How to Choose the Diet That is Right for You
- Beth
- Dec 5, 2018
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 23, 2019
It seems like there is always some new diet that claims to be the magic one. The truth is, there is no one diet that is right for everyone. The "perfect" diet is the one that you can stick to. A diet that works for you may not be right for someone else and vise versa. It's all about personal preference and what best fits into your unique lifestyle.
In this post, I'm going to go over several popular diets, some pros and cons, and what type of person it might work best for. But first, it's important to understand how and why diets work.
How do diets even work?
I'm gonna tell you a secret. It doesn't matter which diet you choose. Why? Because all diets work the same way. Calories.
Calories aren't some mysterious things that make your pants smaller if you eat too many of them. A calorie is a unit of energy. More specifically, a calorie is the amount of heat it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. A calorie is a very small measurement. Technically, the calories in nutrition are kilocalories. That's why you'll sometimes see it written on packaging written as kcal. When referring to food, the two are used interchangeably.
Since a calorie is a unit of energy, all diets work by effecting the amount of calories you consume.
In order to lose weight, you must consume less calories than you burn. To maintain your current weight, the two must be equal. If you're gaining fat, that means you are eating more calories that you're burning. If you want to build muscle, you also need to be in a caloric surplus. That's why my biggest tip for girls wanting to grow their booty is to eat more. (Note: there is some science that suggest beginners to weight training MAY be able to build muscle while in a deficit, but let's not over complicate things. We'll save that for another post.)
Essentially if your goal is to lose weight you need to eat in a caloric deficit and if your goal is to put on muscle you need to eat in a caloric surplus. Simple.
So, why are there so many different diets out there? Well... since that's all it takes, there are many different ways to achieve it. You could lose weight by following a keto diet, as long as you're in a deficit. You could also lose weight while eating high carb, as long as you're in a deficit.
Now that we know how all diets work, let's get into the specifics of a few different methods.
Tracking Macro Nutrients (#iifym)
Tracking macros is similar to counting calories, except it goes more in depth than that.
There are 4 macro nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol. People typically ignore alcohol because although it has it's own calories per gram, it's not like you're going to have a set daily alcohol goal (unless it's a Friday night, then maybe you do. I don't judge). For now, let's just focus on the other three.
Protein
Protein contains 4 calories per gram. If you eat 25 grams of pure protein, then you know you ate 100 calories. Each macro nutrient has a set number of calories per gram, so if you hit your macro nutrient goals for the day then you also hit your calorie goal for the day.
When counting macro nutrients, the general rule of thumb is to consume one gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. If you weigh 120 pounds then eating around 120 grams of protein is probably a good idea. If you're overweight (your lean body mass is significantly different than your total body mass), then it's fine to eat less than that.
Carbohydrates and Fats
Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, while fat contains 9 calories per gram. I lumped these two together because in my opinion the ratio of carbs to fat you consume is much less important than making sure you eat enough protein.
It's generally recommended to get 20-35% of your daily calories from dietary fat. If you're eating 2,000 calories a day this would be around 44-77 grams. The rest of you're calories should come from carbs.
Who would this method be good for?
IIFYM works great for someone who wants to be very in control. This is why most bikini competitors, bodybuilders, etc. use this method. You know exactly what you're consuming, so if you're not seeing results you can easily experiment until you find what works. I think everyone should try counting macros at least once. You can learn so much about the contents of food from even just doing it for a day or two.
It also allows a lot of flexibility. There are no rules for what foods to eat. As long as you eat within your macro nutrient goal, you can eat whatever you want. Obviously your body still needs nutritious foods, but there is a lot of room for fun foods. This is especially true if you're eating in a caloric surplus.
I use this method to some degree. I would say what I do is a mixture of IIFYM and the 80/20 rule. I'm not too strict on my macro goals, but I track them just to be aware of what I'm consuming. I make sure to eat enough protein. I kind of let the carbs and fat fall wherever they do naturally.
I think the biggest con to this method is that it's very easy to be too strict. People can sometimes obsess over hitting their macros. If you have trouble finding balance when it comes to food and exercise, I don't think counting macros would be great for you.
Another con is that since you can fit whatever foods you want into your macros, it can be tempting to eat only fun foods. If you can fit 100 calories of vegetables or 100 calories of chocolate, it's easy to always choose chocolate. That's why I combine IIFYM with the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 Rule
The idea of the 80/20 rule is to eat fun foods in moderation. The rule is to eat 80% healthy foods and 20% fun foods. This method doesn't directly take calories into account. If your goal is weight loss, it can naturally reduce the amount of calories you consume because a lot of foods that fall into the healthy side, such as fruits and vegetables, aren't as calorie dense.
Here's a graphic that shows how to apply the 80/20 rule:
I personally love this method because it's more about having a healthy lifestyle. Since there are no off-limit foods, it's easy to stick to. The main reason diets fail is not because of the diet itself, but because it's not reasonable to do long term.
I combine this method with IIFYM because I love the focus on eating nutrient dense foods, and it reminds me to keep a healthy balance.
Who would this diet be good for?
This diet works great for anyone who may be stuck in a cycle of restricting too much and then overeating. It helped me so much with my overeating. Even though you can have treats, it's more like small treats throughout the day. I find that reduces cravings so much rather than trying to eat perfectly throughout the week and having the typical cheat day at the end.
If you have trouble sticking to a diet, I really recommend trying this. After a while, it just becomes part of your life. You totally forget that you're even doing it.
Keto
Frankly, I don't like the keto diet. I'm not a fan of it. I wanted to include it in this post though, because I've been seeing it EVERYWHERE. Everyone from yoga moms to the drunk uncle at holiday dinners seems to be trying it. So let's find out if it's really the magic secret to weight loss people are saying it is.
What is the keto diet?
Keto is a low carb high fat diet. The goal is to force the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. In medicine, it is used to treat epilepsy. However, it has recently became a fad diet.
The number varies, but generally on a keto diet a person would eat less than 30 grams of carbs per day. You need at least some carbs because while your body can technically run on just fat, your brain cannot.
Is it really the "weight loss secret" people say it is?
A lot of people swear by keto. I'm going to tell you a secret, though. It's not any better than any other diet for weight loss.
The reason that many people claim that it's so great is because at the beginning, they do see significant weight loss. The key word being weight loss, not fat loss.
When someone first starts keto, they start rapidly losing water weight. This is because when you're eating so few carbs, your body quickly goes through your glycogen stores. For every gram of stored, there's also about 3 grams of water. Your glycogen stores being used up, means less water stored in the body.
In the long term, the amount of fat you lose depends on the caloric deficit you're in. It takes about 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat. This is true for any diet. If you're eating high carb, but have a 500 calorie deficit each day, it will take you one week to lose a pound of fat. The same goes for if you're eating keto.
Who would this diet be good for?
As I said earlier, I'm not a fan of this diet. That's because it tends to be sold as some magic secret to losing fat. If you genuinely enjoy eating higher fats and lower carbs though, then go for it. Again. the best diet is the one that you can stick to. If this is something you really want to do and will be manageable for you, then do your thing.
If you do decide to do keto, just remember to include nutritious foods. Even though you technically could eat just bacon and butter, that doesn't mean you should. This applies to IIFYM, as well. Not to sound like a mom, but seriously eat your vegetables.
In short, you'll know a diet works well for you if:
You can stick to it long term
It allows you to eat the foods you enjoy
You find it easy to maintain a balance - you don't feel restricted and don't feel the need to binge eat
It easily fits into your lifestyle - doesn't effect your work or social life too much
You're happy and seeing the results you want
Remember that all diets work by effecting the amount of calories you're consuming, so at the end of the day what matters most is finding one that you genuinely enjoy. It's hard to stick to something you absolutely hate long term, and no diet will work if you don't stick to it. There is no "perfect" diet that's right for everyone.
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What diet do you follow? Comment down below.
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