Neha Thatte

Flexible Dieting: We all are looking for easy to follow diets that will help us lose that extra weight and make us healthy, but the most difficult part about dieting is sustaining it in the long run. There are so many diet options in the market like Keto diet, GM diet, No carb diet that it's confusing to choose one diet plan and stick to it for a long time. Majority of diets have so many restrictions and compel us to eat our not so favorite foods like green veggies and fruits. That’s why nowadays flexible dieting is becoming a popular diet for weight loss. So let’s understand what it is and how we can follow it to attain our weight goals. What is Flexible Dieting? Flexible dieting allows you to eat whatever you want to, as long as you are tracking your consumption of macronutrients (macros) and achieving the macros required. Macros are nothing but Proteins, Vitamins and Fats that are essential for a healthy and fit body. Now the flexible dieting plan does not consider any foods as bad foods and gives you freedom to choose your sources of macros as long as your consumption is within permissible limits. So it doesn’t matter if your protein comes from KFC chicken or a boiled egg as long as you hit your macros target. As this diet is independent of sources of nutrients, you do not have to wait for cheat days and can freely eat your favorite foods. In many cases crash dieting plans, or plans with cheat days lead to overeating amongst the followers and can bounce back their weight quickly. Some of the restricted diets also affect the followers psychologically resulting in anxiety and stress. So it is advised that you do not go for such restrictive dieting plans that can have negative effects on your overall well being. As a flexible diet does not force you to stick to particular meal plans, it is becoming popular in young people who love to indulge in all types of cuisines. Where to start with Flexible Dieting? The first step in starting your flexible dieting is to calculate your energy expenditure per day and determining how much macronutrients you need per day. This can be calculated easily by use of Macros calculator available online or you can do it yourself. Once you know your daily Macros targets just make sure you stick to them to achieve the desired results. Typically the thumb rule is that there Fats are 9 calories per gm, Carbohydrates are 4 calories per gm and Proteins are 4 calories per gm. Once you know how much calories you need in a day depending upon your level of physical activity you can easily calculate your Macros. You can track your daily consumption of Macros using mobile apps that determine macros for the type of food you eat. Your macros target will depend on your weight goals, so be clear with your weight goals. You can also use flexible dieting for weight gain by increasing your macros consumption than what is permissible. You can calculate your calories by using standardized equations that depend on factors like age, weight, height and sex. Once you calculate your calorie needs you can use them to calculate your macros distribution based on the thumb rule mentioned above. After knowing your macros distribution you can tweak it depending upon your weight goals by reducing it proportionately. All these standard calculations are available online and you can plug in your variables to get your customized macros distribution. Remember that it is necessary to track macros for every meal including snacks to get the right results. Benefits of Flexible Dieting? Flexible dieting is very easy to follow and does not restrict you from eating your favorite foods. Calculating and tracking your macros intake is easy and can be done on the go, which makes it a DIY diet plan that does not need any professional help. This diet program is suitable for our modern day busy lifestyle and is more practical than the ones with fixed meals. Today’s generation tends to travel a lot and eat meals outside, so it makes a lot of sense to have this flexible dieting option that blends with our lifestyle. Is Flexible Dieting Unhealthy? Flexible dieting does not restrict dieters to fixed meal plans so some of them may go full throttle and graze on processed foods, this behavior can lead to unhealthy state. So if you are one of the dieters make sure you keep processed foods and junk at minimum. Also flexible dieting focuses a lot on macronutrients but does not take care of micronutrients like vitamins and antioxidants, which is one of the downsides. Since micronutrients are essential for better immunity and good metabolism. So do make sure that you are consuming the micronutrients along with your macros to stay healthy and free from diseases. Also while focusing on your weight loss goals do not neglect your nutrition. Calories is one thing and adequate intake of calories does not guarantee adequate nutrition. So make sure you include lots of fruits, milk, eggs and veggies in your meal. Don’t try to achieve far fetched weight goals as over dieting can lead to lack of nourishment. Is Flexible Dieting Sustainable? The hardest part about dieting is to sustain them in the long run. Majority of the strict diet plans have a negative effect on their followers giving them stress and forcing them to drop out before the actual results are achieved. But a flexible diet gives a lot of freedom to its followers and that’s why it is easy to follow for a long term and also helps to sustain the results for a long time. Unlike some of the crash diets, it does not have short term results that make your weight immediately bounce back once you stop dieting. Flexible dieting is more of a lifestyle that helps you to eat smart rather than forcing you into the standard low carb no carb diets, so its more beneficial in long runs as it improves your overall eating habits. Thus a flexible diet is a great sustainable option for attaining your weight goals and hope you start following it and stay healthy. As they say, don't lose your mind while you lose your weight!