FAQ

No on both counts. You should be generally healthy - i.e. eat plenty of fresh produce, not too much processed food, and a decent number of fruits, vegetables and fibre, but the quantity of food (i.e. the calories and macros) is much more important than supposed ‘quality.’ Make sure to eat foods you enjoy while keeping your health in mind.

In theory, yes. But in practice, it always makes sense from a health & satiety standpoint to ensure you’re getting enough fresh produce, fruits & vegetables, fibre & not overdoing the processed foods. At the end of the day, flexible dieting is more so about understanding the caloric consequences of the food choices you make, rather than the opportunity to fit as much junk food into your diet as possible. In saying that, the only restrictions on the food choices you're able to make, will be the ones that are dictated by your macronutrient targets.

As close as possible without obsessing over it. 

Aim to be within 10% of each macro every day - that's what the MyPhysique system will see as adequate compliance, as if you're below that it will struggle to make educated decisions in regards to how best to move forward.

As many as you like, whilst still hitting your daily calorie & macronutrient requirements.

Manipulating your body composition is all about calories and macros, not when you eat. When you eat your meals might influence your mood, energy levels, training intensity and performance, but in the grand scheme of things, hitting your macros and calories is the most important thing you can do as far as improving your body composition is concerned, so eat as many meals as you find convenient in hitting your daily macros & calories.

It’s tough to give flexible dieting a firm definition.

People tend to have differing views and opinions over what exactly is involved, and what exactly is and isn’t classified as flexible dieting.

This is hardly surprising though – think about the ‘arch nemesis’ of flexible dieting – the ever-present ‘clean eating’ – and you’ll realise that quite often in the nutrition game, it’s impossible to perfectly define any eating style or concept.

That being said, the closest we can get to a definition of flexible dieting is something along these lines:

“A diet that doesn’t impose any restrictions on food sources or choices, and employs a monitoring system that looks at quantitative data – i.e. calories and macronutrients.

The degree and strictness of the monitoring can be altered and changed depending on the individual’s goals, preferences and lifestyle.”

Flexible dieting doesn’t ban or restrict any foods, and it doesn’t even judge foods or food groups as good or bad. Each individual item can only be viewed in the context of a diet as a whole.

For instance, let’s look at ice cream and broccoli. Ask someone on the street which is the healthier food, and they’d most likely respond with broccoli.

But what if that broccoli only made up a tiny portion of a person’s diet?

What if they were already over-consuming calories and gaining weight and that by adding the broccoli they were taking themselves further into a calorie surplus?

What about the ice cream?

What if having a small bowl of ice cream every few days helped somebody dieting avoid binging on a whole tub of ice cream once a week? Or, said person dieting had already eaten enough protein one day, got in plenty of vitamins, minerals and fibre, yet had carbs and fats left to eat – would having a bowl of ice cream within their calorie allowance be unhealthy or cause them to gain fat?

The answer is no.

“Hold on, so you’re telling me I should stop eating broccoli and go for ice cream instead?”

If only that were the case.

No.

That’s taking a slightly short-sighted view, as, unfortunately, many ‘clean eaters’, or those from outside of the industry tend to do.

All we’re saying is that flexible dieting doesn’t demonise any foods, and that you take a view of your diet as a whole before looking at the semantics, and tiny, often insignificant details.

One of the main concepts behind flexible dieting is that you get better results from being less strict. Don’t misinterpret this – if you’re looking to progress in a consistent and calculated fashion then strict compliance in terms of macro and calorie management is imperative, but food choice certainly needn’t be as rigid as most think.

To quote Alan Aragon - “Ultimately, it’s impossible to judge a food in isolation from the rest of the diet. Furthermore, it’s impossible to judge a diet without considering the training protocol, goals, preferences, and tolerances of the individual.”

(From: “Research Review: The Dirt on Clean Eating” - http://www.simplyshredded.com/research-review-the-dirt-on-clean-eating-written-by-nutrition-expert-alan-aragon.html)