There’s truly no wrong approach here, and it ultimately depends on what works best mentally and physically for the individual.

That said, interweaving an If It Fits Your Macros approach into my clients’ programming works really well for the majority of my clients, as it allows them to enjoy some of their favorite foods, and still stay “on plan.”

Personally, I start by tracking grams – but temporarily – only a couple weeks or so. I figure out my macros (which yes, includes some carb cycling,) make sure I feel OK on them, and that I’m where I need to be for my goals, and then feel it out in terms of what my hunger levels are, how much energy I have, how I’m sleeping, etc.

Nutrient Timing

Now, I also know what works best for me and most of my clients when it comes to nutrient timing as well. When I refer to nutrient timing, I mean the time of the day that we’re eating our protein, carbs and fats. Which meals make the most the most sense to be higher carb, higher fat, etc.

This changes slightly depending on my goals, but I manipulate nutrient timing in order to do three things:

1. increase insulin sensitivity
2. promote workout recovery and results
3. promote fat loss

These three factors are all connected to each other as well. It’s important to use what we already know about insulin sensitivity, and that for most people, we’re most insulin sensitive at a couple different times in the day. However, there are many other variables involved here, as some have great insulin sensitivity, others have not so great IS, and most of us can take a couple measures to improve it.

I know by now what works best for me in regards to nutrient timing for general health, blood sugar, and satiety levels, as well as when I’m trying to lean out or gain strength. So I take this knowledge – and my estimated intake based on how I’m feeling into the next phase.

IIFP(ortions) Approach

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t personally enjoy tracking macronutrient grams for longer than a week or two. Some of my clients track for much longer, but this is just a personal preference. From here, I like to transition into what I call IIFYP (If It Fits Your Portions – or Servings.)

After temporarily tracking macronutrient grams, I know about how much protein, carbohydrate, and dietary fat I need with each meal and still stay on track with my goals. Honestly, this is the ultimate and eventual goal with all of my clients. I do NOT see tracking macronutrients down to the very last gram as a healthy, sustainable, lifestyle practice.

When I’m consciously tracking portions, I’m usually still trying to lean out and bring down my body fat a bit. While I never advocate or write crash diets or quick fixes, I am all about consistency and compliance – for two reasons:

1. It builds healthy habits
2. It’s the fastest way to se the results.

And here’s the thing: we feel better when we’re at an energy balance. Sure, getting lean if we’re overweight helps energy levels, decreases inflammation, health markers get better, etc. But – our body prefers homeostasis. When we’re in a negative energy balance one way or the other, our body doesn’t like it. Our recovery is a bit slower, we don’t sleep as well, and we tend to be a bit more fatigued. Now, this isn’t a huge deal to some, especially if you’re being smart and sustainable with your fat loss, but I want to get back to homeostasis – to maintenance – efficiently.

In my opinion, we should eventually be able to estimate how much we’re eating, without having to be a slave to MyFitnessPal, and worse, a food scale, the rest of our lives. I get especially disheartened when I see those (even PT’s, youtubers, bloggers, etc.) requiring these items as part of their daily life on a maintenance mode phase. At this point – once we’re no longer trying to lose body fat or lean out, we should be able to allow our hunger cues, our energy levels, and our knowledge of the nutrient timing and distribution that works for us. To me, this means using our intuition….which brings me to…

Intuitive Eating

This is where I’m at now. To me, intuitive eating means using what you know about your body and nutrition combined with your body’s internal signals.

Knowing that having carbohydrates first thing in the morning typically sets us up for tiredness and becoming hungry

Knowing that eating less fat and more carbs and protein after a tough workout helps me recover and feel better

Knowing that having a starch-filled meal before bed helps me sleep better

Knowing that I do best eating a higher protein diet

But also…

Listening to and letting my hunger cues dictate when my next meal will be

Listening to my cravings every now and then -(and sometimes even if it happens to be at odds with that I know above)

Paying attention to nagging aches and pains – or being pain-free – as a guide to switch up my food quality or supplementation

Being in tune to my energy levels and blood sugar levels to help determine any changes in meal makeup/nutrients

This is where I am the majority of the time, but at any point I want to go in and tighten up or lean out a bit – for whatever reason – I repeat the process and go down the line, starting with working with temporary macronutrient tracking.