Clean Eating And IIFYM/CICO Are Actually The Same Thing
Clean Eating is a type of diet where you can eat as much as you want as long as the foods are “clean.” If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is a diet where the specific foods don’t matter as long as you’re meeting certain calorie and macronutrient numbers. Both of these approaches are incomplete or unsustainable over the long term. Clean eating needs to be more flexible in the types of food that people eat either because for ease or enjoyment, and IIFYM has to include a wide variety of foods to ensure proper fiber and micronutrients.
Strategies For Incorporating More Protein Into Your Diet
Most people aren’t eating enough protein, which can stall or compromise the gains they’re working toward. Optimal protein sources will have at least 1/3 of their calories coming from protein, but ideally it should be much higher than the amount of other fats and carbs in the food. Keeping a variety of protein rich foods that don’t require prep (like protein powders, meat jerkies, or high protein yogurt) or minimal prep (like frozen fish, ground meat, or tofu) also helps from getting bored or not having enough time to eat enough protein.
Stop Using The Word 'Healthy' The Wrong Way
The word “healthy” is often misused, because we wrongly conflate health and fitness. The reality is that a lot of training for “fitness” isn’t actually healthy at all.
Calories Matter, Even When You Think They Don't
It's common to doubt the validity of the calories in, calories out model by saying "well, this worked for me." The reality is that CICO is always in play, whether you realize it or not - it's a basic framework that explains how diets work, not necessarily a dietary approach in and of itself. Here are a few ways that the CICO model may seem less accurate than it actually is.