You want to lose weight and you’re motivated to do just that. Eager to build a new physique and shed some of that body fat you start a new diet, and you are going to crush it this time. Day one was easy. The excitement is high, and you knocked things out of the park. You’ve got this. Day two rolls around and the excitement has waned, but you’re determined to lose this weight and you grudgingly eat the foods on your meal plan. Now you’re on to day three. You’re already sick of your meal plan, you’re thinking about all of the foods you’re not allowed to eat on your diet and you’re beginning to wonder if losing weight is even worth it. Now it’s day four and the diet is over. The timing is bad, and you’ll get to it down the road. Right now, though? It’s back to enjoying those foods you love. Months or years later you begin your next diet, and the exact same thing happens. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Again, and again.
Does the scenario above sound familiar to you? Of course, it does. And you are not alone. There is a reason that so many people struggle to stay on their diet and lose the body fat they so desperately want to. You’re torn between wanting to look and feel great but at the same time it’s torture depriving yourself of those foods you love so much. Well, what if I told you that you could have both? What if I told you, you could get that physique you want while eating a majority of the foods you enjoy? Don’t believe me? Give flexible dieting try and get back to me. When it comes to fat loss and body composition the name of the game is numbers. It’s calories in versus calories out. To lose weight you must be in a calorie deficit burning more calories throughout the day than you consume. It doesn’t stop there though. Calories are made up of macronutrients which are going to be your protein, carbohydrates and fats (within your carbs are your fiber and sugar). It is critical that these macronutrients are partitioned correctly. For instance, if you’re consuming all of your calories from carbs and fats while neglecting protein you will certainly lose weight but a good majority of that will be muscle. And you don’t want that. So, it’s extremely important to know how much you should be consuming of what. Once you figure out what amount of macronutrients you should be consuming throughout the day that’s where the real fun begins. This might go against everything you know about dieting but as long as you are hitting your numbers it simply does not matter what food sources you eat. You see, our bodies, while incredibly smart, aren’t quite that smart. As humans we do not have an indicator in our body that determines what is a “clean” food and/or what is a “dirty” food. As a matter of fact, you need to throw out the terms “clean” and “dirty” when discussing food because they do not exist. Our body simply knows numbers, recognizes the energy balance and responds accordingly. Are you consuming more calories than you burn throughout the day? If yes, you’ll gain weight. Are you consuming less than you burn? You’re going to lose weight. And if you’re consuming exactly what you burn throughout the day you’ll simply maintain. Again, there is no indicator in our body that determines “That was Chicken and Vegetables. That’s going straight to muscle” or “that was a bag of Potato Chips and we’re storing all of it as body fat” It just doesn’t work like that. Flexible dieting acknowledges that all foods have intrinsic value and can be enjoyed within the confines of your daily numbers. So, what does that mean to you and why should you care? Well, it matters because once you determine where your daily macronutrients need to be, how you get there is totally irrelevant. What you eat and when you eat does not matter. Food choices as well as meal timing are completely inconsequential in the context of body composition. You can eat what you like, when you like, and you are going to burn body fat. Does a piece of cake fit your daily numbers? It does? Well, congratulations. You quite literally get to eat your cake and have it, too. That’s the beauty of flexible dieting. It is ultra-efficient yet the least restrictive diet you can be on. That’s important because the ultra-restrictive diets (i.e. – Meal plans, Keto, ect.) tend to not be very sustainable and what good is a diet if it’s impossible to adhere to. You can be on the best “diet” in the world but what does that mean if you’re quitting on day 3? It means the diet is useless if you can’t stick to it. That’s why sustainability is key. I don’t like this diet just because it’s easy. I’m results driven and as somebody who has experimented the last 20 years with diets on myself as well as my clients, I can say with one hundred percent confidence that flexible dieting is not only the most sustainable diet out there but also the most efficient. You learn a LOT about foods and dieting just by using it, too. You’ll quickly learn that there are a lot of “healthy” foods you’ve been eating that are loaded with carbs, sugars and the like that will not fit your numbers. On the contrary you are going to quickly learn there are a lot of “bad” foods that you traditionally wouldn’t think of when dieting that you can absolutely eat every day. I know that this sounds too good to be true, but I assure you it’s not. Like I said I have tried everything under the sun but once I discovered this in late 2010, I jumped on board and have yet to look back. I am able to stay in fitness model shape year-round on this diet and I have thousands of clients that have success stories utilizing this very diet. Everytime I sit down with a client I tell them that my goal is to help them reach their goals while also having them not feel like they are on a diet. If I can do that, I’ve done my job. That means I’ve set them on a sustainable path of navigating nutrition for the rest of their life.
All diets have their pros and cons, and flexible dieting is no exception. The pros among many others are sustainability and efficiency. The cons are that it takes some work on you, the dieter’s part and there is a bit of a learning curve. You’ll need to track everything you eat. Fortunately for all of us it’s extremely easy. In 2022 there are an abundance of apps out there that allow you to track your food with relative ease. As far as the learning curve goes there is going to be a bit of trial and error in playing with your foods to see what you can fit into your numbers when compared to a meal plan where you don’t even have to think. You just simply eat what you are told to. With meal plans though the cons far out weight the pros. For starters, meal plans are very, very hard to stick to and most dieters end up quitting. God forbid somebody does stick to one for an extended period of time, though. With ultra-rigid meal plans you’re allowed to eat 5-6 different foods over the course of a diet. What do you think is going to happen the moment that diet is over? You’re going to go eat absolutely everything you haven’t been able to for the duration of the diet. After being on a meal plan the best-case scenario is you’ve developed an extremely unhealthy relationship with food. The worst-case scenario is that you’ve developed an eating disorder. And that is precisely why we see so many yo-yo dieters who lose weight only to pack on more pounds than they started with. We don’t have to worry about that with flexible dieting though because you get that flexibility and the option to mix up your foods as frequently as you’d like. There’s simply less of an urge to binge both while on your diet and afterwards because you’ve been able to indulge and eat as you’d please throughout the duration of your diet. As I said I’ve been doing different diets for two decades now and not only does flexible dieting check every box but it’s simply the most efficient and sustainable way to diet that I have ever seen. And I’ve seen it all.
By now I’m sure I’ve peaked your interest with flexible dieting. So where do you go from here? You need to begin tracking your foods. Again, there are hundreds of apps out there that you can use to do exactly that. As far as figuring out how many macronutrients you should be consuming goes, I strongly encourage you to hire a competent nutrition coach like myself or any of the many other qualified professionals there are in the world. Once you do that, you’ll be well on your way to getting that dream physique and enjoying every second of it along the way. If you’ve been struggling with dieting, I hope this has opened your eyes and I strongly encourage all of you to give flexible dieting a try. I know for a fact you will be glad you did and like myself I am certain you will never look back.
