I haven’t done a more personal post in a while, and I am sorry for that. While I spend a lot of time thinking of articles that will be helpful for you, I sometimes forget that reading about a person’s personal experience is just as helpful too. I am finally going home to Thailand at the end of the year! In preparation, I am starting a slow and controlled flexible diet so I can be as body confident as possible when the time comes to fly over. What is a flexible diet and how am I doing this?
What Is a Flexible DIet?
Good question! Flexible dieting, or IIFYM (if it fits your macros) is more of a nutritional concept than a diet which tells you to eat x, y and z. Essentially, you get an ‘allowance’ of calories and macros (carbohydrates, protein and fat) which you can ‘spend.’ While you should always strive to eat healthy foods, a flexible diet allows you to indulge in foods you love.
This is personally why I like following the flexible diet philosophy so much. For the most part, I find it fairly easy to stick to healthy foods, but the weekends can be really hard for me. I enjoy eating out at restaurants, having a glass of wine and generally enjoying myself. Flexible dieting has taught me how to incorporate the foods I love while still hitting my fitness goals. You can read more about how to count your macros here.
What’s the Plan?
Okay, the plan. I will basically be reducing my calories, and thus my macros too, every 2 weeks by a very, very small amount. I am not comfortable in sharing what my calories and macros are because everyone will have different figures based upon their height and weight. I have been eating at a surplus/maintenance level for a couple of months, so I feel ready to slowly cut back on my calories and macros on a bi-monthly basis.
I am still pretty nervous because even though I am cutting down on my calories and macros so slowly, the truth is that I still have to eat less. While I can still fit in all the tasty foods and drinks I love, it gets harder and harder as the weeks go by. It becomes a cost benefit analysis really haha. “Would I rather have this huge meal of fried chicken and french fries and then not eat again, or eat a few small and healthy meals instead?”
It’s more of a mental game than anything as well. Of course, I will be hungry some days, and of course, I will wish I could eat whatever I want. But the fact of the matter is that it’s only for 4 months and then I can enjoy my holiday and slowly reverse diet my calories and macros back up.
What are your Workouts going to look like?
They will honestly look much the same as I do now! I will continue to lift weights and will increase the amount of LISS (low-intensity steady state) cardio that I do to trim the fat.
I will actually be starting the Fit Body Guides by Anna Victoria in a couple of weeks, so I will be doing that, and 1 or 2 heavy lifting days a week as well. I really want to make sure that I maintain my lean muscle mass so that when the fat starts to come off, it will reveal a lovely, toned body.
I may ramp things up 2 weeks or so before my flight to Thailand–I am thinking about adding in some boxing and megaformer classes to shake things up and to shock my body a little.
So that’s that, guys! Wish me luck–I will try and check in once a week to update you guys and let you know how it’s going. This week went well. So far so good!
As always, thank you for reading and for supporting me. You guys rock!
Honestly yours,
Alice
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